Identifier
Created
Classification
Origin
07NICOSIA85
2007-01-30 16:07:00
CONFIDENTIAL
Embassy Nicosia
Cable title:  

PARLIAMENT TO CONSIDER "COMMANDEERING" T/C

Tags:  PGOV PREL UNFICYP ECON CY 
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VZCZCXRO2667
OO RUEHAG RUEHROV
DE RUEHNC #0085/01 0301607
ZNY CCCCC ZZH
O 301607Z JAN 07
FM AMEMBASSY NICOSIA
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC IMMEDIATE 7476
INFO RUCNMEM/EU MEMBER STATES COLLECTIVE IMMEDIATE
RUCNDT/USMISSION USUN NEW YORK IMMEDIATE 0763
RUEHBS/USEU BRUSSELS IMMEDIATE
C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 NICOSIA 000085 

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

DEPARTMENT FOR EUR/SE, IO/UNP

E.O. 12958: DECL: 01/14/2017
TAGS: PGOV PREL UNFICYP ECON CY
SUBJECT: PARLIAMENT TO CONSIDER "COMMANDEERING" T/C
PROPERTIES IN SOUTH

REF: 06 NICOSIA 2010

Classified By: Ambassador Ronald Schlicher, Reasons 1.4 (b),(d)

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 NICOSIA 000085

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

DEPARTMENT FOR EUR/SE, IO/UNP

E.O. 12958: DECL: 01/14/2017
TAGS: PGOV PREL UNFICYP ECON CY
SUBJECT: PARLIAMENT TO CONSIDER "COMMANDEERING" T/C
PROPERTIES IN SOUTH

REF: 06 NICOSIA 2010

Classified By: Ambassador Ronald Schlicher, Reasons 1.4 (b),(d)


1. (SBU) SUMMARY: As a result of a landmark 2005 Supreme
Court decision that returned the property of a Turkish
Cypriot who had resettled in the south, Greek Cypriot
"refugees" inhabiting T/C houses have lived with the constant
threat of eviction should legal T/C owners move south and
seek restitution. In an attempt to reassure Greek Cypriots
that they will not be removed from Turkish Cypriot properties
soon, the governing DIKO party recently submitted draft
legislation proposing that the RoC "commandeer" all lands
used for the housing of refugees. Such a move would not
transfer title to G/C inhabitants, but would provide them
greatly increased protection from displacement and put the
government, rather than individual refugees, on the spot for
any compensation claims. In a related development, the
Supreme Court January 19 rejected the appeal of a T/C who was
seeking immediate compensation for his expropriated property
in the government-controlled area, citing the fact he was
living in the north. The Court's decision allayed G/C
concerns that freer travel between north and south would lead
to a wave of applications by Turkish Cypriots to reclaim
their "abandoned" properties. Unhappy with the decision, the
T/C owner's attorney has threatened to follow the example of
Greek Cypriots similarly displaced from properties in the
north, taking the case to the European Court of Human Rights.
END SUMMARY.

REFUGEE OR IDP? A BIT OF BACKGROUND
--------------


2. (U) As a result of the 1974 conflict and the population
exchange agreements which followed, nearly 200,000 Greek
Cypriots relocated from northern Cyprus to the
government-controlled area south of the Green Line. More
accurately classified as internally displaced persons (IDPs),
these "refugees" and their descendants -- males can transmit
the status to their offspring -- now account for 34 percent
of the G/C population and enjoy considerable state benefits,

from cash handouts to subsidized mortgages. Parliamentarians
have tabled two bills recently that would expand their
numbers further by ending "discrimination" against female
refugees' rights of transmission; the RoC is resisting the
move, citing its effect on the national budget (estimated in
the hundreds of millions of Cyprus pounds) and resulting
implications for the RoC's Eurozone admittance.

SEARCHING FOR WAYS TO QUELL FEARS OF EVICTION
--------------


3. (U) Since the opening of the Green Line checkpoints in
April 2003, Greek Cypriot "refugees" have voiced concern that
Turkish Cypriots would resettle in the south en masse and
reclaim their properties. Those fears have proven somewhat
exaggerated, since only a few T/Cs have done so. Of those
who moved to the RoC-controlled area, however, most either
received property restitution or reached out-of-court
settlements with the government. At the end of 2006, 35
cases of Turkish Cypriots reclaiming their properties were
pending before Republic of Cyprus courts.


