Economic policy preferences of Turkish Cypriot business groups in the post-2004 process in North Cyprus

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Tezin Türü: Yüksek Lisans

Tezin Yürütüldüğü Kurum: Orta Doğu Teknik Üniversitesi, İktisadi ve İdari Bilimler Fakültesi, Siyaset Bilimi ve Kamu Yönetimi Bölümü, Türkiye

Tezin Onay Tarihi: 2017

Öğrenci: CELAL ÖZKIZAN

Danışman: OSMAN GALİP YALMAN

Özet:

The aim in this thesis is to investigate the policy preferences and policy evaluations of two main Turkish Cypriot business groups, Turkish Cypriot Chamber of Commerce and Turkish Cypriot Chamber of Industry, with regards to the labour market in North Cyprus and relations with Turkish state and capital in the post-Annan Plan period in North Cyprus. Thus, I have resorted to the method of in-depth interview in order to penetrate into the mindset of Turkish Cypriot business groups’ officials in detail. My findings reflect that, while the transformation in the economic relations between Turkey and North Cyprus in the post-2004 process have been considered to be favorable by Turkish Cypriot business groups, their impact upon articulating the required revisions are relatively low. Moreover, Turkish Cypriot business groups, both because of their general approval towards the transformation in the post-2004 process and their weakness vis-a-vis the leverage of Turkish state upon the economic policy-making in North Cyprus, have preferred to be more reconciliatory and cautious in this sphere. On the other hand, regarding the labour market aspect of the discussion, Turkish Cypriot business groups act with the understanding of creating a “business-friendly” environment in terms of reducing the labour costs and obtaining the required type of labour force. Unlike the former sphere, their discourse in terms of policy preferences and impact upon the different aspects of labour market are more confident and clear-cut.