EU CITIZENSHIP

Investment interest came right after the decision to hold referendums. Foreign investment is looking for stability and legal guarantees. The TRNC’s looming European Union membership could be the signal that these two conditions will be fulfilled. One of the important factors that led to a rise in southern Cyprus is that its EU membership is seen as certain. Foreign investment feels more secure.

Another factor is that the model for Germany and Korea is also being applied to Cyprus. After World War II, the West concentrated on raising standards of living in West Germany, and the same in South Korea after the Korean War. The success of these models depended on a collapse in East Germany and North Korea, and they were successful. Without getting involved in an armed conflict with Turkey, the West boosted the economy of the southern part of the island in order to cause a collapse in the TRNC, which was crippled by embargos. On the one hand there is the TRNC, whose citizens are stateless under international law, and whose per capita income is $3,000, and on the other the hand there is southern Cyprus, which is about to receive EU citizenship and has about $20,000 per capita income. Everything was reflected in last December TRNC elections. If worries about returning immovable properties had been eased, now Prime Minister Mehmet Ali Talat’s party would have gotten more votes. On the other hand if the UN plan, which suggests a united Cyprus, is accepted, then a change in direction is likely. Even if the Greek partisans try to stop it, the EU’s principle of balanced development among regions will help the TRNC.

A third EU country is being formed on Turkey’s borders. Cyprus will be on our southern frontier, after Greece and Bulgaria to the west. Council of Europe (CoE) members Georgia and Russia are no longer threats. There’s only Iran, Iraq and Syria which could cause problems. Turkey’s borders are being surrounded by EU and CoE member countries.”