4. (U) In early January, DIKO MP Andreas Angelides
submitted to the House Committee on Refugees a draft bill
proposing the government "commandeer" all properties that
have been used for the housing and other immediate needs of
Greek Cypriots displaced after the events of 1974. According
to the proposal, this acquisition, unlike outright
expropriation, would last only as long as the "abnormal
situation" in the country continues. Meanwhile, the legal
owner would be entitled to compensation. Although the draft
bill does not specifically refer to Turkish Cypriot land, in
practice the only privately-owned properties used for housing
"refugees" without having been previously expropriated were
Turkish Cypriot (Greek Cypriot privately-owned land used for
the same purpose, more than one-third of the total, was
expropriated outright, with compensation.) During the first
discussion of the draft bill on January 17, the chairman of
the Committee on Refugees, AKEL MP Aristofanis Georghiou,
urged careful consideration, due to the complexity and
potentially serious political implications of the
legislation. Georghiou has requested that Attorney General
Petros Clerides appear before the Committee to provide MPs
advice.


5. (U) Besides calming eviction fears of current G/C users
of T/C properties, the bill's proponents hope to strengthen

NICOSIA 00000085 002 OF 002


the RoC's legal position in court cases that Turkish Cypriots
have filed. In a landmark 2005 case, the Supreme Court
ordered the return of the property of Arif Mustafa, a Turkish
Cypriot who had fled to the north in 1974 but resettled in
the RoC-controlled area five years ago. As a result of the
decision, the RoC relocated the Greek Cypriots living on his
property and returned it to Mustafa. Some 5,000 T/C homes
are now occupied by G/C "refugees," while one-third of the
land that was used to build refugee houses -- 8,556 building
plots -- belong to Turkish Cypriots who fled north. Those
properties have not been expropriated and effectively still
belong to their Turkish Cypriot owners. Along with all other
"abandoned" T/C immovable property, they have been placed
under the guardianship of the Ministry of Interior pursuant
to the 1991 "Caretaker Law." This legislation stipulates
that Turkish Cypriot owners can take possession of their
properties only after they permanently resettle in the
RoC-controlled area. Turkish Cypriot plaintiffs, however,
contend that their human rights as property owners should not
be contingent on where they physically reside.

SUPREME COURT UPHOLDS CARETAKER LAW
--------------


6. (U) In a related development, a Supreme Court justice
January 19 rejected the appeal of Ali Kiamil, a T/C residing
in the Turkish Cypriot-controlled area, who had requested
restitution or immediate compensation for land the RoC had
expropriated. The judge based the first instance decision on
the Caretaker Law, which suspends payments to Turkish
Cypriots whose property is in the custody of the Ministry of
Interior until a final CyProb settlement is reached (the ROC
Auditor General told the House Watchdog Committee in
mid-January that the government owes over $1 billion to T/C
owners whose properties have been expropriated for public
benefit.) Kiamil's attorney vowed to appeal the justice's
decision to the Supreme Court's full bench and did not
exclude the possibility of applying to the ECHR, should the
Cyprus court reject his motion.


7. (U) Pro-government G/C media hailed the Court's rejection
of Kiamil's appeal as further confirmation of the Caretaker
Law's legality. Opposition daily "Politis," however, wrote
January 25 that a final rejection of Kiamil's appeal could
open the floodgates for T/C applications to the European
Court of Human Rights. Top property law expert Achilleas
Demetriades believes the law will not withstand ECHR
scrutiny. Aware of the possible political ramifications of
such an outcome, the RoC has so far stalled for time and/or
backed down. In the crucial Arif Mustafa case, for example,
the government chose to withdraw its appeal and thus prevent
an application to the ECHR.

COMMENT
--------------


8. (C) Greek Cypriots and the RoC are fighting a two-front
war on property, seeking redress for G/C land located north
of the Green Line while also attempting to protect usage
rights of "refugees" squatting on appropriated (but not
expropriated) Turkish Cypriot property. Mainly, they have
turned to legislation and the courts, both local and
European, enlisting polished attorneys like Demetriades in
the fight. Recent court verdicts, however, have proven to be
a double-edged sword, not always favoring Greek Cypriot
litigants nor supporting RoC political goals. One
high-ranking official from opposition DISY even told us
January 23 that developments regarding property should prove
to Greek Cypriots that the status quo is actually worse than
what is perceived the worst possible conclusion of the Cyprus
issue -- the permanent division of the island.


9. (C) For now, however, G/C concern has not translated into
pressure on the government of Tassos Papadopoulos to pursue
negotiations on a final CyProb settlement, or even its real
estate component. In UN-brokered exploratory talks in
Nicosia, for example, Greek Cypriot experts tackling the
property issue continue to focus on process, not substance,
seemingly determined to drag out the talks as long as
possible (to be fair, however, the Turkish Cypriot side has
dug in as well.) Meanwhile, the real estate boom in the
north continues, the pre-1974 ownership of land between
Turkish and Greek Cypriots recedes further into history, and
the property element of the Cyprus Problem -- perhaps its
most complex and contentious -- looks increasingly
intractable.
SCHLICHER