Turkey From the ‘Motherland’ to the ‘IMF of Northern Cyprus’?
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Abstract
The key argument of this article is that in the aftermath of the failure of the Annan Plan, Turkey assumed the role of the ‘IMF of northern Cyprus’, aiming to effect a deeper transformation in the economy and politics of the Turkish Cypriot community. Turkey imposed economic programmes that included austerity measures and the privatisation of state owned enterprises in order to tame the ‘cumbersome’ state in the north of Cyprus. Furthermore, AKP (Adalet ve Kalkınma Partisi [Justice and Development Party]) opted for a strategy that defines northern Cyprus as an investment area. As a result of the deliberate attempts of the AKP government, Turkish capital has significantly increased its presence in state enterprises through privatisation along with infrastructure, education, construction and tourism sectors and commercial centres. The paper argues for an analysis that would locate this neoliberal restructuring in Cyprus in a global context as well as grasping the peculiarity of the state formation and the actual agency of local dynamics in the north of Cyprus.
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Keywords
economic crisis, neoliberalism, austerity, privatisation, 'TRNC', AKP
References
Akcali, E. (2011) ‘Getting Real on Fluctuating National Identities: Insights from Northern Cyprus’, Antipode, Vol. 43, No. 5, pp. 1725–1747.
Aren, S. (1986) 24 Ocak Programi ve Alternatifleri [24 January Programme and its Alternatives]. Istanbul: Bilim ve Sanat.
Arslan, H. (2011) ‘Neo-liberal bakisinin tahakkumu altinda bir yeniden yapilandirma surecinden gecen Kibris Turk toplumunun siyasal iktisadina dair bazi tespitler’ [Some observations on the political economy of the Turkish Cypriot community that is undergoing a neoliberal restructuration], Yenidüzen Gaile eki (Gaile-supplement of Yenidüzen), 17 July.
Aydin, Z. (2005) The Political Economy of Turkey. London: Pluto Press.
Besim, M. and Mullen, F. (2009) ‘Cyprus in the Global Financial Crisis: How Lack of Banking Sophistication Proved an Advantage’, South European Society and Politics, Vol. 14, No. 1, pp. 87–101.
Bozkurt, U. (2013) ‘Neoliberalism with a Human Face: Making Sense of the Justice and Development Party’s Neoliberal Populism in Turkey’, Science & Society, Vol. 77, No. 3 (July), pp. 372–396.
Bozkurt, U. (2013) ‘Cyprus: Divided by History, United by Austerity’, opendemocracy, 7 May.
Constantinou, C. and Papadakis, Y. (2001) ‘The Cypriot State(s) in Situ: Cross-Ethnic Contact and the Discourse of Recognition’, Global Society, Vol. 15, No. 2, pp. 125–148.
Cosar, S. and Yegenoglu, M. (2009) ‘The Neoliberal Restructuring of Turkey’s Social Security System’, Monthly Review (April), pp. 36–49.
Eder, M. (2010) ‘Retreating State? Political Economy of Welfare Regime Change in Turkey’, Middle East Law and Governance, Vol. 2, No. 2, pp. 152–184.
Ercan, F. and Oguz, S. (2006) ‘Rescaling as a Class Relationship and Process: The Case of Public Procurement Law in Turkey’, Political Geography, Vol. 25, No. 6, pp. 641–656.
Erhurman, T. (2010) Kibris’in Kuzeyinde Yeni Sol – Kibris Turk Soluna Elestirel Bir Bakis [New Left in Northern Cyprus, A Critical Take on the Turkish Cypriot Left]. Nicosia: Isik Publications.
Gulalp, H. (1985) ‘Patterns of Capital Accumulation and State-Society Relations in Turkey’, Journal of Contemporary Asia, Vol. 15, No. 3, pp. 329–348.
Gulalp, H. (1993) Kapitalizm, Siniflar ve Devlet [Capitalism, Classes and the State]. Istanbul: Bilim Dizisi.
Gulalp, H. (2001) ‘Globalization and Political Islam: The Social Bases of Turkey’s Welfare Party’, International Journal of Middle East Studies, Vol. 33, No. 3, pp. 443–448.
Gumuscu, S. and Sert, D. (2010) ‘The March 2009 Local Elections and the Inconsistent Democratic Transformation of the AKP Party in Turkey’, Middle East Critique, Vol. 19, No. 1 (Spring), pp. 953–968.
