Northern Cyprus and Turkey Sign the 2026 Financial Protocol: Roads, Hospitals and Fibre

Northern Cyprus and Turkey Sign the 2026 Financial Protocol: Roads, Hospitals and Fibre

On 9 April 2026 in Ankara, Turkish Cypriot prime minister Ünal Üstel and Turkish Vice President Cevdet Yılmaz signed the annual economic and financial cooperation agreement. The agreement sets out how much Turkey provides to the north each year and what the money is for. An earlier version of this article named the wrong Turkish signatory. That has been corrected.

How much

• Cyprus Mail reported the protocol at 25 billion TL (about €480 million).
• Turkish news agency DHA quoted Yılmaz as saying about 23 billion TL was allocated under the 2026 agreement, of which 21 billion TL was new funding and the rest carried over.
• Split: Yılmaz said 48% would go to infrastructure and real-sector projects, 10% to public finance support and 42% to defence spending.
• Last year: according to Cyprus Mail, the 2025 allocation rose from an initial 16 billion TL to 21 billion TL, and Yılmaz said 89% of it was used.

What it funds, according to the signing announcements

• Hospitals: Yılmaz said construction of the Morphou (Güzelyurt) hospital would finish by the end of April 2026. Earlier completion dates in 2024 and 2025 had been missed. A hospital in Tavros, on the Karpas peninsula, was due to open on 15 November 2026.
• Roads: 822 km of roads to be resurfaced. Examples given included Rizokarpaso to the Apostolos Andreas monastery, the Kyrenia–Kythrea mountain road and Livera–Orga.
• Digital services: fibre-optic broadband, online booking of doctor appointments and full digitisation of the immigration system.
• Loans: five new credit schemes for farms, small businesses, tradespeople, the service sector and tourism facilities, totalling 800 million TL (about €15 million).

The fibre-optic dispute

The broadband plan rests on a deal giving Türk Telekom exclusive rights to provide fibre internet. The northern legislature ratified it in February 2026. Turkish Cypriot leader Tufan Erhürman referred it to the judiciary, arguing that an exclusive award without a tender may breach the constitution. Cyprus Mail also reported that the deal costs more than four times the originally forecast amount.

Why it matters for residents and buyers

Road, hospital and broadband projects affect daily life in the areas they reach, but timelines have slipped before. If a project matters to your decision, such as a hospital near a property you are considering, check its actual status rather than the announced date.

Sources

• Cyprus Mail, 9 April 2026
• DHA: 2026 economic and financial cooperation agreement

Last reviewed: 24 October 2026