One person said that the UN took care of the Famagusta Land Office in Famagusta but no one has been able to substantiate this since including the UN. Others say the Famagusta Land Office in Larnaca.
But I am told that, during the 1990's, generally, people were allowed to register whatever they wished at Larnaca. I was not allowed. The Office insisted I show written proof of my ownership. Surely, they could appreciate, it is not always possible when you are suddenly forced to flee during an invasion. But no. Luckily, with some of my property, I had business correspondence from the 1960's and 1970's concerning specific tenancy arrangements. That is all the office was prepared to register. So what, then, about the properties I had still to register?
I met the Director of the FLO in Larnaca and he explained to me that all the records of property people have registered are worthless. He said he felt like sending it all away in lorries to be burnt. He said, however, that the Turks are obliged to keep the original books and title deeds in the Land Office in Famagusta. Why then do we not see these records? Turkish Cypriots, like the GC's, are only human and I somehow struggle to believe that, given 30 years of opportunity they have not destroyed or doctored the original records.
If that is the case, what fair and accurate basis, if any, has the Property Board - proposed in the Annan Plan - to receive, verify and decide on claims for property and to allocate that property?
If this is the collosal problem it appears to me to be, why is it that I have not noticed this matter get much attention in the Cypriot press? Perhaps it is just me?!?
Is there a reliable official body anywhere which can confirm the wherabouts of pre 1974 property title deeds and records of dispossessed N. Cyprus properties? Can the dispossessed have access to such records?
I hope I'm writing on behalf of other's in my predicament too. Thanks.
