Investment in property by foreign and local investors in Northern Cyprus up until the United Nation Peace Plan (Annan Plan) came into existence was minimal. What were the reasons for the U.N Peace Plan causing this up surge in investment in properties in Northern Cyprus?
A. Was it the possibility of reaching a settlement between the Turkish and the Greek Cypriots? B. Was it the expectation a United Cyprus of joining the European Union? C. Was it the benefit of getting the attention (free advertisement) given to Northern Cyprus by the international media? D. Was it that property prices were much lower in Northern Cyprus than in the South of the Island? E. Was it that dispelled the uncertainty of property ownership (the U.N Peace Plan)? The reality is that all the above reason contributed to the up surge in investment in properties. But the main reason for this dramatic increase in investment was that the Peace Plan dispelled the uncertainty of property ownership on pre 1974 Greek owned properties left in the North of the Island. Although and despite the rejection of the U.N Peace Plan by the Greeks Cypriots, legitimacy was given by the Annan Peace Plan to the Turkish and Foreign Current Users of pre 1974 Greek owned properties in Northern Cyprus and so enabling them to one day believe that they will be given internationally recognized Title Deeds. This caused the flow of foreign investment in land and in luxurious villas to increase even after the rejection, with the expectation that no matter what, a solution to the Cyprus problem one day will be found on the bases of the United Nations Peace Plan.
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However despite their rejection of the United Nation Peace Plan, the Greek Cypriots have still managed to join the European Union unilaterally and once they have got in, they have resumed using the rights and opportunities in the E.U for their own benefit. They have started to make propaganda in that they are declaring that anyone who buys land or villas built by the Turkish Cypriots on previously Greek Cypriots owned land is illegal. Ignoring the fact that they are also selling villas and apartments built by themselves on previously owned Turkish Cypriot land left in the South of the island. Further more instead of concentrating on finding a just settlement, the Greek Cypriots have started to take legal action against the Turkish Cypriots in Cyprus and against the foreign property buyers in Northern Cyprus. They have started the process by enforcing the judgment obtained by default in Southern Cyprus against the British couple (Meletis Apostolides v David Charles and Linda Elizabeth Orams) in the United Kingdom by way of recourse of the rules and regulations of the European Union. What the Greek Cypriots are now trying to do, is to misuse the principles of the E.U and try to solve the 40 years old Cyprus Political Problems for their own benefit by legal means with the opportunities gained in the E.U. But the Member states must remember and take into account that it is the Greek Cypriots who have created the Cyprus problem by wrecking the Cyprus Republic in 1963.
The European Union and especially the United Kingdom must take into account that there are probably over 20000 (twenty thousand) foreign nationals mainly British citizens who have got financial interest in Northern Cyprus now. These innocent foreign nationals prior to the referendum and after the referendum have relied totally on the United Nation Peace Plan (Annan Plan) and on the guaranties given to them by the TRNC government and purchased a plot of land or a house in Northern Cyprus. Some of them have used up their life savings and some of them have sold their homes in their country and purchased a plot of land or a house with the hope that Northern Cyprus will be their main or second home. Why should these innocent people be caught up in the fight between the two communities? Why should the British justice system be put in the position of a political instrument of the Greek Cypriots and be used to enforce a default judgment against a British couple in the U.K?
In recent years the European Union with the aim of creating harmony in the political, economic, and social aspects of the lives among the member states is also trying to create facilities in legal areas by recognizing each member states judgments, and providing services for the enforcement of these judgments. The relevant law is EC Regulation 44/2001 of the 22nd December 2000 and its adoption followed from an agreement at the European Council in Tampere in October 1999 on a reduction in intermediate measures needed to endorse judgments in other Member states. The law entered into force on 1st of March 2002. But in order for a Member state or a citizen of a Member state to get this benefit of the recognition and enforcement of judgment, their judgments must not be obtained by default and subsequently be contested and must conform to the Public Policy of the Member State. Whereas in the case of the Orams couple, the judgment was obtained by default in Southern Cyprus and is still at the stage of appeal and has not yet been finalized. It is also very much politically grounded and motivated. The roots of the case go back over 40 years of the Cyprus problem, and it certainly is not a simple civil or commercial case. Furthermore it is not with the conformity of Public Policy of the British People. Why the British Public should be made a party to the political problems of the Greek Cypriots. I sincerely believe that the British High Court will tell the Greek Cypriots to go and sort out their political problem in their own home.
In recent months there has been a major development in Northern Cyprus which could affect the fate of Cyprus as a whole. The Turkish Cypriot government with the encouragement of the Turkish Government proposed new legislation and sent it to parliament. After lengthy and heated discussions both inside and outside parliament, it was passed and became law on the 19th December 2005. This law is called the New Property Law in which it allows the Greek Cypriots who left property in the North of the Island after 13th February 1975, to reclaim their property under certain criteria among these being the right to claim compensation or to be able to claim set off against properties left in the South of the Island by the Turks. The Turkish Cypriot government's intention is to create conformity with the principles asked by the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg in the case of Xenides Arestis. By doing this the TRNC government are aiming to make the Greek Cypriots to first open their property cases in the North of the Island and after all legal process have been exhausted and if they are still not satisfied to, then take their cases to the ECHR. Unlike at the present where they are allowed to take their cases direct. The proposed Property Commission in the law will function like a court and two out of its seven members will be chosen from among foreign nationals and not be from the guarantor powers of Cyprus, Turkey, Greece or the United Kingdom. Whilst this new Property Law allows the immediate return of land which is in the hands of the TRNC Government that has not been given to the people, it also allows some properties be given back which are in the hands of individuals, these are subject to certain criteria and conditions and if these are met. This return will also take place but after a settlement is reached in Cyprus. Properties which have been given in exchange for land left in the South can never be asked of to be given back. It is said by the government officials that this new law has been prepared with the consultation of ECHR. As a result of the decision given by the ECHR in the case of Xenides Arestis on the 22nd of December 2005, it looks as if there is a possibility that, this new Property Law and the functioning of the Property Board will be accepted by the European Court of Human Rights. If the European Court of Human Rights finds this new Property Law and the Property Board acceptable, it will dispel the uncertainty and legitimatize the developments already made and the new developments still taking place on the previously Greek Cypriot owned land in the North. If this where to happen, foreign investment in North Cyprus, especially in the building of flats, houses and luxurious villas, would cause a second property boom. |
