TURKEY has reportedly been attempting to delay a resolution from the Council of Europe’s Committee of Ministers asking it to comply with a July 1998 European Court order to pay $900,000 in compensation to Greek Cypriot refugee Titina Loizidou.
The resolution, which follows earlier resolutions issued in October 1999 and July 2000, is expected to be discussed at the Council of Europe headquarters in Strasbourg today.
Quoting exclusive sources, CyBC yesterday said Turkey had been trying to delay the third resolution by implying that it was making efforts to comply with the ruling.
According to CyBC, a document had been floated saying that the occupied areas had agreed to pay the compensation under certain conditions, the first of which was to put the compensation into an account in Strasbourg from which Loizidou would be paid once the Cyprus problem was resolved.
The document also urged that the matter be viewed as a political issue and not become a precedent for other cases.
Loizidou had taken Turkey to the European Court of Human Rights claiming that her right to enjoy her property in the occupied areas had been violated by the continued presence of the occupying Turkish army.
On July 28, 1998, the Court ordered Ankara to allow Loizidou access to her property and pay her damages of $900,000 (approximately £570,000), saying Loizidou was and must be regarded as the legal owner of her property.
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.
