A decision was taken in Ankara yesterday to speed up the process of making the Greek Cypriot properties in the north, with Ankara also possibly calling on Turkish Cypriots living in such Greek Cypriot properties to pay up to a third of the financial costs of compensation claims,
The Cyprus Mail says that these ideas were among those put forward at a top-level meeting on the Cyprus property issue in Ankara on Monday between a delegation made up of the whole Turkish Cypriot leadership, including leader Dervish Eroglu and his prime minister Irsen Kucuk, with Turkish President Abdullah Gul.
Coming just days after the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) ordered Turkey to pay over €15 million in compensation to 19 Greek Cypriot refugees forced off their properties during the Turkish invasion in 1974, the meeting indicates that Turkey may call on Turkish Cypriots to play a greater financial role in ongoing legal settlements.
So far, they have not been called on to do so. Nor have they been asked by Turkey to contribute to the STG £46.8 million worth of settlements that have been reached through the Immovable Properties Commission (IPC) in the north.
Speaking on condition of anonymity, an attendee at the Ankara meeting stressed that the meeting had been “a brainstorming session” during which “many ideas for raising funds” had been exchanged.
The source added, however, that if Turkish Cypriots were called on to contribute, the process would be done “fairly”, and through the mechanism of the IPC, the body set up in 1996 to handle the claims of Greek Cypriots who wish to either return to, exchange or sell their properties in the Turkish-controlled north.
How to deal with Turks and other foreigners who had either purchased property or been given it free was also discussed, along with “alternative ways of raising funds” to pay compensation bills.
It was reported in some newspapers in the north yesterday that the Ankara meeting had also been attended by Turkish bankers and industrialists in an attempt to find creative ways of raising capital.
Reacting yesterday to rumours emerging from Monday’s meeting, Turkish Cypriot daily Havadis said Turkey was “feeling the pinch” of Greek Cypriot property claims and was now telling Turkish Cypriots to “put your hands in your pockets”.
Peace Institute of Oslo (PRIO) researcher Ayla Gurel, who has studied the Cyprus property issue in detail, warned yesterday that a move that involved asking Turkish Cypriots using Greek Cypriot properties to pay even part of the compensation bill would “constitute a complete invalidation of the current property regime” in the north.
“The government gave them title deeds, and now they are asking them to buy another one,” she said, referring to ‘title deeds’ given to Turkish Cypriot refugees from the south.
“One way or another these people have already paid for the properties, at least in theory,” she said.
These same could be said of foreigners who have bought properties, she added.
“They bought properties in a country where the government told them it would be the guarantor of the title deeds. Are they going to tell them now they have to pay 30,000 pounds more?” Such a move, Gurel said, “would not be politically easy” and “could even bring down the government”.
Turkish daily Hurriyet reports that a ‘historic’ decision was taken at the Ankara meeting to speed up the process of making the Greek Cypriot properties in the north Turkish.
Turkish President Abdullah Gul asked for the Greek Cypriot properties to be “turkified speedily through the efficient functioning of the Property Compensation Commission established on the island”.
The paper says that Gul gave instructions to Ersin Ozince, President of the Union of Banks and General Director of Is Bankasi, whom he invited to the summit, to establish a committee and work towards granting credit for the “properties which have been cleared” with respect to the international law.
Citing information acquired by high ranking officials who participated in the Cyprus meeting, Bilge reports that President Gul described the “Property Compensation Commission” as “very important” and said that it should function efficiently and take decisions more quickly. The sides, which stressed that the land in the TRNC is among the most valuable in the Mediterranean Sea, asked Ersin Ozince to prepare proposals so that the properties, which belonged to Greek Cypriots before 1974 be harmonized with international law, and are evaluated using modern financing techniques. Ersin Ozince said that he would establish a special committee the soonest.
Turkish Cypriot daily Kibris reports that Turkey has pressed the button to guarantee bi-zonality in a possible solution to be found to the Cyprus problem and to turn the occupied Greek Cypriot properties into Turkish properties “in a manner which is in harmony with the international law”.
The paper writes that developments are expected which will make anyone who received Greek Cypriot property in the north without having any property in the south but took occupied to “lose sleep”.
According to a reliable source who participated in the Ankara meeting, the following method is under consideration. When a Greek Cypriot files an application for compensation of his property in the occupied areas of the island, a research will be held regarding the value of the property left in the free areas of Cyprus by the person who is currently using the Greek Cypriot property. The difference in the value of the properties will be met with a credit granted by Turkey’s Is Bankasi or by another bank.
The person who lives in the Greek Cypriot property will be responsible for paying at least half the difference between the two properties. According to the paper, those who have taken a lot of occupied Greek Cypriot property without having property in the free areas of the Republic “will lose their sleep”.
After the necessary compensation is paid by the bank to the Greek Cypriot who has applied to the “Property Compensation Commission”, a bargain will be held with the user of the property. The paper gives the following example: If the value of a property is 10 million Euros, the user of the property will be asked to pay around five million Euros or sell the property. All efforts will be exerted so that the Greek Cypriots who apply to the Property Compensation Commission to accept compensation.
The source said that they expect a boom in the number of Greek Cypriot applications. The paper writes that if Greek Cypriots apply to the “Commission”, efforts will be exerted for a quick solution of the problem regarding their property. It notes that bureaucratic obstacles will be eliminated and all measures will be taken in the direction of creating “as many Turkish properties as possible”.
Greek Cypriot and Turkish Cypriot leaders on Monday decided to establish a committee that would look into opening more crossings between the island’s divided communities as the United Nations are pushing for more momentum in the Cyprus problem negotiations, the Cyprus Mail reported.
“That joint committee will no doubt be put together fairly soon,” UN Special Adviser Alexander Downer said after a meeting between President Christofias and Turkish Cypriot leader Dervis Eroglu.
Christofias and Eroglu also exchanged views on their forthcoming meeting with UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon in New York on November 18 and the issue of property, Downer said.
The UN official said details of the meeting’s agenda have not yet been finalised but “no doubt the Secretary-General will want to talk to the leaders, inter-alia, about the property question, but I am sure he will want to talk more broadly about the whole process.
“We still have two and a half weeks to go until the meeting takes place, so all of that will be worked out much nearer the time,” Downer said.
The Australian diplomat said the New York meeting is important as the UN try to inject momentum in the talks.
“There obviously has been some slowing of the momentum in recent times, and the Secretary-General has taken the initiative of calling the leaders about that, and he thought it best to invite them to New York,” Downer said. “And I think this is an important part of the overall engagement by the United Nations with the leaders.”
Downer said the two leaders will meet again next Monday. Their representatives will meet on Wednesday and possibly on Friday.
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