Northern Cyprus establishes
new property commission

The seven-man commission will operate in the context of the recent ‘law for compensation, exchange and reinstatement of the immovable property’ and will include two independent overseas members: Hans Christian Kruger, a German who is a former vice secretary general of the Council of Europe, and Swede Daniel Tarschys, a former secretary general of the same organisations.

Establishment of the commission had been expected as a response to a December European Court of Human Rights ruling that the property rights of Greek Cypriot Myra Xenides-Arestis had been breached when she been forced to abandon her property in the north of the island. The court did not award compensation but said the Turkish authorities should come up with a plan for ensuring a proper remedy for her and others in her position within three months.

The claims of another 1,400 Greek Cypriots were thereby put on hold pending the required remedy.

An earlier attempt at a commission had been rejected by the legitimate Government of Cyprus and the solutions offered by it found to be less than adequate by the ECHR.

Whether the new commission will prove an acceptable way forward remains in the balance since participation of the displaced Greek property owners will be needed. There are reports that some of those affected by the Xenides-Arestis decision have moved to lodge an appeal.

In the case of Xenides-Arestis’s own property there is a further problem since it is in Varosha, where it is walled off and apparently inaccessible to civilians.

Recently the Government of Cyprus dropped an appeal against return to its original Turkish Cypriot owner of a home being used by displaced Greek Cypriots. It also announced that Greek Cypriot refugees from the occupied north now living in the south in Turkish-Cypriot-owned properties or in properties built on land owned by Turkish Cypriots were to be given government land of their own.

Other refugees living in refugee or other housing estates built on government land or land that was expropriated will receive the title deeds to their homes within next two years.

Meanwhile UK residents David and Linda Orams are fighting the decision of the Nicosia District Court that their property in northern Cyprus, built on land owned by Greek Cypriot Meletios Apostolides, should be demolished and compensation paid. The Orams are being defended by Cherie Blair.

The Government of Cyprus cited the case when last year when warning off would be buyers of properties in northern Turkey with suspect titles. It reminded investors that as Cyprus was now a member of the European Union, court decisions could be pursued and enforced in other parts of the EU.