Turkish invasion has cost Cyprus over 100EURO billion

PRIVATE INDIVIDUALS and companies have lost over �109 billion as a result of the Turkish invasion, according to a study by the University of Cyprus (UCY).

The report was prepared by the university�s Economics Research Centre, headed by Panos Pashardis, and published in Sunday�s Phileleftheros. It did not include losses incurred by state and church-owned properties.

According to the study, total losses of per capita income for the period 1974-1990 amount to �4.65 billion at current (2009) prices.

Definite private losses relating to privately-owned goods destroyed or stolen amount to �7bn, with half of these losses in the form of private housing units and their equipment. From the �7bn, the biggest loss came from housing units (�3.5bn), followed by private businesses (�2bn) and merchandise and commercial vehicles (�1.5bn.

One figure that may concern UN facilitators attempting to bridge the gap between the two sides in negotiations on the property issue is the value put on occupied properties in the north, which at 2009 prices reaches �82.1bn.

The report also calculated that Greek Cypriot property owners in the north incurred losses from lack of use or access to those properties since 1974 amounting to �15.78bn. State and church properties, including buildings, equipment, monuments, roads, ports, airports, forests etc, were excluded from this estimation since it is not possible to calculate losses emanating from those properties.

According to the UCY study, the state absorbed the largest part of the negative repercussions of the invasion, increasing state expenditure by 80 per cent in the period 1974-76. The state lost use of the Nicosia international airport and Famagusta port which handled almost half of imports and 43 per cent of exports.

The agriculture sector was most affected by the invasion while the tourism industry shot up in the two decades after the war, in large part as a result of government incentives given to speed up growth in the sector, including low interest rate loans and tax relief measures.

The study also highlighted that Turkish Cypriots losses resulting from loss of use or access to their properties in the government-controlled areas in the period 1974-1997 amounted to more than �2.2bn at 2009 prices.