POPULATION
FROM TURKEY
According to the census made on 15
December 1996, 200,857 persons live in North Cyprus. Ahmet Bulunc,
Undersecretary of the State Planning Bureau of the Prime Ministry of the TRNC,
stated that 164,460 of them have TRNC citizenship, 30,702 who are university
students, workers, unemployed etc have citizenship of Turkey and 5,425 persons
have the citizenship of other countries. (Kıbrıs, 28 November 1997)
Out of those who were shown as TRNC
citizens, 137,398 were born in the TRNC, 23,924 in Turkey, 3,138 in the third
countries. Since more detailed information was not given, it was not possible
to differ out of 137,398 persons born in the TRNC, which one was born to T/C or
mainland Turkish parents.
On the other hand, according to the
estimates of the Department of Statistics of the Republic of Cyprus, there were
115 thousand mainland Turkish settlers at the end of 2000. The number of the
T/C was given as 87,000 and it was estimated that 55,000 T/C left the island
between 1974 and 2000.
The Undersecretary of the Ministry
of Labour and Settlement of the TRNC, Ahmet Alper, disclosed that 70% of the
workers, working in the workplaces of the TRNC were illegal. (Kibris, 7 October
1999) Sonay Adem, Famagusta MP of the Republican Turkish Party, talking in the
parliament of the TRNC told that the government of the TRNC agreed secretly
with the state attorney-general in their endeavour to legalize the status of the
20-25 thousand illegal workers in the country and to this effect, secret
protocols were signed with the government of Turkey. (Kibris, 1 November 1999)
In the meantime the employment of the illegal workers without social security
and without membership to any trade-union create many problems
These settlers of mainland Turkish
origin, came from various districts of Turkey and some of them are organized
according to their origin of descent: TRNC Black Sea Cultural Association,
Erzurum Aid and Solidarity Association, Malatya Cultural Association, Cukurova
Culture and Solidarity Association, TRNC Association for the Research and
Dissemination of the Culture of Hacı Bektas-i Veli, Turkish Immigrants Aid and
Solidarity Association. In the meantime settlers from Gaziantep or Kayseri get
togrether and organize social solidarity evenings.
The mainland Turkish immigrants
settled in North Cyprus established separate political parties in the 1980's
with the help of the Turkish embassy (like the Turkish Unity Party, New Revival
Party) and took part in the general elections and participated at the coalition
governments with ministers and took key posts with responsibility. But later,
it was deemed as necessary for example to amalgamate the New Revival Party with
the Democratic Party.
Among those who put their
candidature in the general elections of 1993, the percentage of those born in
Turkey was 22% and this percentage was 17% in 1998. In the general election of
1998, 4 persons of mainland Turkish origin, 3 from the Democratic Party and 1
from the National Unity Party were elected and entered into the parliament of
the TRNC.
In the last general election, a
group of mainland Turkish settlers who alleged that they were not represented
accordingly in the parliament gave a paid advertisement to the T/C press
(Kibris, 15 December 1998) and complained: "40% of the population which
makes approximately one third of all, was divided cunningly and this sector was
obstructed to be represented in a just and balanced way" and protested
this situation.(Hurriyet-Kibris, 22 December 1998)
On the other hand some Turkish
Cypriots continued their complaint that the mainland Turkish settlers who were
given the right to vote in the elections
and that their own will was blocked to be reflected in the ballot boxes. But
there was no precaution in order to stop this. Moreover, there is an increase
in the number of the mainland settlers who were given the TRNC citizenship
during the election periods and the activities continue without any break in
order to increase the number of those supporting the established regime.
