ATTORNEY-general Alecos Markides yesterday stepped up government efforts to warn foreign investors about the risks of illegally buying property in the north of the island.
Markides underlined Monday’s statement made by Government Spokesman Michalis Papapetrou saying that foreign investors risked losing their money. He also called for intensification of the information campaign about the hazards of buying property in the Turkish occupied areas.
Markides said: “Naturally, a wider information campaign is needed in the areas where this phenomenon takes place in order to make potential buyers realise that they risk losing their money.”
In his statement, Markides also addressed the possibility of using other methods to prevent the sale of properties belonging to Greek Cypriots lost during the 1974 invasion. He explained: “We have repeatedly tried to block advertising and to secure a court decision in a specific case but foreign courts say that they don’t have the jurisdiction to deal with title ownership in a foreign countries or have the ability to determine legal ownership.”
However, Markides referred to the success of individual appeals to the European Court of Human Rights as the basis for arguments against the purchase of property in the north. In the case of refugee Titina Loizidou, the court found in favour of Greek Cypriot against Turkey for loss of use and access to property, ordering Ankara to pay compensation, which it never did.
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.
