On 28 August 2020, the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC) Prime Minister Ersin Tatar declared Northern Cyprus to be “the most successful state” in Europe in the struggle against the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) that was officially declared as a (global) pandemic by the World Health Organization (WHO) on 11March 2020. Prime Minister Tatar argued that the TRNC was one of the safest countries in terms of the number of cases, number of tests conducted, and the number of deaths encountered by population. Indeed, TRNC officials responded swiftly to the first case on 10 March taking measures to limit the spread of the virus — implementing an effective lockdown and self-isolation. By September 2020 however, a global resurgence of COVID-19 cases — especially in Turkey, the main gateway for Northern Cyprus — has presented a significant challenge for the country in tackling the virus’ spread.
The Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus shares similar features with other “de facto states” in terms of fragile and age-worn healthcare infrastructures, volatile economic conditions and limited resources, and the relatively high numbers of elderly that has put a strain on the struggle against the COVID-19, severely risking lives and livelihoods of people in other contexts. What made Northern Cyprus stand apart during the pandemic nonetheless, is that it took timely and aggressive safety measures to limit the spread of the virus while other “de facto” state authorities were slow to adopt the required safety measures, and the precautions in most cases were “overly lax”. In Abkhazia and Nagorno-Karabakh, for example, effective safety measures and restrictions (including the declaration of the state of emergency) were put into practice only after the presidential elections in late March and early April, whereas in the TRNC the 26 April 2020 presidential elections were rescheduled on 16 March were rescheduled by a joint decision of all candidates for 11 October 2020.
That said, a combination of factors including the forthcoming presidential elections, public awareness and popular pressure through social media, an active civil society and the nature of the economic structure in the TRNC have also played a significant role in facilitating the introduction of effective measures in the earlier phase of the battle against the pandemic. Indeed, the somewhat aggressive measures enabled the Turkish Cypriot authorities to control the spread and enjoy a tranquil period of 75 days — from 17 April to 2 July 2020 — within which no cases were detected. It is also possible to suggest that its isolation from the rest of the world, physically, politically, but also economically, presented some advantages for the TRNC (and also other “de facto” states) and that its isolation made international lockdown much easier — helping the authorities ‘dodge’ the first-wave of COVID-19 effectively, and with relatively less damage.
On the downside however, their contested status mean that most de facto states have been left ‘invisible’ and the TRNC (together with Somaliland, South Ossetia, Nagorno-Karabakh) remain omitted or are partially represented (Donetsk and Luhansk) on the current COVID-19 statistics/mapping sites. For the TRNC, its non-recognition has also created further problems in terms of securing vital medical materials and equipment, which have so far been by-passed through international links established by its businesspeople. In this regard, an influential businessperson, Halil Falyalı was widely praised by the Turkish Cypriot media for his help on finding and donating around €230 thousand worth of antiviral drugs (100 packs of Favipiravir and 96 packs of Tocilizumab) to the TRNC Health Ministry. Another businessperson, and the owner of the local İktisat bank, Mete Özmerter was also applauded for transporting drugs and medical equipment from Turkey on multiple occasions, using his private jet.
TRNC and other “de facto states” have also found it difficult to access international aid or other forms of intergovernmental support. In the Turkish Cypriot case, aside from Turkey, only the European Union (EU) has so far provided aid for tackling the pandemic and easing its economic consequences. More remarkably perhaps, a popular call initiated by the Turkish Cypriot civil society for the WHO to include Northern Cyprus in its database seem to have been largely ignored by the international body. In view of the ongoing pandemic, and the upward trend on a daily basis in the number of confirmed cases in almost all “de facto states”, it is not difficult to suggest that the TRNC authorities face an uphill battle.
It should also be noted that considering their limited testing capacities and the “tightly controlled information”, the situation for some of these countries and entities (particularly South Ossetia) is far more dim than the official statistics suggest. For the TRNC though, a more positive development has been a clear and substantial increase in testing largely based on the “double PCR” testing policy of the government on all persons arriving at the island from 1 July onwards. Indeed, the authorities carried out 37.817 tests by 1 July, largely to persons that presented COVID-19 symptoms, and to those civil servants and private sector employees who were allowed to go back to work from 1 May following the partial opening. And robust testing conducted since has focused on international travellers.
That said, the lifting of travel restrictions by the TRNC government as part of the partial opening has been far from criticism. For their part, the authorities have argued that economic concerns blocked the possibility of a longer shutdown both domestically and toward international travel in view of the fact that the TRNC economy relies heavily on tourism and higher education revenues. For its critics however, the new measures regarding travellers have been “overly lax” and that all people arriving in Northern Cyprus should be subject to (at least seven days obligatory) quarantine to not burden the already fragile and deficient healthcare system which they say lacks a pandemic hospital, antiviral drugs and qualified personnel. Recent developments have only amplified such fears and criticisms. At the time of writing, the TRNC has started to witness a steep increase in the total number of daily cases reported, from 331 to 607 cases within a 14-day period. The widespread concern is that the healthcare system will soon reach its full capacity forcing a second lockdown, thus long term economic hardship.
For many onlookers, the challenges “de facto” states face amidst the ongoing pandemic stem from their non-recognition. While this holds true to some extent, the TRNC — despite being effectively ostracised from global efforts to tackle the pandemic, and with limited resources to stem it — has nonetheless responded swiftly to prevent the spread of the coronavirus. Yet the recent spike in numbers have left many to wonder whether it was too soon re-open the country for business. And while the officials have pledged that their battle will continue, it is difficult to anticipate the precise repercussions of a prolonged pandemic. In that respect, the TRNC and other “de facto” states are no different than other states; they face the same dilemma as the rest of the world.
* An earlier version of this article co-authored with İbrahim Ayberk appeared on the Near East Institute Blogs page, yde.neu.edu.tr
