Karmi properties were abandoned before 1974

I read with interest your recent article concerning Karmi village in north Cyprus.

Your choice of Karmi as, apparently, an archetypal Greek Cypriot village now owned by foreigners is simply incorrect.

The great majority of properties within the actual village are leasehold and administered by the Ministry of Tourism. It is true that most of these houses are leased to foreigners as this was the decision of the newly installed administration in the north, post 1974.

The village houses have been substantially renovated and maintained, at the leaseholders’ expense, to standards set by the Ministry of Tourism.

There is, therefore, no conceivable connection between the situation in Karmi and the other well publicised property disputes surrounding the sale of disputed freeholds to foreigners.

Frankly, the most minimal amount of research by your correspondent would have revealed this information. Viewing of widely available photographs from the period would also have shown that there were very few habitable properties in the village in 1974.

The reason for this was that Karmi, along with many isolated villages, had been largely abandoned mainly due to transport difficulties. There was little work in these villages and, quite obviously, few people owned cars at that time.

Marion Butler,
Lapithos