THE government has told UN Secretary-general Kofi Annan that the Turkish Cypriot side has recently intensified the construction of homes, villas and hotels on Greek Cypriot-owned land in the north, as well as the sale of Greek Cypriot property to foreigners.
In a letter to Annan, which has been circulated as a UN document, Cyprus’ Chargé d’affaires to the UN, Andreas Hadjichrysanthou, said the government wished to express “strong concern over the unfavourable repercussions that such actions may have on efforts to find a just and viable solution to the Cyprus problem”.
Hadjichrysanthou said the actions by the Turkish Cypriot side further complicated the sensitive issue of property rights and had the potential, if not stopped, of creating a new fait accompli in the de facto division of the island.
He said the move also undermined continuing efforts towards reconciliation and mutual trust between the two communities.
“The actions constitute a violation of relevant decisions of the European Court of Human Rights and blatantly demonstrate disrespect towards an independent and internationally recognised judicial body,” the letter said.
“The judgments of the European Court of Human Rights clearly established that the administrative practice carried out by the local administration in the occupied area of Cyprus, which is subordinate to Turkey, of issuing ‘title deeds’ to new occupants of properties belonging to Greek Cypriots, is based on the so-called ‘legislative’ and ‘constitutional’ provisions of the said administration, which in no case whatsoever can be attributed any legal validity.”
Hadjichrystanthou said that the European Court of Human Rights had concluded that Greek Cypriot owners could not be deemed to have lost their property and that they had always remained and would continue to remain the only true and lawful owners of their properties in the occupied area of Cyprus.
“Entering into a ‘deal’ for the purchase of immovable property belonging to Greek Cypriots situated in the area of Cyprus under Turkish military occupation constitutes an illegal act which could expose the ‘buyer’ to grave legal and financial consequences,” his letter to Annan said.
“In fact such ‘buyers’, who essentially ‘purchase’ property which does not belong to the ‘seller’ run the risk of being sued at any time by the rightful Greek Cypriot owners, either before the courts of the Republic of Cyprus or before competent national courts abroad for trespass or conspiracy to commit trespass.”
