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Horror shows for home buyers in an occupied land > July 7, 2007

> AND WHY YOU SHOULDN’T TRUST THE SELLERS > LEARNING FROM OTHER PEOPLE’S MISTAKES

Dreams of luxury in the Mediterranean sun have gone sour for many home buyers in the Turkish military controlled and occupied north area of the Republic of Cyprus, with escalating costs, poor workmanship and shaky legal grounds leaving them disillusioned and angry.

Complaints have been so plentiful that some expatriates organized the Home Buyers Pressure Group and held demonstrations outside the so-called and illegal Turkish Cypriot Parliament of the occupying regime to draw attention to their plight.

One such home buyer is Derek Jolly, a British citizen who lives in the occupied village of Ozankoy, about five kilometers, or three miles, east of occupied Kyrenia. “In my development there are 20 houses,” he said. “All of them have been paid for by people like myself, looking to retire or have a holiday home here. 

The Greek Cypriot village’s original name is Kazaphani, however the occupying illegal Turkish regime after the July 1974 military invasion in Cyprus, and in their effort to alter demographics, changed its original name into Turkish to Ozanköy/Kazafana. (read more at > http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_cities_in_Cyprus)

“Now though, the construction company has gone into liquidation and we have found that the land has been mortgaged by someone else, after we’d paid for it,” Jolly said.

Pauline Hayton, a Briton who is living in another new development near the occupied town of Lapta, originally its Greek name is Lapithos, described similar problems. “We were told that the place was ready and so we shipped all our furniture out here,” she said. “When we arrived, there wasn’t even a sink in the kitchen, doors or windows. We had to keep everything in a container for weeks,” Hayton added. “We have to truck in water and for electricity there’s just a wire running to a neighbor’s house. This whole thing has been so stressful. I’ve lost weight and my nerves are shot.”

“It’s very, very frustrating,” said Marian Stokes, chairwoman of the home buyers’ group. “People come here with a dream and then find they are living with no electricity, no water, piles of rubbish, the total destruction of the environment around them, too. The main problem is that there is no protection of title deeds. This leaves the landowner able to do anything they like.”

But which title deeds are you expecting from the occupying and invading forces? All the title deeds are in the pocession of their faithful right owners, the majority of the Greek Cypriot people, who were forced to leave their own land after the barbaric military invasion back in July and August 1974, staged by Turkey’s Ankara regime. Forced to leave from their ancestors’ homeland, the land which has been Greek for 10,000 years.

The puppet regime in the occupied north area of the Cyprus Republic, declared its self independence in 1983, after forcing about 250,000 Cypriots to leave their own homeland and properties, thus becoming refugees in their own country, and taking about a third of the island’s 9,250 square kilometers, or almost 2.3 million acres, into the self-proclaimed, illegal and so called Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus, although only Turkey recognizes it as an independent country.

Cyprus has long been seen as an attractive location for vacation and second homes, especially among Britons, although there also are significant numbers of Germans, Dutch and Scandinavians on the island. But now foreigners who buy property in the military controlled and occupied north area of Cyprus, must obtain formal permission from the illegal and so-called Turkish Cypriot authorities before they are entitled to the deeds. And while the process is often presented as a formality, currently it can take two to three years for the permission documents to be issued. In the meantime, buyers have no legal right to the properties, even though they may have paid for them.

Again, which deeds? The ones which are falce and forged and manipulated by the illegal regime, the regime puppet of Ankara.

“In the past, the system unfortunately created a lot of victims,” Romans Mapolar told members of the home buyers’ group in May. But Mapolar, head of the Turkish Cypriot Immovable Property Commission and senior legal advisor to the Turkish Cypriot leader, Mehmet Ali Talat, now says that a new real estate law will overcome many of the difficulties.

“The new law obliges the owner to inform the potential buyer of the legal status of the property,” he said. “There will also be a reconciliation commission to look into complaints and this will operate proactively and retrospectively.”

Statistics about how many foreigners own property in the Turkish military controlled and occupied area of north Cyprus or how many are waiting for titles are hard to come by as the politics surrounding the issue are highly charged. Many locals say that the current stories date to 2004, when a referendum was held on a United Nations-sponsored reunification plan and hopes were high that the division would be ending soon.

