By Alex Mita
INTERIOR Minister Andreas Christou said yesterday the government would not tolerate any arbitrary behaviour by anyone claiming Turkish Cypriot property, regardless of the reasons for their action.
Christou’s comments came in the wake of a row sparked when two homeless Turkish Cypriot families broke into a Turkish Cypriot property in Larnaca that has been housing refugees since the invasion.
The Turkish Cypriots, Kemal Raih, his wife Guldane, their two children and a friend, Yeliz Ale with her two children, came from the occupied north a year ago.
They claimed yesterday they had been forced to live in their car for a whole year because they had not received a house or any financial benefits from the government.
They claimed they had no other choice but to break into the house, which had been deserted ever since its occupant, an elderly Greek Cypriot refugee, died.
But when the daughter of the woman found out the Turkish Cypriots had broken into the house she allegedly flew into a rage and began destroying furniture and flowers that were left behind by her mother, demanding that the families moved out.
When the daughter called police, the Turkish Cypriots warned they would set fire to the place and to themselves.
Speaking to the Cyprus Mail yesterday a friend of the Turkish Cypriots said they were being treated unfairly.
“They have been living in a car for a year with four children,” she said.
“The husband works as a builder and he makes £15 a day. How is he supposed to rent a house with that sort of money?” she asked.
“His wife doesn’t speak Greek so she can’t find a job, and the government simply doesn’t care. What were they supposed to do? They were homeless and when they saw the house was deserted they moved in. How else were they supposed to find shelter for their children?”
The friend claimed the daughter of the Greek Cypriot woman was beside herself with anger when she stormed into the place breaking things and threatening them.
“The daughter of the woman who lived here stormed in and broke things. She tore the flowers and took all the lemons from the trees, what kind of behaviour is this?” she asked.
“The original owner of this house who lives in occupied Nicosia came and saw us and she said she had no problem with us staying in her house.”
The families claimed the Greek Cypriot woman had had the electricity and water cut off from the house on Tuesday and that she refused to help them have it transferred to their name.
Speaking to the Cyprus Mail, the Greek Cypriot woman said the government cared more about people who took away Greek Cypriots’ land instead of the refugees.
“They broke into the house and they started taking my mother’s furniture outside and just settled there drinking my coffee,” she said.
“I asked them to tell me with what right they had broken into the house without asking my permission, but they said I had no right to say anything to them because I didn’t have the title deed to the house.”
The woman said she had been infuriated by the Turkish Cypriots’ failure to ask for her permission to move in.
“The thing that really irritated me was the fact that they just broke in without asking my permission when I had all my mother’s belongings inside. I wouldn’t have minded if they kept all the stuff and as long as they told me, I think it was the proper thing to do.”
But Christou, who visited Larnaca District official Kyprianos Matthaiou yesterday to be briefed on the incident, said the government would not allow this sort of behaviour from anyone claiming Turkish Cypriot property.
“Those Cypriots who feel they have a right to Turkish Cypriot property should follow the legal procedure to claim that property,” he said.
“If they are homeless, then the government will help them to get a home when one becomes available.”
But Christou pledged that the matter would be resolved by Matthaiou and that the family would have a home soon.
“We are looking into the matter, but we will not tolerate this sort of behaviour that deviates from legal boundaries.”
Christou stressed that Greek Cypriots had also behaved in a similar manner in the past and that people should not concentrate only on the behaviour of Turkish Cypriots.
“We have witnessed arbitrary behaviour from Greek Cypriots and people must understand that the law doesn’t discriminate.”
The Turkish Cypriots were yesterday taken to Larnaca police station where they were formally charged and released.
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.
