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Court rules against Turkey in Cyprus property cases
Strasbourg-based European Court of Human Rights, in its ruling delivered on Tuesday, said Turkey had violated Article 1 of Protocol No. 1 of the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR), which covers the protection of property, concerning all 18 complaints. The court, meanwhile, announced that it would issue its ruling concerning pecuniary damages stemming from these violations by Turkey at a later date.
In a report posted from Strasbourg, the Anatolia news agency highlighted that those complaints were filed with the court between 1990 and 1999. Thus, admissibility decisions concerning those cases were made before the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (KKTC) set up a property commission for dealing with property complaints from the Greek Cypriot side, Strasbourg-based diplomatic sources told Anatolia. The same sources noted that they expect the European court to refer similar cases to the KKTC commission in the future.
In 2003 the KKTC set up a special committee to handle property complaints from Greek Cypriots and provide, when deemed necessary, compensation for the property they had to abandon in the Turkish north following Turkey's military intervention in 1974. In December 2005, the European court ruled that Turkey had violated the property rights of plaintiff Myra Xenides-Arestis by denying her access to her house in Famagusta since 1974. However, in a sign of its readiness to stop receiving similar complaints from Greek Cypriots, the court called on Turkey and Turkish Cypriot authorities to introduce an effective domestic remedy within six months to ensure respect for the property rights of Greek Cypriot complainants.
The Turkish Cypriot authorities then set up an improved property commission to accept property complaints from Greek Cypriots.
As a matter of fact, in April 2008, the European court had announced its official approval of an amicable settlement between a Greek Cypriot citizen and the compensation committee in the KKTC.
Greek Cypriot Michael Tymvios had submitted an appeal against Turkey before the European court for the loss of his property in the northern part of Cyprus after Turkey's 1974 intervention. He later withdrew his appeal and arrived at a settlement with the property commission in the north. In its related chamber judgment released in April 2008, the Strasbourg-based court said it “welcomes the agreement reached between the parties and takes note of the explanation given by the government concerning the conditional nature of the agreement insofar as it concerned a possible exchange of property” and that it “is satisfied that the settlement is based on respect for human rights as defined in the convention or its protocols.”
“All our efforts are now centered on the hearing we will have on Nov. 18, where the court is going to examine the legality and effectiveness of the property commission in the occupied areas,” Achilleas Demetriades, a lawyer for seven of the applicants, was nevertheless quoted as saying by Greek Cypriot media on Wednesday.
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