Cyprus-Forum.com

[insan]

Britons await court ruling on dream holiday homes



22/02/2005


Around 6,000 UK citizens, lured by the cheap prices, have invested in the island's breakaway north, but now risk being ordered to demolish their dream holiday homes if a court rules against a British citizen in a landmark case.

UK’s Guardian newspaper reported that enthusiasm is such that growing numbers are buying off-plan and over the Internet. But what the unsuspecting newcomers are never told is that the real estate is anything but sound. Invariably, the Britons are walking into a political landmine. Nearly 200,000 Greek Cypriots were forcibly displaced when the Turkish army invaded the island following an Athens-backed coup aimed at uniting it with Greece. Historically inhabited by Greeks, northern Cyprus was home to very few Turkish Cypriots at the time.

Last year, the European Court of Human Rights issued an unprecedented ruling establishing Greek Cypriots as the 'only true and lawful owners' of the land. 'The original owners never stopped having legal title to their land,' said Kypros Chrysostomides, Cyprus Government Spokesman.

Under EU law, he insisted, those who went on to buy the property ran the risk of being hauled before British courts 'for trespass, or conspiracy to commit trespass.'

Greek Cypriot refugees are taking advantage of EU law to reclaim lost lands in the Turkish-run enclave from Britons who have bought properties at bargain prices.

Next week, Linda and David Orams, from East Sussex, will learn whether their appeal against the order - issued by a Greek Cypriot court in the divided capital Nicosia - is upheld.

The Orams were instructed last November to tear down their two-storey house and return the land to Meletis Apostolidis, an architect whose family still own the title deeds to the plot.

Apostolidis, who last saw the land in 1974, the year war partitioned Cyprus, has vowed to use its new status as an EU member if the tribunal upholds the judgment and the couple fail to comply. This could allow him to seize their home in Cyprus and their house in Hove.

'Should the court refuse to set the judgment aside, and the Orams fail to comply, then we will try, within the spirit of EU regulations, to have the judgment registered in the UK and have it enforced that way,' his lawyer, Constantis Condunas, told the Guardian on Friday. 'It is impossible to enforce the judgment because of the presence of the Turkish army and 40,000 soldiers in the north.'

Speaking to The Observer , Mrs Orams, 54, a former exhibitions assistant, insisted the couple had unwittingly become entangled in the island's politics. It was only when they started building that they discovered the plot had originally belonged to a Greek Cypriot, she said.

'This is a political situation and we've got caught in the middle. It's totally unfair,' she said. 'In our eyes we did everything above board when we bought the land and built the villa. Frankly, I think we're being deliberately targeted because we're British and have got property in England. If it wasn't us, it would be other Britons here.'

In recent years there has been a surge of real estate agents eager to sell traditional village homes and retirement bungalows to foreigners. Britons, sensing stunning financial gains, have been at the forefront of the scramble to snap them up.

For the thousands who have acquired villas across northern Cyprus, the Orams' plight offers a cautionary tale. Three years ago, following an Observer exposé, the Foreign Office took the unusual step of warning Britons about the potential perils of purchasing properties. The republic, which proclaimed independence in 1983, is not recognised beyond the borders of its patron, Turkey.

'A lot of these people are now very shaken up and don't like what they've heard at all,' said a spokesman at the British High Commission in Nicosia. 'For years we've been warning UK citizens to get very independent legal advice before they make such purchases. What's happened is not surprising.'

Mrs Orams denies that either she or her husband have been naive. While they understand where the Greek Cypriot refugees are 'coming from, after 30 years they should also move on'.

'We have fully accepted that if there is ever a peace settlement we might have to pay compensation to the original owners, and we have no problem with that,' she added.

'But I don't think its right that we should be targeted in this way. What we're doing is fighting not only for ourselves but for all the Brits who have property here. There are a lot of people who have put all their money into properties here and they're very frightened that now they could be taken away.'


www.financialnews.com

[insan]

Constantis Condunas, told the Guardian on Friday. 'It is impossible to enforce the judgment because of the presence of the Turkish army and 40,000 soldiers in the north.'

That's why Tassos and his backing crew insist on withdrawal of all turkish troops before an agreed comprehensive solution. You foxy Tassos! Prepare yourself to see the day on October 3rd.

[insan]

Consequences of neglected Cyprus problem. If the Turkish side had shown respect for 3rd Vienna Agreement, which was signed between the relevant parties, there wouldn't have been such sad, stupid situations. In 1975, there were around 20.000 GCs had been living in the North. Under the then circumstances, against all odds those GCs should have been treated equally and humanely like the TCs treated. Moreover, some 15.000 more GC refugees should have been allowed to return North. Besides, %9 of the occupied land should immediately returned to the GC administration, unilaterally.

Then resolving the remaining part of the problem would be easier. Exchange of properties, compensations, gradually withdrawing the troops and of course heart of the problem: "Political equality of two communities". If the embeciles of North had been a bit wiser, they could give a good lesson to the GC leadership by granting "political equality" to those 35.000 GCs of North.

But unfortunately, imbeciles of North thought two wrongs make one right. They thought retaliating with the same inhumane methods like imbeciles of South used, would eradicate all the problems.

For more than 30 years, all of the imbeciles of Cyprus live like the Kings on both sides of the Island...