Kikapu wrote:Following the decision, Constantis Candounas, the lawyer who represented Meletis Apostolides in the Orams case, called on every Greek Cypriot refugee to apply to the IPC to seek restitution of their property rights.
Demetriades, who won a breakthrough case at the ECHR for refugee Titina Loizidou, argues that people must decide what they want to do. “If people want to apply to the commission to reach Strasbourg then they should go to the IPC.
So whats the game plan here, I have been wondering to my self.? Why are these two well known lawyers are asking the GC refugees to go to the IPC to claim their properties back, when they know that the IPC or the courts in the north who are under the directions from Turkey, are not going to give very much back by declaring that they will not remove anyone from the homes of the GCs in the north to return the properties, siting the recent ECHR ruling.
There could be several reasons, but let me tell you what I think the game plan is. The plan is for the GCs to apply to the IPC and demand their properties that are fields, factories, hotels , and any other property that are not homes. By asking the IPC to return these properties, plus compensation for not being able to use them since 1974, the IPC or the courts in the north can hardly use the argument that they will be making anyone homeless. Once there are enough rejections by the IPC and the courts in the north, all these cases will end up on the door steps of the ECHR again, and this time, the ECHR will be find it very difficult to site it's own ruling as to why these GCs did not get their properties back. But at some point, these two lawyers will also make the case that the ECHR recent rulings are also Racists towards the GCs, by declaring, that it is only the GCs who are asked to take compensation for their properties in the north to avoid making people homeless. They can make the argument, that Turkey can compensate the occupants of the GCs properties instead to find another place to live and return the property back to the GC owner. How can the ECHR declare that people will be made homeless if Turkey is paying them (TCs, settlers and others) good money to vacate that property so that they can live somewhere else in the same village if they choose to. This can be cheaper for Turkey also. Now, we know why Turkey wants to buy as much GC properties as possible, but even if they bought every single GC property in the north with the money they do not have, that's all they have done, bought property and not 1/3 of a country to claim it for Turkey. All the properties they buy will have to remain in the territory of the RoC. Just by buying land does not mean you are buying part of a country, does it.??
But there is another problem for the TCs. It is Turkey that is buying these properties and not the TCs, which means, even if the north were to partition at some point, the TCs will own very little since 80% of the properties in the north belong to the GCs, which will become Turkey's. How would you like to have your partitioned part of Cyprus after decades of having Taksim Dreams, then let Turkey own 80% of it to do as she wishes with it that may not be so "health society friendly".In the meantime, since Turkey has paid for the GC properties in the north, the TCs will lose their own properties in the south, which are at a much higher premium than they were when the TCs took the so called "exchange" land, because whether the present status quo continues or by some miracle the north becomes partitioned off to become "Little Turkey", the economic situation in the north is doomed in relation to the EU standards. No amount of direct flights, direct trade is going to help the north to advance their present economy to make a dent in their living standards, specially once they have sold off the GCs land that they are holding now. The economy in the north will run in parallels with Turkey's, and despite the much gloating of Turkey's overall size of it's economy on the world's stage, it means very little to the average man on the street, because he will still remain poor to the Europeans.
So, what is the game plan I ask myself of what these two lawyers, Candounas and Demetriades are trying to do.??
