After the Turkish invasion, abandoned Turkish Cypriot properties were taken over by the Guardian of Turkish Cypriot properties, which will return them upon a solution of the political problem.
That’s not quite correct they will be returned when the ECHR tells them to, for example:
WE SEEM to have been led to yet another dead-end by our illustrious leaders. Just after the referendum, they were urging Greek Cypriot refugees in their hundreds to file recourses against Turkey at the European Court of Human Rights. To say the initiative boomeranged would be a gross understatement, because the boomerang we launched is coming back at us in the form of an S300 missile.
The devastation could be caused by a Greek Cypriot who has decided to withdraw his recourse from the ECHR after reaching a friendly settlement with the Turkish Cypriot compensation committee. In exchange for his property in the occupied north, he would be given land owned by a Turkish Cypriot in Larnaca.
The problem is that all Turkish Cypriot properties in the Republic are under the guardianship of the government, which could refuse to hand over the Larnaca property to the man.
If this happened, he could then take the government to court, challenging the law by which the government has taken control of all TC real estate. Whatever the court decided would be problematic. If it ruled that the guardianship law was unconstitutional all the TCs would flock south demanding the return of their properties.
If the ECHR upheld the law, then the aforementioned GC would go to the ECHR claiming his property rights were violated by the Cyprus government.
I mention all these boring details as background to the latest twist of the Cyprob property saga which has caused a new bout of political breast-beating and the launch of a search-party looking for credible scapegoats.
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The second concern relates to the Guardian of Turkish Cypriot Properties, which is part of the Cyprus government, and is the only recognised authority endowed with the power to return land to Turkish Cypriots. This can only take place if the applicant has been residing in the Republic for six months or more.
Assuming the ECHR gave the nod to the land swap, not only would that legitimise the property commission, it would also put the Guardianship on the spot because the Greek Cypriot refugee would be claiming Turkish Cypriot land not legally returned by the Guardian.
In a further negative development for the government, two Turkish Cypriots were recently appointed as judges to the European court.
Kasoulides said yesterday that this train of events was inextricably linked to the government’s poor diplomatic record.
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