THE European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) has found admissible an application by Greek Cypriot hotel owners against Turkey for denying them access to their property in the north, which is being used by the Turkish army.
The Rock Ruby Hotel is owned by Agathoclis Neocleous and his two sisters Erato and Maria, married respectively to a Briton and a German. In their application to the ECHR, the family said that since July 1974 when the hotel’s guests were evacuated from the premises, they had been unable to return to their property or enjoy it.
In its decision finding the Rock Ruby Hotel appeal admissible, which was issued at the end of May, the ECHR referred to its judgement in 1995, in which it decreed that Turkey was guilty of denying Greek Cypriot refugee Titina Loizidou the right to enjoy her property in the north.
“The Court finds no reason to depart from these conclusions,” the majority decision states.
Achilleas Demetriades, the lawyer for the family said yesterday the case was important because it was a decision on admissibility after Turkey had had the opportunity to file its observations and because it also reaffirmed the Loizidou case.
“So in that respect it’s quite important, and the interesting thing about this case which gets a mention in the report is that this property, the Rock Ruby hotel, is used by the Turkish army itself,” Demetriades said.
“I consider this to be important because it’s property that the Turkish army itself is using. The Turks say the army is not here… there is no army here. well we say the army is using the hotel.”
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.
