North, Turkey sign new €480m financial protocol

Turkish Cypriot ‘prime minister’ Unal Ustel and Turkish Vice President Cevdet Yilmaz on Thursday evening put pen to paper on the latest annual financial protocol which sets out the coming year’s financial provisions from Turkey to northern Cyprus.

The deal is worth 25 billion TL (€480 million), and Ustel and Yilmaz held a joint press conference in Ankara following its signing, with the latter setting out the details of the protocol.

He said that the Turkish government’s goal is for the north to become “a shining star in the eastern Mediterranean”, and said of last year’s protocol that of the 21bn TL allocated, rising from an initial 16bn TL, “89 per cent … was used”.

Looking ahead to the current year, he said that the construction of the new Morphou hospital would be completed by the end of this month, though Ustel has previously promised that construction would be complete in both 2024 and 2025.

He also said that a currently under construction new hospital for the Karpas peninsula, which is located in the village of Tavros, will be opened on November 15, to coincide with the 43rd anniversary of the north’s unilateral declaration of independence.

Additionally, he promised that renovation work will “begin soon” at existing health facilities in the north.

He then moved onto the matter of technology, and said that plans to install fibreoptic internet in the north will create “a strong basis for our vision for an ‘information technology island’”.

Plans for fibreoptic internet in the north have also generated controversy, given that the deal for its installation offers exclusive rights to Turk Telekom for the provision of broadband internet in the north, and is also set to cost the Turkish Cypriot taxpayer more than four times the originally forecast amount. 

It was rubber stamped by the Turkish Cypriot legislature last month, but Turkish Cypriot leader Tufan Erhurman referred it to the judiciary, warning that the choice to sign an exclusive deal with Turk Telekom without holding a tender may violate the ‘TRNC’s’ constitution. 

After outlining the plans for fibreoptic internet, Yilmaz said plans for the creation of an “information technology island” also include plans to create an online system through which people can book doctors’ appointments, and to fully digitise the north’s immigration system.

He also announced five new loan schemes which will be offered to Turkish Cypriot businesses, covering farms, small and medium-sized businesses, tradesmen, the service sector, and tourism facilities.

“Our aim is to increase investment and production, and to support entrepreneurship and employment, especially among young people and women,” he said of the loans.

In total, 800m TL (€15m) worth of loans will be made available as part of the new schemes.

Yilmaz also made reference to works to resurface a total of 822 kilometres worth of roads, including the road linking Rizokarpaso to the Apostolos Andreas monastery, the “mountain road” which links Kyrenia and Kythrea, and the road which links the villages of Livera and Orga in the island’s extreme northwest.

Towards the end of his speech, he said that Turkey’s decision to send four F-16 fighter jets to the island in light of the conflict in the Middle East last month are evidence that “as long as Turkey exists, the Turkish Cypriot people will continue to live in security”.

He also passed comment on the Cyprus problem, saying that “the Greek Cypriot side is not serious about a solution”, and that “the sovereign equality of the Turkish Cypriot people must be accepted”, before concluding that “the most realistic and fair avenue to a permanent solution is a two-state structure”.

This is not the official position of the Turkish Cypriot community, whose elected leader Tufan Erhurman favours a federal solution to the Cyprus problem.

Ustel, meanwhile, said of the protocol that “the essence of our politics is not words, it is work, action, work”, before promising that various infrastructure projects will be completed by the end of this year.

He also spoke briefly about the prospect of elections being held in the north, with thousands of protesters having descended on the Turkish Cypriot legislature in recent days to demand, among other things, that he call legislative elections as soon as possible. 

The next Turkish Cypriot legislative elections must take place no later than next February, and Ustel said that “elections will be held when the time comes”.

He then returned to praising the protocol, saying, “we aim to secure not only today, but tomorrow, with every step we take”, and adding that his ruling coalition aims “to build a stronger economy, a more prosperous society, and a safer future”.

“The future of the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus is strong and its tomorrow is bright,” he said.

Like Yilmaz before him, he also made reference to the Middle East conflict, and poured scorn on the Greek Cypriot side for its actions in light of the conflict’s outbreak.

“Due to the irrational policies of the Greek Cypriot administration, the island of Cyprus has become a part of the war,” he said, adding that, “in such an environment, the only power which allows the people to live in peace and security in the TRNC is the presence of Turkey on the island”.

“If we live in peace while fire is on all sides, it is thanks to Turkey,” he said.

He then also made reference to the Cyprus problem, saying that “the name of the solution is clear; the solution is two states”.