Markides: government has to expropriate land to protect refugees

By George Psyllides

ATTORNEY-general Alecos Markides yesterday said the only legal way for the government to protect refugees from being evicted from the formerly Turkish Cypriot land they occupied was to expropriate the land.

The issue emerged after a plot of land in Larnaca was sold to Greek Cypriots, who now want to develop it and want the refugees living there to leave.

The eviction has been halted by Interior Minister Christodoulos Christodoulou, who was apparently caught unawares and has promised the refugees they would not lose their homes.

But Markides said the government could not protect the refugees with words.

” Courts do not obey and do not follow government policy, ministers’ proclamations or even presidential statements.”

He added: ” The courts will enforce the constitution and the state laws.”

” If the state wants the refugees, who for so many years have occupied this property, not to be evicted by the legal owners, then the way to protect them exists, it is legal, and recognised by the constitution and international conventions,”Markides said.

He said the government could expropriate the land on grounds of public interest.

Markides said it was up to the government to decide whether to appropriate the specific properties in the near future, adding that the sooner that was done the better.

He explained that since these properties had been bought at lower prices than they were actually worth, this would be an important factor affecting the compensation paid by the state.

” Securing possession of the land by the occupants can be effective only through appropriation,”Markides said

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