“The ruling, in principle, shows that the property commission's studies up to today have met the expectations of the European Court of Human Rights and that it [the property commission] may become a domestic remedy,” the Foreign Ministry said in a written statement released on Friday, referring to a commission established in Turkish Cyprus to deal with Greek Cypriot claims over abandoned property in the island's north.
The commission was established following a December 2005 ruling by the Strasbourg court which agreed then that Turkey had violated the property rights of Greek Cypriot complainant Myra Xenides-Arestis. However, in a sign of its readiness to stop receiving similar complaints from Greek Cypriots, the court called on Turkey and the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (KKTC) to introduce an effective domestic remedy within six months to ensure respect for the property rights of Greek Cypriot complainants.
On Thursday, the court ordered Turkey to pay Xenides-Arestis 800,000 euros after she was denied access to her house in Famagusta following the Turkish military intervention in the island in 1974. Xenides-Arestis, who owns several properties in the northern Cypriot city, will also receive 50,000 euros in so-called “moral damages” although the court recognized that Turkish Cypriot authorities had made efforts to compensate her.
“The ruling, which we welcome, is important not only regarding the Xenides-Arestis application but also regarding other similar applications, and also constitutes an important phase of the process foreseen by the court for resolving of property claims,” the Foreign Ministry said.
On the same day in Lefkosa, Turkish Cypriot Prime Minister Ferdi Sabit Soyer said the court decision proved that the property commission was “worthwhile and in compliance with the court's criteria.”
Late on Thursday, on the Greek side of the divided island, Greek Cypriot leader Tassos Papadopoulos said the issue of whether the Turkish commission offered an “effective or legal remedy” for Greek Cypriots remained “open.”
Also Thursday, Xenides-Arestis's lawyer said the court's decision confirmed a series of judgments that property in north Cyprus remained in the ownership of the pre-1974 title-holders. “This decision puts terrible pressure on Turkey and is a forerunner for the return of Famagusta,” lawyer Achilleas Demetriades told a press conference in Nicosia.
“The court avoided considering the effectiveness of the commission as Turkey's domestic remedy. Therefore, this issue remains open,” he told the Greek Cypriot daily Cyprus Mail. A definitive verdict on the commission, he said, would only emerge if Turkey decided to ask for a referral of the Arestis case, or through rulings emerging from subsequent cases by other Greek Cypriot refugees. He added that 38 cases were pending at the European court that had already been accepted by the court as admissible. Such cases, he said, could not be referred to the north's commission, although a subsequent 1,360 cases could, in theory at least, be referred.
Speaking with the Cyprus Mail, Turkish Cypriot international law expert at the Eastern Mediterranean University and one of the main architects of the property commission Dr. Kudret Özersay agreed with Demetriades that a definitive ruling on the commission was yet to be delivered. He, however, said it was possible that the court could, rather than waiting for another test case, hold a special session purely to decide on whether the nine rulings made so far by the commission were fair.
ANKARA - Turkish Daily News |
