Turkish Cypriots say euro will deepen deadlock

CYPRUS’ admission to the euro zone next year will entrench the economic disparities on the island and further complicate a peace deal, a senior Turkish Cypriot official said yesterday.

The European Commission and the European Central Bank on Wednesday recommended that Cyprus adopt the euro next year along with Malta.
“This will increase the economic disparity between the two sides of the island and will act to deepen the deadlock, and increase the danger that the division of the island will become permanent,” said Hasan Ercakica, spokesman for Turkish Cypriot leader Mehmet Ali Talat.

While the Greek Cypriot side has passed tests on inflation, interest rates, budget deficits, public debt and currency stability, the situation is very different in the breakaway north.
The Turkish Cypriot enclave receives handouts from Ankara and suffers from restrictions on its trade with the outside world.

“With each step that further integrates the Greek Cypriots with the EU, the Cyprus problem is dragged further away from a solution, and this is something that deeply damages relations between Turkish Cypriots and the EU,” Ercakica said.
Ties between Turkish Cypriots and the European Union are strained over their inability to trade directly with the bloc. Attempts to open the enclave to trade have been stymied by Greek Cypriots.

The Cyprus Mail is the only English-language daily newspaper published in Cyprus. It was established in 1945 and today, with its popular and widely-read website, the Cyprus Mail is among the most trusted news sites in Cyprus. The newspaper is not affiliated with any political parties and has always striven to maintain its independence. Over the past 70-plus years, the Cyprus Mail, with a small dedicated team, has covered momentous events in Cyprus’ modern history, chronicling the last gasps of British colonial rule, Cyprus’ truncated independence, the coup and Turkish invasion, and the decades of negotiations to stitch the divided island back together, plus a myriad of scandals, murders, and human interests stories that capture the island and its -people. Observers describe it as politically conservative.