Guryay, E. (2011) ‘The Economy of the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus’, in Tkachenko, S. and Ozsaglam, M.T. (eds), Isolated Part of Cyprus. St. Petersburg: VVM Publishing, pp. 79–101.
Harvey, D. (2012) Rebel Cities: From the Right to the City to the Urban Revolution. London: Verso.
Hatay, M. (2005) Beyond Numbers: An Inquiry into the Political Integration of the Turkish ‘Settlers’ in Northern Cyprus. Nicosia: PRIO Report 4.
Hatay, M. (2008) ‘The Problem of Pigeons: Xenophobia and a Rhetoric of the “Local” in North Cyprus’, The Cyprus Review, Vol. 20, No. 2 (Fall), pp. 145–172.
Isachenko, D. (2009) ‘On the Political Economy of Unrecognised Statebuilding Projects’, The International Spectator: Italian Journal of International Affairs, Vol. 44, No. 4, pp. 61–75.
Jessop, B. (2013) ‘Putting Neoliberalism in Its Time and Place: A Response to the Debate’, Social Anthropology, Vol. 21, No. 1, pp. 65–74.
Katircioglu, S.T. (2006) ‘Causality between Agriculture and Economic Growth in a Small Nation under Political Isolation: A Case from North Cyprus’, International Journal of Social Economics, Vol. 33, No. 4, pp. 331–343.
Keyder, C. (2003) Turkiye’de Devlet ve Siniflar [State and Classes in Turkey]. Istanbul: Iletisim Yayinlari.
Lacher, H. and Kaymak, E. (2005) ‘Transforming Identities: Beyond the Politics of Non-Settlement in North Cyprus’, Mediterranean Politics, Vol. 10, No. 2, pp. 147–166.
Lapavitsas, C. et al. (2010) ‘Eurozone Crisis: Beggar Thyself and Thy Neighbour’, Journal of Balkan and Near Eastern Studies, Vol. 12, No. 4, pp. 321–373.
Moudouros, N. (2013) ‘Islam and Neoliberal Hegemony in the Turkish Cypriot Community: A New Process of Transformation’, paper presented at the 14th Mediterranean Research Meeting, organised by the Mediterranean Programme of the Robert Schuman Centre for Advanced Studies at the European University Institute, Mersin-Turkey, 20–23 March.
Nas, T.F. (1992) ‘The Impact of Turkey’s Stabilization and Structural Adjustment Program: An Introduction’, in Nas, T. and Odekon, M. (eds), Economics and Politics of Turkish Liberalization. Bethlehem, PA: Lehigh University Press, pp. 11–25.
Navaro-Yashin, Y. (2006) ‘Affect in the Civil Service: A Study of a Modern State-System’, Postcolonial Studies, Vol. 9, No. 3, pp. 281–294.
Onis, Z. (2006) ‘The Political Economy of Turkey’s Justice and Development Party’, in Hakan Yavuz, M. (ed.), The Emergence of a New Turkey: Islam, Democracy and the AK Party. Salt Lake City, Utah: University of Utah Press, pp. 207–235.
Patrick, R. (1976) Political Geography and the Cyprus Conflict, 1963–1971. Edited by Bater, J.H and Preston, R. University of Waterloo, Department of Geography, Faculty of Environmental Studies. Waterloo, Ontario: University of Waterloo.
Radice, H. (2008) ‘The Developmental State under Global Neoliberalism’, Third World Quarterly, Vol. 29, No. 6, pp. 1153–1174.
Sonan, S. (2007) ‘From Bankruptcy to Unification and EU-Membership? The Political Economy of Post Nationalist Transformation in Northern Cyprus’, RAMSES Working Paper 9/07, European Studies Centre, University of Oxford.
Tahsin, E. (2012) ‘Making Sense of Turkey’s Changing Cyprus Policy: The EU Factor and the Shifting Preferences of the Power Bloc’, in Trimikliniotis, N. and Bozkurt, U. (eds), Beyond a Divided Cyprus: A State and Society in Transformation. New York: Palgrave Macmillan, pp. 135–151.
Tahsin, E. (2013) ‘The Dimensions of Neoliberalism Transformation in Case of Northern Cyprus’, presented at Symposium, 30 October–1 November, Neo-Liberal Transformation: Its Dimensions and Consequences. Lefke: European University of Lefke, pp. 1–25.