“At that time, everyone here became a property developer,” says Ali Ozmen Safa, an  estate agent and developer in Turkish military controlled and occupied north area of Cyprus. “The butcher, the baker, the candlestick maker. Everyone became a property tycoon. The regulations, laws and so on could not keep up with this. Some of us said at the time this kind of uncontrolled explosion would backfire on all of us.”

The surge also saw construction standards and workmanship plummet as inexperienced contractors took a “get rich quick” attitude. “There should have been a more professional approach,” Safa said. “The result has been haphazard practices for short-term gains. The rewards from property development have been great, however.” Before 2004, real estate prices and the supply of available properties were stable, Safa recalled. “Then, I’d say property prices went up about 30 to 40 percent in 12 months. The price of land also went up, maybe 200 percent, in the same period,” he said.

“A donem of land that went for £2,500 before would go for £20,000. This trend continued into last year, though now it’s leveling off again,” he said. A donem is a local standard of measurement, the equivalent of about a third of an acre, which would sell for $5,000 before 2004 and almost $40,000 now.

The UN reunification plan was rejected by Greek Cypriots, the 700,000 residents of  Cyprus in the southern free area of the Republic of Cyprus, which is recognized around the world as the official government of the whole island.

The unsettled situation poses problems for home buyers. “The Turkish occupied area is not recognized by international law,” said Yiola Stavraki, a lawyer and a Greek Cypriot. “If the state that sells the properties is not recognized, how can the title deeds it issues be recognized?” She also says that the Turkish side does not have the right to transfer the titles to land that was owned by Greek Cypriots before the military invasion in 1974 and notes that buyers of such land could face legal action in the future.

Yet a Turkish Cypriot lawyer, Peyman Erginel, argues that the side in the Turkish occupied north area of Cyprus have established a property commission to compensate Greek Cypriots and that “this commission is acting in line with the decision of the European Court of Human Rights on the property issue on Cyprus.” “Now the Turkish side is in the process of passing new laws and trying to find a solution to the problems,” Erginel continued. “Time will tell whether these laws will be satisfactory or will need improvement. At present, if the purchasers obtain legal advice from an experienced lawyer before purchasing a property, they can minimize the problems they may face.”

Meanwhile, some residents say there are many positives among all the horror stories. “You do also see many people who have had a fantastic deal here,” said Stokes, chairwoman of the home buyers’ group. “This is a wonderful, beautiful island and people can have no problems at all. It’s not all bad news, but the thing is, you just don’t know how your own story will turn out.”

Original article by By Jon Gorvett > IHT

Property Commission fails to pay up July 7, 2007

Greek Cypriots who resorted to the contentious Turkish Cypriot property commission and whose cases were ‘resolved’ have still not received their compensation five months on, reports said yesterday.

At least one Greek Cypriot who was awarded compensation of 250,000 sterling on paper in March, is still waiting for the money, according to Politis newspaper, which published the document agreeing to his compensation. The paper said other Greek Cypriots whose cases were resolved at the commission were also still waiting for the deal to he honoured.

If the Turkish Cypriot side does not pay up, it could have implications for Greek Cypriot property cases at the European Court of Human Rights. Already the Turkish Cypriot side claims the commission is a viable alternative to the European Court, as cases can be settled as a “domestic remedy”. It is unclear however whether the European Court could consider as a ‘domestic remedy’ documents of agreement that have actually not been honoured.

Around 200 Greek Cypriots are said to have applied to the property commission. A number of cases have reportedly been settled according to the Turkish Cypriot side, and in one case involving an exchange of property as a solution, the European Court has struck that case from its books as having been resolved.

According to the letter of agreement, signed by a so-called but illegal senior “Interior Ministry” officials, the regime in the Turkish occupied and military controlled north area of the Republic of Cyprus  “agrees to pay 250,000 sterling to the applicants in return for their immovable properties cited in the application”.

Politis newspaper said that so far those who have re-contacted the property commission have not received an answer.

The legal and internationally recognized Greek Cypriot government has repeatedly warned that the creation of the property commission was “a trick” by the Turkish side to deflect Greek Cypriot claims from the European Court of Human Rights. The fear was that once the commission received the rubber stamp from Europe, the Turkish side would then double cross the refugees.

Last month parliament passed a resolution calling on Greek Cypriots not to resort to the Turkish Cypriot property commission as a means to resolve their problems, financial or otherwise.

