The commission has paid Greek Cypriot businessman Nikos Severis 12 million pounds (approximately TL 30 million) in exchange for him giving up his claim to property in northern Cyprus -- 42,000 square meters of land in Girne (Kyrenia) and 9,500 square meters of land in Lefkoşa -- the NTV news channel has reported.In another case, the commission agreed to pay 9.5 million pounds (approximately TL 24 million) to another Greek Cypriot for his property -- 1,500,000 square meters of land in the Kalkanlı region -- and the payment will be made in the upcoming days, NTV also reported, citing anonymous sources.
The huge amount of compensation offered in the two cases may encourage Greek Cypriots to apply to the property commission, the NTV report also suggested, while noting that funding for the payments was coming from Turkey. The fact that the property commission will be on the agenda of the European Court of Human Rights next week is the reason behind Ankara’s decision to pay such large settlements, it said. 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 and began to accept property complaints from Greek Cypriots. In the second phase of the trial process, the court decided in December 2006 that Turkey should pay 800,000 euros to compensate Xenides-Arestis’ losses and mentioned the property commission in the ruling, suggesting readiness to accept it as a legitimate domestic remedy for similar applications.
As a matter of fact, in April 2008, the European court announced its official approval of an amicable settlement between a Greek Cypriot citizen and the compensation committee in the KKTC.The committee has so far reached amicable settlements in 81 applications out of 432 applications in total, NTV said.
If the European court eventually announces the legality and effectiveness of the property commission, around 1,700 complaints filed by Greek Cypriots to the court against Turkey will be directed to the KKTC property commission.
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