From:
Sent: Wednesday, June 29, 2011 6:03 PM
To:
'[email protected]'
Subject:
Dear Mr Lidington
I am a British Citizen now resident in Cyprus. I refer to your recent visit to Cyprus and to reported press comments concerning property issues.
While there are a number of issues in the Republic of Cyprus with property owners unable to obtain title deeds due to developers’ mortgages, a situation compounded by the corrupt behaviours of some lawyers who claim to act for sellers but are secretly acting more for the vendor, and the total inability of the Government and/or to Law Society to get to grips with the issues, by declaring what developers are doing is fraud, and by striking off and the lawyers and making them cover the losses of their clients, this should not be compared to the situation in the North.
Yes there a number of issues with British Citizens unable to get deeds in the North, where they need a Permission to Purchase (which may not be granted) and where there are similar issues with dishonest developers and lawyers, developers loans, etc., However, in my view, there any similarity ends, as for the most part the vendors / developers of the properties themselves have no legal title to the land, which lawfully belongs to Cypriots who have been forcibly expelled from and are refused the right of return to their properties in the Turkish military occupied area by the Turkish occupying powers, through a deliberate campaign of ethnic cleansing.
This is compounded by the importation of settlers from Turkey (who now outnumber the Turkish speaking Cypriots) who are mainly living in the property that Cypriots were forced to abandon in 1974.
I am very disappointed you did not reflect that aspect in your comments.
The British residents of North Cyprus are in many instances the direct beneficiaries of if not active supporters of this ethnic cleansing as they are knowingly living on stolen lands. Therefore I cannot see why the British Government should express any sympathy for them or link their problems with those of the South, when there is such a fundamental issue as the ethnic cleansing.
I am pleased to see Government support for a just settlement but this must include the return of land (save with very limited exceptions) to the rightful owners, who may have been forced to abandon it.
For the avoidance of doubt that applies to all Cypriots including Turkish speaking Cypriots who were dispossessed in the period say from 1960 onwards.
Is that the position of the British Government, that any just settlement must include the right of return of land?
If so, is the Government willing to take firm action to encourage the occupiers to remove their troops and settlers?
The resolution of the Cyprus problem must also include the end of the SBA’s which I suspect are increasingly anomalous, particularly with the decline of British Military power. They do cause resentment.
I have no interest in any property in the North: I have no Cypriot connections barring 10 years residence, only an interest in just and lasting settlement for all Cypriots.
I would appreciate your comments.
Best Regards
(STUD)
