THE Supreme Court yesterday gave a 20-day extension to a Turkish Cypriot man to decide whether he would be filing an objection against an interim order suspending the execution of a court decision reinstating his property in Episkopi.
Arif Mustafa last month won an appeal to return to the property he abandoned soon after the 1974 Turkish invasion.
Execution of the decision would have meant the eviction of the Greek Cypriot refugee family currently occupying the property.
Attorney-general Solon Nikitas has filed an appeal against the decision and was also able to secure an interim order on Monday, suspending the enforcement of the decision.
Mustafa appeared in court yesterday but asked for a further 20 days to study the case file before he decided whether to file an objection to the interim order.
The judge granted his request; he has until October 29 to give his reply.
The hearing of the case will be held a week later on November 5, the judge said.
After his court appearance, Mustafa told reporters that if people wanted reunification then all Cypriots should be able to return to their homes.
“In the free areas Greek Cypriots took Turkish Cypriot properties and over there (occupied north) Turkish Cypriots took Greek Cypriot properties,” Mustafa said.
“In Cyprus, if we want peace and reunification, of course everybody has to return to their property,” he added.
And he said it was the officially recognised government which should take the first step towards this.
“The other side is a pirate state,” Mustafa said.
Christodoulos Taramountas, the lawyer representing the Greek Cypriot family which currently occupies Mustafa’s property, said the suspension of the decision would remain in place until further notice from the court.
Interior Minister Andreas Christou yesterday suggested that there could an increase in applications by Turkish Cypriots for their properties in the government-controlled areas if the Supreme Court rejected the Attorney-general’s appeal.
“An upward trend could be presented after the Supreme Court decision, if it is against the appeal,” Christou said.
He added: “If it is in favour of the appeal, I believe that things will stabilise to the usual numbers.”
The minister said that the state was ready to hear Mustafa’s views and wishes if they could lead to an arrangement that would satisfy the Greek Cypriot refugee occupying the home and respond to his expectations.
“If he wants to meet me or other ministry officials, we are always at his disposal,” Christou said.
The minister revealed that on Monday he would be meeting another Turkish Cypriot whose case had been pending since 2001.
Christou added, however, that in this case the man wanted compensation for his land, which has been appropriated by the Land Development Organisation.
The case concerned 20 donums of land in Paphos, expropriated for building houses.
The owner, 86-year-old Mustafa Ibrahim Mustafa, has been claiming his property, a total of 200 donums of land and two houses since 2001.
He filed lawsuits and lodged a complaint with Ombudswoman Eliana Nicolaou who suggested in December 2001 that Ibrahim Mustafa should be given £48,300 (in 1998 values) plus nine per cent interest since then.
The state also appropriated another piece of the elderly man’s land worth £137,000 but again he got nothing in compensation.
