Lawyers are the big winners in Orams aftermath

The triumphant trumpeting following the ECHR ruling on the Oram’s case is deafening!
There are many stages left before this ruling is cast in stone – not least the decision now awaited in October by the Appeals Court in the UK .

For example, the procedures adopted by the court in Nicosia at the original hearings will be examined in minutiae. Then there are complexities added by this ruling to a possible solution to the Cyprus problem, which is being sought by the end of the year.

Having followed the twists and turns to the Cyprus problem for more than 20 years, I add some further cautions to the wave of euphoria that is evident at present in the South. It is becoming quite clear that Turkey has virtually no chance of entering the EU any time soon or perhaps ever.

Anyone who knows the Turks will already realise that they understand this well enough. So I ask: why, after 35 years of division and knowing the realities of their EU application, would Turkey really push for a comprehensive solution? The answer despite all the rhetoric is actually already clear – not much will likely change.

That being said, at the end of the year some form of property exchange may be the only way forward. The Annan plan offered some clues as to how this might happen but it was rejected by the South.

However, my understanding is that  southern properties in the north at the centre of the current euphoria were allocated against deeds held by Turkish Cypriots who moved to the North in 1974. I think that in the end these deeds will form a starting point to the complex resolution to this property exchange. Deeds are a big subject on both sides of the divide and perhaps the biggest winners in all of this will be the lawyers who are rubbing their hands already.
 
Michael Blunden, UK

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.