The population in the Turkish occupied north of Cyprus has reached 351,000, according to Turkish Cypriot media reports.

The 1983 population of the occupied north; was 155,521.

Turkish Cypriot daily Yeni Duzen reported that Odul Muhtaroglu, ‘permanent secretary of the state planning organisation’ said that for the end of 2017 “we predict a population of approximately 351,000”.

The north’s first ‘official’ census was carried out in 1996 recording a population of 200,587.

Turkish Cypriot leader Mustafa Akıncı and President Nicos Anastasiades had reached an agreement at the end of 2015 that distribution of population numbers following a solution would be 220,000 under Turkish Cypriots administration and 800,0000 under Greek Cypriot administration.

Also on Monday, demographic figures released in the government-controlled areas showed the population to be at 854,800 at the end of 2016 compared with 848,300 the previous year, an increase of 0.8 per cent.

Greek Reporter