An enclaved woman from Rizokarpaso was backed by the Turkish Cypriot ‘ombudsperson’ over her complaint that authorities in the north had given her property in the village to others to live in despite the fact she had a title deed.
According to Turkish Cypriot media, ‘ombudsperson’ Emine Dizdarli ruled that Niki Nikola Lythrangomitou Kasapi from Rizokarpaso had been unjustly treated by authorities in the north.
Kasapi filed a complaint with Dizdarli’s office after authorities in the north failed to respond to her latest demand some two years ago over other persons living in her house and using her other property in Rizokarpaso.
According to Dizdarli’s report, Kasapi lived in the house in question that was given to her by her father. After 1974 she applied to authorities in the north and received a ‘title deed’ for her house and five pieces of land. After reportedly receiving threats from other inhabitants of the village, she moved to Limassol to live with her children. But despite visiting her Rizokarpaso home often, it was given to other people to live in, the report said.
Kasapi filed a complaint with the ‘interior ministry’ in 2016 but said she had received no reply.
The ‘ministry’, the report said, had listed Kasapi’s property as “abandoned” and gave permission to another person to settle in the house. In addition, three of five immovable properties belonging to Kasapi were allocated to other people, the report said.
According to the report, the house in Rizokarpaso was given to a Turkish national named Hamdi Hocaoğlu in 1996 who sold it some 10 years later to a foreign national, named as Catherine Ann Lally.
A field in Ayia Triada was in 1998 given to the same person who sold half in 2011 to a Charles Huhn Avden Newhom and the other half a year later to a woman named Judith Lavinia Daivad, the report said.
Another field in Rizokarpaso with 25 olive trees and a carob tree was given to Dursun Ali Kol and Perihan Kol in 1995 who sold it three years later to a person named Destine Kocareis.
A field in the area of Ekso Leko, also in Rizokarpaso, was given half to Ahmet Büyükdoğan and half to Şengül Büyükdoğan who each sold their halves in 2010 to Seyfullah Güngör and Mehmet Güngör.
Two more properties in Rizokarpaso remain under the name of Kasapi.
The report added that following research by the office of Dizdarli into the case, competent authorities said that they had been informed by the police that she had moved to the south of the island but that there were no documents to support this.
Had Kasapi left her property prior to February 1975, the report said, according to the ‘law’ it would have been considered as abandoned, but this was not the case.
Kasapi, it added, continued to reside in her home until 1988, during which time she obtained ‘title deeds’ for her property from authorities in the north.
In the following years, Kasapi crossed to the north regularly, the report said, and had been trying to claim her rights as regards her property, which she could not use as it had been allocated to others.
Dizdarli said that authorities in the north ought to re-assess their decisions as regards Kasapi’s remaining property or to offer compensation for property sold to third parties.
