After the de facto partition of the island
in 1974, Turkish Cypriots began to return to
Cyprus, and the decline was reversed. In
addition, some 20,000 Turkish guest workers
moved to the island to revive the Turkish
Cypriot economy. Many of these workers
eventually decided to remain permanently and
take TRNC citizenship. Some immigration from
Turkey continued in subsequent years.
Largely as a result of this dual
immigration, the Turkish Cypriot population
totaled 167,256 in 1988, according to the
TRNC State Planning Organisation.
The average annual rate of population increase during the period
1978-87 was 1.3 percent. In 1987 the rate
was 1.5 percent. Despite the smallness of
most age cohorts (that is those born in a
particular year) born in the 1970s (a
probable reflection of the decade's
turbulence), more than half the population
was less that twenty-five years of age. The
age-sex distribution matched standard
patterns, with males in the majority in the
first few decades, and women in the majority
thereafter.
Data as of January 1991
| There was a significant Turkish
Cypriot exodus from the island between 1950 and 1974 when thousands
left the island, mainly for Britain and Australia. The migration had
two phases. The first lasted from 1950 to 1960, when Turkish
Cypriots benefited from liberal British immigration policies as the
island gained its independence, and many Turkish Cypriots settled in
London. Emigration would have been higher in this period, had there
not been pressure from the Turkish Cypriot leadership to remain in
Cyprus and participate in building the new republic. The second and more intense phase of Turkish Cypriot emigration began after inter-communal strife increased in late 1963. Living conditions for Turkish Cypriots worsened as about 25,000 of them, faced with Greek Cypriot violence, gathered in several enclaves around the island. In addition, all Turkish Cypriots working for the government of the Republic of Cyprus lost their civil service positions. Aid from Turkey allowed those in the enclaves to survive, but life at a subsistence level and the constant threat of violence caused numerous Turkish Cypriots to leave for a better life abroad. As before, most emigrants left for Australia and Britain, but some settled in Turkey. By 1972 the Turkish Cypriot population had declined to around 78,000, and prospects for the community's survival on the island looked bleak. |
|
|
|
|
