Ankara, March 03: Thousands of people in Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus have staged a demonstration in Nikosia to protest austerity measures which they say Turkey has imposed on them.
As in late January, the Wednesday rally protested sharp cutbacks in the public sector, seen by the unions as being imposed by the Turkish government, which exercises considerable control over the economy in Northern Cyprus, a Media correspondent reported.
Turkey is the only country to recognize the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus and funds it to the tune of 500 million dollars a year. It has been angered by the Cypriot protesters whose salaries are much higher than in Turkey, and has call them ungrateful.
The Wednesday rally was supported by all of the 40 plus unions in the Turkish-ruled north. The unions mean to reverse the economic austerity measures that include 40-percent salary cuts for the civil service, plan to sell off state utilities and privatize a university.
Many among them see a hidden agenda behind the economic plan, according to a Greek Cypriot expert on the Cyprus problem.
“The influx of large Turkish companies in the north, and the insistence of the Turkish government that the Turkish Cypriots should privatize the loss-making public sector companies have caused a fear among the Turkish Cypriots that the island will be taken over by Turkey,” former presidential adviser, Costas Apostolides.
Alongside fears that that Turkey’s plans for the local economy will see its public assets end up in the hands of pro-Ankara vested interests, Turkish Cypriots are concerned that job opportunities will be taken up by the ever-increasing number of settlers from Turkey.
“They have been transferring hundred and thousands of Turks from mainland Turkey here,” said Sener Elcil from the Turkish Cypriots teachers union.
He said this latest event was galvanizing support for the Turkish Cypriots identity and its future in a independent united Cyprus, with banners and chants endorsing that sentiment. The protesters even go beyond this, with slogans such as “This country is ours, we will govern” and “foreign forces out, Cyprus belongs to Cypriots.”
“We have been trying to give a clear political message to Turkey, we are not the hostage of Turkey and we don’t want to live like that because turkey has been ruling the northern parts of Cyprus just like its colony,” the rally coordinator added.
The demonstrations in Nicosia come as serious strains emerge between Turkey and the part of Cyprus it has occupied since 1974.
——–Agencies