Turkey’s ban on Cypriot-flagged or - related vessels using its ports is costing the island’s economy about 138.5 million euros ($188 million) a year, according to Erato Kozakou-Markoulli, Cyprus’s communications minister.
The Turkish embargo costs the equivalent of 1.3 percent of Cyprus’s gross domestic product and affects 2,800 vessels, she said at a conference in Nicosia today, according to a transcript of her speech posted on the government press office website.
These ships are either flagged in Cyprus or are from elsewhere in the European Union and are managed by companies based in Cyprus, Europe’s largest ship-management center, Kozakou-Markoulli said.
Cyprus, an EU member since 2004, has been divided for almost 37 years between its Greek- and Turkish-speaking communities. Turkey occupied the northern third of the island in 1974 after a coup by supporters of union with Greece. Since then Cyprus has been represented by the Greek Cypriot government. The EU has demanded that Turkey open its ports to Cyprus to be considered for membership of the bloc.