Toprak, B. (2005) ‘Islam and Democracy in Turkey’, Turkish Studies, Vol. 6, No. 2 (June), pp. 167–186.
Trimikliniotis, N. and Bozkurt, U. (eds) (2012) Beyond a Divided Cyprus: A State and Society in Transformation. New York: Palgrave Macmillan.
Tuzun, G. (1986) Ekonomik Bunalim ve 24 Ocak Kararlari Uzerine [Upon the Economic Crisis and the 24 January Decisions]. Istanbul.
Ustundag, E. (2008) ‘Turkiye Gelir Esitsizliginde OECD Sampiyonlarindan’ [Turkey is Amongst the OECD Member Countries with the Most Unjust Income Distribution], Bianet, 22 October.
Yalman, G. (1997) ‘Bourgeoisie and the State: Changing Forms of Interest Representation within the Context of the Economic Crises and Structural Adjustment: Turkey during the 1980s’. Unpublished PhD thesis, University of Manchester, Manchester School of Social Sciences.
Newspaper and Media Sources
Akca, H.I. (2011) Turkey’s Ambassador to the ‘TRNC’ in an Interview in Turkish Edition of Fortune magazine, February.
Casciani, D. (2011) ‘How Asil Nadir Stole Polly Peck’s Millions’, bbcnews, 22 August 2012.
Counsell, G. and Pope, H. (1993) ‘Desperate Bid to Claim PPI Assets: Polly Peck Administrator Flies Out to Turkey in Attempt to Revive Collapsed Sale’, The Independent, 16 May.
Ozdemir, Y. (2013) ‘Krizler, Euro Krizi ve Guney Kibris’ta Yasananlar ve Yasanacaklar Uzerine’ [On the Crises, the Euro Crisis, What has been Experienced and What will be Experienced in Southern Cyprus], Yeniduzen Gazetesi – Kibris Gaile eki [supplement of the Yeniduzen], 7 April.
Ozsaglam, M. (2011) ‘AK Parti ve 12 Haziran sonrasi Kibris sorunu’ [Justice and Development Party and the Cyprus Problem after 12 June Elections], Havadis, 20 June.
Sabah (2011) ‘Turkiye’de ekonomik krizler’ [Economic Crises in Turkey], 19 April.
Tugal, C. (2013) ‘Occupy Gezi: The Limits of Turkey’s Neoliberal Success’, Jadaliyya, 4 June.
Legal Document
Türkiye Cumhuriyeti Hükümeti ile Kuzey Kıbrıs Türk Cumhuriyeti Hükümeti Arasında bir Ortaklık
Konseyi Kurulmasına İlişkin Anlaşma (Onay) Yasası, Sayı 9/1998 [Law on establishing a Council of Partnership between the Turkish Republic and the ‘Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus’, 1998].
Aren, S. (1986) 24 Ocak Programi ve Alternatifleri [24 January Programme and its Alternatives]. Istanbul: Bilim ve Sanat.
Arslan, H. (2011) ‘Neo-liberal bakisinin tahakkumu altinda bir yeniden yapilandirma surecinden gecen Kibris Turk toplumunun siyasal iktisadina dair bazi tespitler’ [Some observations on the political economy of the Turkish Cypriot community that is undergoing a neoliberal restructuration], Yenidüzen Gaile eki (Gaile-supplement of Yenidüzen), 17 July.
Aydin, Z. (2005) The Political Economy of Turkey. London: Pluto Press.
Besim, M. and Mullen, F. (2009) ‘Cyprus in the Global Financial Crisis: How Lack of Banking Sophistication Proved an Advantage’, South European Society and Politics, Vol. 14, No. 1, pp. 87–101.
Bozkurt, U. (2013) ‘Neoliberalism with a Human Face: Making Sense of the Justice and Development Party’s Neoliberal Populism in Turkey’, Science & Society, Vol. 77, No. 3 (July), pp. 372–396.
Bozkurt, U. (2013) ‘Cyprus: Divided by History, United by Austerity’, opendemocracy, 7 May.
Constantinou, C. and Papadakis, Y. (2001) ‘The Cypriot State(s) in Situ: Cross-Ethnic Contact and the Discourse of Recognition’, Global Society, Vol. 15, No. 2, pp. 125–148.
Cosar, S. and Yegenoglu, M. (2009) ‘The Neoliberal Restructuring of Turkey’s Social Security System’, Monthly Review (April), pp. 36–49.
