HomeboyMediaNews

Cyprus > A divided land July 20, 2006

Meletis Apostolides had made his way quietly down the gravel path, pausing occasionally to stare at the lemon and olive groves behind. “She told me she was the owner of the villa,” he remembers. “And I said, ‘Yes, but I am the owner of the land.”

He, like many other Greek Cypriots, claims that the land he owned has been stolen from him – and that the thousands of Britons, lured by the low prices and Mediterranean sunshine, are contributing to the illegal occupation of his land. But, finally, after years of legal wrangling which has stirred so many of the tensions that still divide Cyprus 32 years after the invasion, the case is to be settled. Land dispute casts new shadow over north Cyprus

Thirty two years after the Turkish army, responding to a Greek-engineered coup, invaded Cyprus and forced 167,000 Greek Cypriots to flee to the south, the inhabitants of the unrecognised Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus still live in a legal and political vacuum. In 2004, when Kofi Annan, the UN secretary general, announced a referendum on a settlement, the north voted overwhelmingly in favour, while the south voted against. Days later, the Republic of Cyprus joined the EU, while its unrecognised neighbour was left to languish in its shadow.

Greek Cypriots are sensitive to accusations that they are indifferent to the situation in the north. “It is not that we are the rich, arrogant, superior ones who don’t want a solution,” explains Constantia Zachariadou, a journalist in Nicosia. “We are just scared. We worked so hard to gain these standards, this economic strength, and we are scared it will be taken away from us.”

There are also, of course, harrowing memories. “I was brought up not to call them my enemies but our friends, our brothers,” Constantia says of the Turkish Cypriots. “But my uncle died in 1974. He was called Constantinos. I cannot let this go. It is part of my history.”

Editor’s Note > “the Orams, defended by Cherie Booth QC” just for those who do not know who Mrs Booth is, let it be known that is Mrs Blair, the British Prime Minister’s wife who represents the Orams, under her maiden surname. Her fee, according to sources, is an astronomical amount, to be paid by Turkish businessmen! Does that make sound?

UPDATE >

GREEK CYPRIOT GOVERNMENT CONDEMNS TONY BLAIR’S WIFE’S INVOLVEMENT IN PROPERTY CASE

The Greek Cypriot government has reacted angrily to reports that Cherie Booth, a leading barrister and wife of the British Prime Minister Tony Blair, is defending a British couple in a politically sensitive case involving property rights in the Turkish-occupied part of the divided island. According to reports in the British media, Ms. Booth’s chambers, Matrix, last month confirmed that she would be heading the defence of David and Linda Orams, who were accused in a Cypriot court in April of illegally occupying an originally Greek Cypriot property in the north of the island. The couple were ordered to demolish their home and return the property to Meletis Apostolides, the Greek Cypriot who owned the property prior to the Turkish invasion in 1974.

As the Greek Cypriot ruling cannot be enforced in northern Cyprus, lawyers lodged the judgment with the British High Court. This means that the decision can be applied against the Orams’s assets in Britain. It is believed that Ms. Booth, who specializes in European human rights law, took up the Orams’s appeal after being approached by their London-based Turkish-Cypriot lawyers. While Downing Street has insisted that Ms. Booth is acting strictly in a professional capacity as a leading QC, the Greek Cypriot government has found it hard to separate her involvement in this most politically sensitive of cases from her status as the wife of the British Prime Minister, and Nicosia has suggested that the Turkish North wishes to make political capital from the affair. “For our part, we wonder why the services of Mrs Blair were requested in this particular case,” Greek Cypriot government spokesman Kypros Chrysostomides stated. “It is clear that the Turkish lawyers who give instructions to Mrs. Blair want to exploit her capacity as wife of the British Prime Minister, presumably believing that in this way they can influence the British justice as well,” he added.

Mr. Chrysostomides also pointed out that the UK government has advised British citizens against purchasing property in Northern Cyprus because title cannot be guaranteed and the breakaway region is recognized only by Turkey. It is known that many hundreds or even thousands of British buyers have been taking advantage of lower property prices in the north, despite worries over title and possible compensation claims.

Link here.

Source: http://www.trustprofessionals.com/news/2006/2006-01-02.html

On this day > 20 July 1974 July 20, 2006

1974: Turkey invades Cyprus

Thousands of Turkish troops have invaded northern Cyprus after last-minute talks in the Greek capital, Athens, failed to reach a solution.

Tension has been running high in the Mediterranean island since a military coup five days ago in which President Archbishop Makarios, a Greek Cypriot, was deposed.

The coup led to fears among the Turkish Cypriot community that the Greek-backed military rulers would ignore their rights and press for unification for Cyprus with Greece or enosis.

A Turkish armada of 33 ships, including troop transporters and at least 30 tanks and small landing craft, has landed on the northern coast.

Airlifted to safety

The bulk of the Greek fleet put to sea last night from the island of Salamis.

There are reports of clashes between Greek and Turkish warships near Paphos, a port in south-western Cyprus.

Greek Cypriot forces on the island have been defending the northern coast, around Kyrenia.

The capital, Nicosia, has seen most of the fighting. Turkish paratroops and tanks have been battling for control of the airport – but they have met fierce resistance from the Greek forces.

Shops and offices in the Greek sector of the capital have been deserted since midday yesterday as rumour of the impending invasion spread.

ON THIS DAY 20 1974: Turkey invades Cyprus

A second conference in August broke down when Turkish forces advanced to take control of nearly 40% of the island.

About 160,000 Greek Cypriots fled south or were expelled – about 50,000 Turkish Cypriots moved north a year later.

Talks to settle the crisis diplomatically failed. In February 1975, the Turks announced the establishment of the Turkish Federated State of Cyprus, with Turkish Cypriot leader Rauf Denktash becoming president. Eight years later they declared themselves an independent state which is recognised only by Turkey.

Talks have continued since to try to reconcile the two sides. In 2004 a referendum was held on a UN plan to reunite the island – it gained support from the Turkish side, but was overhwelmingly rejected by the Greeks.

Country profile: Cyprus

CYPRUS: A DIVIDED ISLAND FOR 32 YEARS | FOR HOW LONG WILL IT BE?

The Cyprus Problem July 20, 2006

Today, it is a black day for Cyprus. It brings back memories of lost people, properties and lands, it brings back memories about the horror of war and how it is to be invaded and occupied in your own country. 20th July 1974 marked the military turkish invation in the Republic of Cyprus.

And ironically, history repeats itself with the flaming Lebanon, a country so close to Cyprus in both strict georgaphical terms and to what’s happened and what’s happening now. 

What is the substance of the Cyprus problem? It is an undeniable fact that we are talking about a problem of lasting foreign interventions, the climax being the Turkish invasion and occupation of almost 40% of Cypriot territory for over thirty years now. At the same time, there is the problem of the normalisation of the relations between the two communities.

Mr A. Kyprianou (member of the political bureau of the central committtee of the Progressive Party of the Working People of Cyprus-AKEL) in his speech The Cyprus Problem in Brussels on the 13th July 2006 at the European Policy Centre, clearly defines the existence of the political problem and makes a brief historical reference to the related facts. 

Although we do not share his party’s opinion and statements, we have fount his speech quite interesting from the historical point of view. Here are some excerpts from his speech. The rest you can read by using the above link. (more…)