What they have become!

[moonskin]

A well-known policy of the dark past was the "from Turk to Turk" campaign in the 60s. This meant to force people to trade and shop only with the Turks and not with the Greeks. Bad things happened to people who behaved otherwise.

The small, isolated and heavily Turkish-dependent T R N C economy forced people to accept any price which they have been asked to pay, until the GL crossings opened in 2003.

With the opening of the crossings, something really weird happened. People realized that the prices in the south of Cyprus are much cheaper then the prices in the north. Not only that, they noticed that the products in the southern markets are generally also of much higher quality.

So, the situation for the Turkish Cypriots was as follows: They earned 1/3 of their counterparts in the south, they payed more for everything for shopping and what they could buy with those expensive prices were low quality Turkish products, nowhere near the European standards.

So why are the prices are higher than the south which is an economy much stronger than the north? Three main reasons underlies this: 1. The lack of competition and the inability of the state to enforce fair market rules 2. The isolation of the system internationally and the extra costs for transportation of goods because of this isolation 3. The constant growing of the state and its corresponding costs.

Especially item 3 worths a more detailed examination. What we have here is that a state which has never managed to "just pay the salaries" without the support of another country, leave aside making basic investments for its citizens. The comfort of such an explicit support for long years has established a system of its own. The politicians, instead of working towards solving problems and earning the vote of their people in this way, have developed a strategy where they "solve" the problems of their people by hiring them for the state, in most cases illegally. The people, have gladly accepted and honored this practice by voting for such parties and keeping them in power for over long long years.

Consequently, it became impossible over time for the state to pay the salaries of the public servants. To put it in a simple way, the income of the state was too little to correspond the ever increasing costs. Moreover, the state could not collect taxes properly. Even today, since the state has no authority left and since the increasing corruption have stolen the remaining respect of the people, it became even harder to collect taxes.

So, what kind of a solution do politicians like ours could come up with? Of course, they increased the taxes! Hence, the products become insanely more expensive.

And finally we arrive November 2007 with CTP in absolute power. Couple of weeks ago, some newspapers started to make articles about the (growing) difference of the prices between the north and south. KIBRIS even published a table containing 30-40 products, varying from detergent to gasoline, and gave the pricing in north and in south for each product. The ultimately clueless, confused and mentally disabled prime minister FSS, said that there is no such thing as a price difference between the two sides and played moronic "everything is cool" role again. He also added that there is absolutely no intension in the government to stop people from shopping from the south using police force.

Within the last week, there has been multiple harassment cases of the police (which is a subordinate of the Turkish army in north) towards the Turkish Cypriots at the GL crossing, who shopped in the south. One case resulted in an arrest yesterday, when a woman who bought a flower plant from the south. The police claims that after the plant was taken away from her, she insulted the officers who made the search and this is the reason for her arrest (my congratulations goes to the lady).

While we are currently focusing on the developments in the south (quite rightly so), we shall not miss what is going on in the north. CTP has completely lost the control and it seems like they don't really know what the hell they are doing. Those people whose vote they stolen with the promise of a solution and international existence, are now getting away from them. CTP is starting to become the new UBP and Talat, the new Denktas (I am actually saying this in a completely different way than the government of the south says it.)

If CTP is weakening, then you will be strengthening? Let's hope that not UBP, since Dervis Eroglu will look like an angel from heaven compared to the new leader, Tahsin Ertugruloglu.

But then again, there is this expression which I love since it explains so much: People are governed no better than they deserve!

PS: KTOS has announced the following telephone numbers for the complaints that Turkish Cypriots might have during the crossing due to the harassment of the police: 2271175-2275155-2287444. BKP, the United Cyprus Party, has also announced that they will accept complaints from people on the issue.

[repulsewarrior]

good writing, thanks moonskin.

also, I would really like to know more, first hand, about the United Cyprus Party

[repulsewarrior]

http://www.talkcyprus.org/forum/about5056.html

something of interest from this forum's past.

...is there an official website? over 2 million items on google, but no link to this organisation directly.

[pg]

http://www.cyprus-mail.com/news/main.php?id=36200&archive=1

[repulsewarrior]

...maybe it is the beginning of the end for the regime in the north...

Taking chocolate from a baby smacks of extreme desperation. And reaching in to the lives of their citizens in this way will only fuel their realisation that they are actually hostage to a political ideal that is not their own. This is one time where the news is not 'Greek' propaganda even if it was published in Afrika first, and its author can hardly be called a 'traitor', although their lives may be in danger, because clearly the state is going too far.