Eder, M. (2010) ‘Retreating State? Political Economy of Welfare Regime Change in Turkey’, Middle East Law and Governance, Vol. 2, No. 2, pp. 152–184.
Ercan, F. and Oguz, S. (2006) ‘Rescaling as a Class Relationship and Process: The Case of Public Procurement Law in Turkey’, Political Geography, Vol. 25, No. 6, pp. 641–656.
Erhurman, T. (2010) Kibris’in Kuzeyinde Yeni Sol – Kibris Turk Soluna Elestirel Bir Bakis [New Left in Northern Cyprus, A Critical Take on the Turkish Cypriot Left]. Nicosia: Isik Publications.
Gulalp, H. (1985) ‘Patterns of Capital Accumulation and State-Society Relations in Turkey’, Journal of Contemporary Asia, Vol. 15, No. 3, pp. 329–348.
Gulalp, H. (1993) Kapitalizm, Siniflar ve Devlet [Capitalism, Classes and the State]. Istanbul: Bilim Dizisi.
Gulalp, H. (2001) ‘Globalization and Political Islam: The Social Bases of Turkey’s Welfare Party’, International Journal of Middle East Studies, Vol. 33, No. 3, pp. 443–448.
Gumuscu, S. and Sert, D. (2010) ‘The March 2009 Local Elections and the Inconsistent Democratic Transformation of the AKP Party in Turkey’, Middle East Critique, Vol. 19, No. 1 (Spring), pp. 953–968.
Guryay, E. (2011) ‘The Economy of the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus’, in Tkachenko, S. and Ozsaglam, M.T. (eds), Isolated Part of Cyprus. St. Petersburg: VVM Publishing, pp. 79–101.
Harvey, D. (2012) Rebel Cities: From the Right to the City to the Urban Revolution. London: Verso.
Hatay, M. (2005) Beyond Numbers: An Inquiry into the Political Integration of the Turkish ‘Settlers’ in Northern Cyprus. Nicosia: PRIO Report 4.
Hatay, M. (2008) ‘The Problem of Pigeons: Xenophobia and a Rhetoric of the “Local” in North Cyprus’, The Cyprus Review, Vol. 20, No. 2 (Fall), pp. 145–172.
Isachenko, D. (2009) ‘On the Political Economy of Unrecognised Statebuilding Projects’, The International Spectator: Italian Journal of International Affairs, Vol. 44, No. 4, pp. 61–75.
Jessop, B. (2013) ‘Putting Neoliberalism in Its Time and Place: A Response to the Debate’, Social Anthropology, Vol. 21, No. 1, pp. 65–74.
Katircioglu, S.T. (2006) ‘Causality between Agriculture and Economic Growth in a Small Nation under Political Isolation: A Case from North Cyprus’, International Journal of Social Economics, Vol. 33, No. 4, pp. 331–343.
Keyder, C. (2003) Turkiye’de Devlet ve Siniflar [State and Classes in Turkey]. Istanbul: Iletisim Yayinlari.
Lacher, H. and Kaymak, E. (2005) ‘Transforming Identities: Beyond the Politics of Non-Settlement in North Cyprus’, Mediterranean Politics, Vol. 10, No. 2, pp. 147–166.
Lapavitsas, C. et al. (2010) ‘Eurozone Crisis: Beggar Thyself and Thy Neighbour’, Journal of Balkan and Near Eastern Studies, Vol. 12, No. 4, pp. 321–373.
Moudouros, N. (2013) ‘Islam and Neoliberal Hegemony in the Turkish Cypriot Community: A New Process of Transformation’, paper presented at the 14th Mediterranean Research Meeting, organised by the Mediterranean Programme of the Robert Schuman Centre for Advanced Studies at the European University Institute, Mersin-Turkey, 20–23 March.
Nas, T.F. (1992) ‘The Impact of Turkey’s Stabilization and Structural Adjustment Program: An Introduction’, in Nas, T. and Odekon, M. (eds), Economics and Politics of Turkish Liberalization. Bethlehem, PA: Lehigh University Press, pp. 11–25.
Navaro-Yashin, Y. (2006) ‘Affect in the Civil Service: A Study of a Modern State-System’, Postcolonial Studies, Vol. 9, No. 3, pp. 281–294.
Onis, Z. (2006) ‘The Political Economy of Turkey’s Justice and Development Party’, in Hakan Yavuz, M. (ed.), The Emergence of a New Turkey: Islam, Democracy and the AK Party. Salt Lake City, Utah: University of Utah Press, pp. 207–235.
