Where will the £500m to compensate Turkish Cypriot landowners come from?

THE state owes half a billion pounds to Turkish Cypriots whose properties have been expropriated to create refugee settlements, roads and other works to enhance the community.
The estimate for the value of the expropriated land was calculated by the Land Registry Department, Auditor-general Chrystalla Yorkadji told the House Watchdog Committee on Tuesday. Despite the money not having to be paid immediately, according to the law, if the Turkish Cypriot landowners decide to come back to live permanently in the free areas of Cyprus, they would have to be compensated.

In her report into the year 2005, Yorkadji said that even though this sum is very large, no provisions have been made by the government regarding how to pay. “The total sum for the compensation and the interest owed to Turkish Cypriot landowners for the expropriations carried out by the government is not mentioned in any budget nor does it appear to have been accounted for. A political decision has to be taken in order to find the necessary capital regarding the compensation for Turkish Cypriot properties,” she said.

The problem, however, is not down to the present government alone, as a succession of Cypriot governments failed to create some sort of account for this purpose after the invasion of 1974.

The issue was brought up by DISY Deputy Giorgos Georgiou in the previous meeting of the House Watchdog Committee, resulting in the Auditor-general investigating the matter with the Land Registry before coming up with an estimate of £500 million for the properties.

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.