According to the data published in
the “1998 Statistical Year Book” in February 2000 by the Department of
Statistics and Research of the State Planning Bureau of the Prime Ministry of
the TRNC, there were 1,108 registered marriages in 1998 in the TRNC. If the
position of the women and men, who got married and the grade of their education
at the time of marriage (p.36) were taken into consideration, the following
were observed:
Level of
Education Men Women
illiterate 6 2
elementary
school 109 142
secondary
school 188 202
Again, if we bear in mind that the
T/C men and women get married and have children in later years of age, as it
will be seen in the following table (p.22), the mainland Turkish settlers made
the half of those who gave birth to children in 1998:
Level of
education Father Mother
elementary 751 812
secondary 390 259
classic lycee 963 1103
According to the data in the
Statistical Yearbook, there were 2433 births in 1998. The distribution of the
place of birth and the age of the mothers is as follows:
Age State hospital Private clinic
Total: 1039 1394
14-19 103 53
20-24 420 448
25-29 292 509
These data have the same results.
The women who originate from mainland Turkey prefer to get married and to give
birth at an earlier age and since they have a lower level of socio-economic
position, they prefer to give birth mostly at the State Hospitals.
Therefore, this situation was
discussed in the parliament of the TRNC and the then Minster of Health and
Environment, Dr.Gulsen Bozkurt, brought it into the discussion. Dr.Bozkurt
disclosed that 30% of those getting health care in the TRNC hospitals were of
mainland Turkish citizens and that there were some people coming from Turkey in
the TRNC in order to give birth. She continued her speech in the parliament:
"There were patients who came
with broken legs to the Kyrenia harbour with the ferry-boat. They phoned and
asked for the ambulance to drive up to the harbour. They told the ambulance
driver not to drive to Kyrenia, but to Nicosia State Hospital. After they were
operated, we gave them the bill. They said: "We don't have money. He can
get our lives if you want." Our hands are tied."
Dr.Gulsen Bozkurt gave an extreme
example of exploitation of the situation. But some patients, who cannot find
the money for their operation, are brought to the TRNC and after they secure a
permit for work, they are sent back to Turkey with the decision of the Health
Council in order to be operated there. The cost of the operations with
milliards of Turkish pounds paid for the mainland Turkish citizens, is paid by
the state of the TRNC." (Kibris, 24.2.1999)
A
great portion of the mainland Turkish settlers, who have become the majority of
the population in the general population of the TRNC, has both lower level of
education and socio-economic situation
in comparison with the local T/C population. Since these people mostly come
from the rural areas of Turkey or they have different cultural background, it
is natural that some of them may have difficulties in getting accustomed to the
environment in Cyprus. Because of this underdevelopment in the educational
level of the mainland Turkish settlers in comparison with the local T/C and the
difference of their traditional culture brought along with them, it is
understandable that they prefer to get married and have children earlier.
For example, the daugters of these
families discontinue their education earlier than the sons and they get married
at earlier ages and give birth to children at earlier ages. The masculine child
is more popular and preferable in these families and they make sexual
discrimination by using the expressions like "a masculine man always has a
masculine child."
The families who are immigrants from
Turkey do not know much about the concepts like family planning and birth
control and the number of the children in these families is high, because
"God gives them."
DIFFERENCES
ABOUT THE CHILDREN
When the level of education and
socio-economic position of the parents is low, especially the new born babies
are not taken to the regular health controls by the pediatricians, so the
diagnosis of some developmental disturbances could be made at a later date. The
feeding of the babies only with milk and carbonhydrates, giving puddings
instead of vegetable soups is an unhealthy way of feeding. Unhygienic
conditions cause vomiting and diarrhoea by these children, causing
dehydratation and frequent sicknesses and diseases with high fever without
taking the necessary measures in time which lead to complications in infectious
diseases. The compulsory vaccinations are not done in time and regularly,
because of negligence. The children of those families who go to the elementary
school do not have the support from their parents because of their low level of
education and they cannot show the necessary performance because of the difficulties
of their living conditions.
It is interesting to note that a
great majority of the T/C prefer to be employed in the state sector, whereas in
the fields of work which depend on muscle power, the immigrants and illegal
workers originating from Turkey are employed. Especially these workers work in
branches like construction, hotel industry, restaurants and repairs, filling a
great gap.
There is also a section of those
citizens of mainland Turkey, who some to the TRNC as tourists and take part in
various theft, robbery, murder, rape and similar crimes. They constitute a
threat for the social life in the island. The T/C press is full of those
criminal reports.
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