Patrick, R. (1976) Political Geography and the Cyprus Conflict, 1963–1971. Edited by Bater, J.H and Preston, R. University of Waterloo, Department of Geography, Faculty of Environmental Studies. Waterloo, Ontario: University of Waterloo.
Radice, H. (2008) ‘The Developmental State under Global Neoliberalism’, Third World Quarterly, Vol. 29, No. 6, pp. 1153–1174.
Sonan, S. (2007) ‘From Bankruptcy to Unification and EU-Membership? The Political Economy of Post Nationalist Transformation in Northern Cyprus’, RAMSES Working Paper 9/07, European Studies Centre, University of Oxford.
Tahsin, E. (2012) ‘Making Sense of Turkey’s Changing Cyprus Policy: The EU Factor and the Shifting Preferences of the Power Bloc’, in Trimikliniotis, N. and Bozkurt, U. (eds), Beyond a Divided Cyprus: A State and Society in Transformation. New York: Palgrave Macmillan, pp. 135–151.
Tahsin, E. (2013) ‘The Dimensions of Neoliberalism Transformation in Case of Northern Cyprus’, presented at Symposium, 30 October–1 November, Neo-Liberal Transformation: Its Dimensions and Consequences. Lefke: European University of Lefke, pp. 1–25.
Toprak, B. (2005) ‘Islam and Democracy in Turkey’, Turkish Studies, Vol. 6, No. 2 (June), pp. 167–186.
Trimikliniotis, N. and Bozkurt, U. (eds) (2012) Beyond a Divided Cyprus: A State and Society in Transformation. New York: Palgrave Macmillan.
Tuzun, G. (1986) Ekonomik Bunalim ve 24 Ocak Kararlari Uzerine [Upon the Economic Crisis and the 24 January Decisions]. Istanbul.
Ustundag, E. (2008) ‘Turkiye Gelir Esitsizliginde OECD Sampiyonlarindan’ [Turkey is Amongst the OECD Member Countries with the Most Unjust Income Distribution], Bianet, 22 October.
Yalman, G. (1997) ‘Bourgeoisie and the State: Changing Forms of Interest Representation within the Context of the Economic Crises and Structural Adjustment: Turkey during the 1980s’. Unpublished PhD thesis, University of Manchester, Manchester School of Social Sciences.
Newspaper and Media Sources
Akca, H.I. (2011) Turkey’s Ambassador to the ‘TRNC’ in an Interview in Turkish Edition of Fortune magazine, February.
Casciani, D. (2011) ‘How Asil Nadir Stole Polly Peck’s Millions’, bbcnews, 22 August 2012.
Counsell, G. and Pope, H. (1993) ‘Desperate Bid to Claim PPI Assets: Polly Peck Administrator Flies Out to Turkey in Attempt to Revive Collapsed Sale’, The Independent, 16 May.
Ozdemir, Y. (2013) ‘Krizler, Euro Krizi ve Guney Kibris’ta Yasananlar ve Yasanacaklar Uzerine’ [On the Crises, the Euro Crisis, What has been Experienced and What will be Experienced in Southern Cyprus], Yeniduzen Gazetesi – Kibris Gaile eki [supplement of the Yeniduzen], 7 April.
Ozsaglam, M. (2011) ‘AK Parti ve 12 Haziran sonrasi Kibris sorunu’ [Justice and Development Party and the Cyprus Problem after 12 June Elections], Havadis, 20 June.
Sabah (2011) ‘Turkiye’de ekonomik krizler’ [Economic Crises in Turkey], 19 April.
Tugal, C. (2013) ‘Occupy Gezi: The Limits of Turkey’s Neoliberal Success’, Jadaliyya, 4 June.
Legal Document
Türkiye Cumhuriyeti Hükümeti ile Kuzey Kıbrıs Türk Cumhuriyeti Hükümeti Arasında bir Ortaklık
Konseyi Kurulmasına İlişkin Anlaşma (Onay) Yasası, Sayı 9/1998 [Law on establishing a Council of Partnership between the Turkish Republic and the ‘Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus’, 1998].
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“Turkey: From the ‘Motherland’ to the ‘IMF of Northern Cyprus’?”. 2017. Cyprus Review 26 (1): 83-105. https://cyprusreview.org/index.php/cr/article/view/78.