THE TURKISH Cypriot religious foundation EVKAF is ready to implement its master plan to rebuild the abandoned Greek Cypriot town of Varosha in Famagusta, the Turkish Cypriot newspaper Halkin Sesi reported yesterday.
The organisation is though to have completed work on the master plan and is now ready to put it into action.
The plan includes opening the closed-off area of Varosha, creating 20,000 new tourist beds, 5,000 offices, 15,000 new houses and 15,000 jobs.
According to Halkin Sesi, EVKAF director-general Taner Dervis said the first step in implementing the plan would be to contact ‘trespassers’ of EVKAF property to discuss issues of compensation owed to the organisation.
EVKAF claims ‘trespassers’ include the Church of Cyprus, Greek Cypriot-owned tourist operations, Greek Cypriot local authorities and school boards, Greek and Turkish Cypriot citizens, and Britain’s Ministry of Defence.
The next step, depending on the outcome of the first, would be to attract investment into the project, Dervis told the paper.
Turkish Cypriot leader Rauf Denktash claims 70-80 per cent of Varosha is Vakif land, which was illegally sold in the past or given away to the Church of Cyprus without the approval of EVKAF. During the Ottoman period, religious foundations or endowments called Vakif, the plural of which is Evkaf, were set up in the newly created areas of the Ottoman Empire to support religious, cultural, and social activities.
Work on the master plan began last August when Dervis said that since 1878, when Cyprus was given to Britain, and during the 1960-1974 period until the Turkish invasion, Vakif land and estates had been looted. He claimed EVKAF’s compensation should now be in the region of $500 billion.
The foundation has already said it plans to sue the Cyprus government for $170 million for use of its waterworks in the Turkish Cypriot quarter of Larnaca, saying it is Vakif land. Dervis estimated that rebuilding Varosha would increase ‘state’ revenue in the north by 100 per cent.
Last July Denktash offered to return part of Varosha to the Greek Cypriot side in exchange for the reopening of Nicosia Airport, which is under United Nations control. His proposal was rejected and received a cool response from the international community.
The UN Security Council made it clear that any change in the status quo in the abandoned ghost town would be a violation of UN resolutions. A week later Denktash threatened to resettle the town unilaterally. Experts say, however, that rebuilding Varosha would cost billions of pounds.
