'The Turkish Cypriot Contractors' Union will participate in a fair in Britain at the end of this month, an invitation that came after a British courts ruling in favor of a British couple whose holiday home in northern Cyprus was threatened by an international property dispute'
THE TURKISH Cypriot Contractors' Union will participate in a fair in Britain at the end of this month, an invitation that came after a British court's ruling in favor of a British couple whose holiday home in northern Cyprus was threatened by an international property dispute.
This was evaluated as a significant development because contracting companies in the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus individually attended such international fairs in the past too.
In a landmark verdict that will set a precedent for a considerable number of cases with regard to British property ownership in the KKTC, a British 1udge ruled earlier this month in favor of David Orams and his wife Linda, fighting a court order calling for them to demolish their retirement home in northern Cyprus.
In November 2004, a Greek Cypriot court ordered the Orams to demolish their property and pay compensation to the previous landowner from Greek Cyprus, Meletios A ostolides, who fled the KKTC after the 1974 Turkish military intervention on the island and then settled in the south.
Apostolides later took the case to London in an attempt to enforce the ruling under European Union law in the hope that the court could seize the Orams' home in East Sussex if they refused to comply.
To the dislike of Greek Cypriots, the British judge ruled that the Greek Cypriot courts order against the Orams was not enforceable in the KKTC, which is not internationally recognized and which has been kept outside the EU.
The judge also ordered that the Greek Cypriot plaintiff pay 75 percent of the Orams' legal costs of 863,000 pounds (1.3 million euros), with an interim payment of 150,000 pounds, half of which was stayed pending an appeal.
The British court’s ruling over the case, the latest of several real estate disputes in Cyprus, is significant to thousands of foreigners who have purchased property in the KKTC at bargain prices but who faced the prospect of losing them because of Greek Cyprus' status as an EU member.
The court verdict is now expected to attract thousands of potential British buyers to invest in the KKTC, a move that will fuel a building bo¬om on the northern part of the island suffering from ongoing trade embargoes.
'Currently the atmosphere in the KKK is positive and the real estate sector is happy with the court ruling, which has triggered a boost in house prices' underlined an expert.
Construction and the real estate sector, one of the few vigorous sectors in the KKTC, has been stagnant because the property sale in the north has so far been under the shadow of the courts. The sector is now actually reviving with the key ruling. However, the case has not yet been finalised. The Greek Cypriots, shocked by the court order, will take it to the European Court of Justice. Land claims ire among the most conentious issues on the island.
In earlier reactions to the ruling, KKTC President Mehmet Ali Talat said; property disputes cannot easily be settled through legal means unless the decades old Cyprus dispute is settled.
"It is not logical to expend efforts to implement the EU acquis in the KKTC, which remains outside the EU acquis, and it has backfired. This is the case here," he said.
In May 2004 the Greek Cypriots unilaterally joined the EU, though the majority of them turned down a U.N. proposed peace plan during twin referenda on the two parts of the island. The Turkish Cypriots overwhelmingly voted for the plan but remain outside the bloc.
© Copyright Cyprus Times 2006 |
