Refugees will not return: Denktash

CYPRIOT refugees will not be going back to their homes in the occupied areas, Turkish Cypriot leader Rauf Denktash has said. According to reports in the Turkish Cypriot press, Denktash referred to Nato’s returning of Kosovo refugees to their homes, and said that in the case of Cyprus, the island had become “bizonal and a population exchange was made.”

As a result, he added, “the Greek Cypriots have settled down in properties once belonging to the Turkish Cypriots and they became one of the richest countries of the Mediterranean.”

His statements came on the day when it was announced that up to 30 more applicants would be following the lead of Titina Loizidou and taking Turkey to the EU court of human rights over their inability to enjoy their property in the occupied areas.

Christos Clerides, the lawyer who is handling many of the cases, said that because of the success of the Loizidou case, many more were expected, and that 30 so far had been accepted.

Achilleas Demetriades, who handled the Loizidou case, said he believed her success has opened the door for other cases to follow, but that these had to be undertaken in a serious manner.

Michaelis Hapeshis, a refugee with a case pending said

“I believe that all the refugees should submit applications to the EU court. It’s something that would give refugees a sense of satisfaction that we are doing something, we are not just sitting and waiting for something to happen.”

The Cyprus Mail is the only English-language daily newspaper published in Cyprus. It was established in 1945 and today, with its popular and widely-read website, the Cyprus Mail is among the most trusted news sites in Cyprus. The newspaper is not affiliated with any political parties and has always striven to maintain its independence. Over the past 70-plus years, the Cyprus Mail, with a small dedicated team, has covered momentous events in Cyprus’ modern history, chronicling the last gasps of British colonial rule, Cyprus’ truncated independence, the coup and Turkish invasion, and the decades of negotiations to stitch the divided island back together, plus a myriad of scandals, murders, and human interests stories that capture the island and its -people. Observers describe it as politically conservative.