Pressure for north’s law changes said to be coming from the top
TURKISH Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan is personally leaning on the Turkish Cypriot authorities to amend its constitution to allow the restitution of properties to Greek Cypriot refugees, media reports said yesterday.
Drawing from persistent stories in Turkish Cypriot newspapers, Greek language daily Politis said the north was continuing its efforts to annul Article 159 of its constitution, which is the basis of the proprietorship regime in the occupied areas.
Under the article, all land and properties belonging to Greek Cypriots before 1974 was nationalised. Now, according to the press, an amendment has been submitted to the north’s ‘parliament’ that would allow Greek Cypriots to contest their properties in a northern court.
However, for a Greek Cypriot to get his property back, the person currently occupying it would need to agree to move, and would be given compensation for this. If the current resident does not agree, the case would go to court (in the north).
Alternatively, the Greek Cypriot would be offered compensation; if he/she did not accept this, then again the case would go to court. If, in both scenarios, the court failed to resolve the dispute, then the litigants would seek recourse at the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR).
But back in April the ECHR ruled that a ‘compensation commission’ set up by the Turkish Cypriot regime could not be an effective domestic remedy in addressing Greek Cypriot refugee claims, opening the doors to a flood of court cases against Turkey.
The case, which was considered critical, as it affected scores of similar cases before the ECHR, examined the status of the commission, which Turkey claimed was an efficient domestic remedy in relation to an application filed by Myra Xenides-Arestis concerning her property in Varoshia.
One of the main reasons why the compensation commission was considered ineffective was its composition: the majority of its members are living in houses owned or built on property owned by Greek Cypriots, meaning there was a clear conflict of interest. Now, however, reports suggest the northern regime plans to overcome this obstacle by appointing foreigners to the commission.
The same sources said that Erdogan and Turkish Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul have personally interceded on Turkish Cypriot parties to pass the amendment to Article 159 of the constitution.
Whatever the accuracy of these reports, reaction from political forces in the north has already begun. Yesterday nationalist Volkan reported that four deputies of the National Unity Party (UBP) swore they would never vote for the amendment.
A two-thirds majority in ‘parliament’ is required to change the constitution.
Meanwhile, Turkish Cypriot press reports said the regime was considering allowing Greek Cypriot refugee Titina Loizidou to return to her house in Kyrenia by the end of the year, as a gesture that Turkey was complying with ECHR rulings.
Turkey was forced to pay £640,000 to Loizidou as compensation for the loss of use of her property. Until then, it had been refusing to comply with the judgement of the ECHR for five years. It is still refusing to implement a second court decision regarding Loizidou: the freedom to enjoy her property.
Turkey’s progress on this second – and perhaps more vital – leg of the decision stands to be reviewed later this month by Europe’s Council of Ministers at Strasbourg.
“If Turkey is found in default, she will again appear to flaunt European court decisions and, by extension, European law,” said Loizidou’s attorney Achilleas Demetriades.
The repercussions of that would be deeply political, Demetriades added, given that Turkey is now an EU candidate and is striving to prove it respects EU rules and decorum.
Demetriades cautioned against taking too literally the rumoured amendment of the TRNC’s ‘constitution.’
“It all depends on what they plan to change, and to what extent. Will it affect all Greek Cypriot refugees, some of them…what?”
“Still, one thing’s for sure: something big is cooking,” he added, noting that any developments would impact the property issue, which is at the heart of the Cyprus problem.
For its part, the government appears to have been stunned by Turkey’s initiative. The Foreign Ministry’s permanent secretary Sotos Zaccheos told the Mail yesterday they were adopting “a wait-and-see policy.”
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