HOW MANY family homes and businesses were lost in 1974, when up to 200,000 Greek Cypriots and 60,000 Turkish Cypriots were made homeless? For an approximation, allow four members to each family for the number of homes then divide again by four for the number of businesses lost and the amounts owed in compensation are not incalculable.
The IPC (Immovable Property Commission) is prepared to indemnify all bona fide Greek Cypriot claimants, but most cannot expect to receive much for a village mud and stone one-room house or hillside olive grove, village coffee shop, butchers or candlestick makers. Rich and well-endowed Cypriots were few in number in 1974.
In pursuance of compensation for his family’s lost home near Kyrenia, George decided to cut out the middleman (GC lawyers) and take advice from a TC lawyer, one who is on the spot, known at the Nicosia ‘TRNC’ courthouse and familiar with the workings of the IPC.
We parked the car in Phaneromenis car park at 9am, crossed over at Ledra Street and made our way to Ataturk Square, where George had been told by the lawyer’s secretary to carry straight on for a hundred metres beyond the IPC offices. Lost, we popped into their offices and gave the lawyer’s name to Ilknur, the helpful clerk we met during a recent exploratory visit. She immediately pointed us in the right direction.
Suddenly much too early for the 10am appointment, we made like tourists and did a little sightseeing, a restored mosque and other ancient buildings a stone’s throw from the north-eastern moat and Venetian walls. Schoolchildren could be heard playing in a nearby playground, but there were no barking dogs, noisy and dusty building sites, cranes, cement lorries and speeding cars. Had I seen citizens on bicycles or donkeys, I might have believed we were in the Nicosia of 60 years ago.
Uninterrupted, we sat with the lawyer for over an hour (no phone calls, gatecrashers or pneumatic drills) and learnt that to complete and submit all paperwork in the Turkish language, the lawyer sought a submission fee, a bona fide Turkish Cypriot valuator’s fee and a further small sum for court appearance and pleading – altogether around €1,700.
Although George only inherited the 1965 property five years ago from his deceased parents, his claim will stretch from 1974 to 2010 and include compensation for loss of use, value of land and any immovable property on it, and sentimental value (loss of family home). The lawyer recommended George submits a fully valued claim in anticipation of being offered at least half.
The IPC will thoroughly check the validity of any claim before making an offer; deeds, pre-1974 bills and receipts, rightful ownership, identity, etc. This will require a minimum of six months. If George decides to submit a claim and then agrees the IPC offer, he will sign away any future rights or claims to the property – Cyprob solution or not. Transactions are registered in the north and deemed valid by the ECHR.
Compensation is paid in pounds sterling and banked in any Turkish bank then transferred to a bank of the claimant’s choice worldwide – the lawyer will take a five per cent cut of any finally agreed sum.
George can oppose an IPC offer, but this will require an extra hearing fee (maybe many) and unless there are very special circumstances, the likelihood of upping the ante is remote.
So far €40 million has been paid out to 470 claimants. Notwithstanding two huge payments amounting to millions, the average settlement is around €80,000.
It should not be forgotten that land values in the south, unlike the north, skyrocketed during the Republic’s 1985-2007 stupendous economic growth. Had the Republic of Cyprus permitted land exchange, disparity could have been avoided and many refugees would have found some sort of satisfaction.
It has been said that amounts paid in compensation by the IPC are derisory. Perhaps so, but then a house on two donums by the sea in the south has a market value double that of its equivalent (George’s family home) in the north.
What we don’t understand in the south is that EU law seeks justice for all – no matter who you are. And when Turkish Cypriot refugees claim compensation for their land in the south at today’s market value (the RoC cannot hang onto it in ‘trust’ indefinitely), the RoC treasury will be bankrupted – not that it isn’t already …
The good news for the RoC economy is that Greek Cypriot refugees might well re-invest their IPC payments in south property with full title deeds. Alternatively, they could await the inevitable RoC property crash, when seized property will be auctioned off by banks for half its present day value, emulating what’s now happening in those other two 1985-2007 stupendous economies, Spain and Greece.
As such, is our president right to recommend refugees await a solution rather than go to the IPC, while fully aware that his opposite number, Mehmet Ali Talat looks set to lose the looming elections to a hardliner, who seeks partition? And even if there is a solution, would it resolve the property issue promptly and fairly? Our president doesn’t say. In fact, very little has been said about the property issue throughout the last two years of talks.
Yesterday, Cyprus was another country, today there are two; no amount of talking will alter that. Just cross over and see for yourself – Turkification is much more in evidence than Talatisation and reunification seems a far stretch.
Playing the blame game this past 36 years has led us towards permanent partition and little else. Perhaps that’s what both sides really want… and deserve.
So whether we like it or not, the property issue has become a matter for individuals to resolve by voting with their feet and crossing over to the other side, unlike politicians, who have persistently sidestepped it with vague promises.
Possession is 9 points of the law. The ‘TRNC’ and Turkey are in the process of legalising that possession in the eyes of ECHR, which now recognises IPC payments as a solution to the property issue, suggesting that invasion, ethnic cleansing and expropriation work if you are a minor super power with total disregard for most UN resolutions passed in favour of the underdog.
Ilknur has yet to decide on her baby boy’s name, awaiting as she is the outcome of the elections. Meanwhile, George might well choose to accept half of something and instruct his Turkish Cypriot lawyer to submit a claim before the IPC deadline of December 2011.
The talks look to be stationary but behind the scenes there is movement – and that movement will resolve the Cyprob once and for all, joint statements or not.
