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Cyprus Class Structure
The Turkish Cypriot class structure changed markedly
after
1974. During the colonial and pre-1963 independence years,
most
Turkish Cypriots lived in rural areas and engaged in
farming.
Others living in urban areas were mostly employed by the
civil
service. Very few Turkish Cypriots engaged in business.
Under these
conditions, one could find the following social classes in
the
Turkish Cypriot community: large landowners (descendants
of the
Ottoman administrators), bureaucrats, a small class of
professionals, and peasants/farmers.
Once Turkish Cypriots had created their own government
and
economy, they began to enter new occupations, altering the
class
structure of their community. At the beginning of the
1990s, there
were many more Turkish Cypriot businessmen than a
generation
earlier, and many others were highly trained professionals
because
of the marked expansion of higher education. The old
landed
aristocracy no longer accounted for all wealthy Turkish
Cypriots.
This class was joined by the new rich, with economic ties
to the
outside world. While such developments should have
contributed to
the rise of middle-income groups among the Turkish
Cypriots, the
economic difficulties faced by the new state (most
significantly
high inflation) seriously eroded the real incomes of the
middle
class, most of whom were civil servants.
At the beginning of the 1990s, most Turkish Cypriots
were
neither wealthy nor had professional occupations. The
majority were
wage earners, working in small production units or at
routine
clerical and service jobs. About one-fourth of the work
force was
engaged in farming.
Data as of January 1991
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