Greek Cypriot houses destroyed in occupied Karpasia July 7, 2007

Around 80 Greek Cypriot houses have been demolished in Turkish military controlled and occupied Karpasia and another 27 are in danger of being bulldozed, the Chairman of the Karpasia Coordinating Committee Nicos Falas said yesterday.

Falas was speaking after a meeting with British High Commissioner Peter Millet, where he asked for the intervention of the international community to save the remaining houses.

He said there was also a danger that demolitions would begin in the village of Ayia Triada, also in the occupied Karpasia area. Falas said that Millet told him he had spoken to Rasit Pertev, a senior aide to Turkish Cypriot leader Mehmet Ali Talat about the demolitions.

“The High Commissioner was very positive and clear in his statements,” said Falas. “He told us he had already informed the Ambassadors of the permanent members of the UN Security Council and that he had made contact with Rasit Pertev.”

Millet would also be meeting soon with Talat, Falas said. “We hope there will be some results that will put an end to this destruction,” he said. However he said from what he understands, the demolitions were being carried out by the Turkish army and not the Turkish Cypriot administration. “We do not believe this is the work of the Turkish Cypriot administration,” said Falas.

28 Cyprus missing persons identified July 3, 2007

The United Nations committee that has the task of tracing people who disappeared on Cyprus after the 1974 Turkish invasion said yesterday that it has positively identified 28 bodies found in unmarked graves on the island.

“The families concerned, with whom all the arrangements will be made regarding the eventual return of the remains of their loved ones, will be personally notified,” the Committee for Missing Persons (CMP) said in a statement.

It did not say whether the identified bodies were those of Greek or Turkish Cypriots. The exhumations took place on both sides of the Green Line, with identification being made possible through DNA methods.

The remains date from the 1960s, when intercommunal fighting between Greek and Turkish Cypriots broke out in 1963-64, and from the 1974 Turkish invasion. Greek Cypriots claim just under 1,500 people remain missing, with Turkish Cypriots claiming up to 500.

Strange silence over CIA papers July 1, 2007

Only the European Party has commented on new declassified CIA papers that appear to reveal that former US Secretary of State Henry Kissinger not only pushed for the Turkish invasion of Cyprus but gave military aid to Ankara for the attack.

The papers, detailing 30 years of covert activities by the CIA, were published this week and are known as the ‘Family Jewels’. They contain other gems such as the CIA’s hiring of three mafia mobsters as one of hundreds of attempts by the US to kill Cuban President Fidel Castro.

The documents reveal that Kissinger, long suspected of at least turning a blind eye to the planned invasion in the Republic of Cyprus, may not only have given his tacit approval but apparently was pushing for it.

Complaining about “professional leakers” in the agency, he said: “In all the world, the things which hurt us the most are the CIA business and Turkey aid. The British can’t understand us. Callaghan says insiders there are routinely tapped. Our statements ought to indicate the gravity with which we view the situation.”

According to the news web site Raw Story, former intelligence sources confirmed he was referring to illegal financial aid and arms support to Ankara for the 1974 Turkish invasion in Cyprus.

A former CIA officer who was working in Turkey at the time suggested that Kissinger’s statement in the memorandum about Turkish aid likely meant the Ford administration, which following Kissinger’s advice, conducted business under the table with right-wing ultra-nationalist General Kenan Evren, who later dissolved Parliament and became the dictator of Turkey in a 1980 coup.

“The implication is that the US government was dealing directly with General Evren and circumventing the [democratically elected] Turkish government,” the former CIA officer told Raw Story. “This was authorised by Kissinger, because they were nervous about [Bulent] Ecevit, who was a Social Democrat.”

The former CIA official said military aid to Turkey had been stopped after the Turkish invasion and occupation of Cyprus. “Technically… technically, but this would imply that the military and/or probably CIA aid continued even after the aid was cut off by Congress. This may substantively be what led to the overthrow eventually of Ecevit,” he said.

According to the former CIA officer, Turkey’s democratically elected President Ecevit had good relations with the Johnson administration, but the Nixon administration, where Kissinger served as National Security Advisor and Secretary of State, had issues with Ecevit.

“I don’t remember now what all the issues were,” the CIA source said. “But I remember that the White House did not like Ecevit.”

Although the government could not be reached for comment yesterday and the main political parties were strangely silent about the allegations, European Party chairman Demetris Syllouris called for the House Committee examining the Cyprus File to ask for more information about people in Cyprus who had collaborated with the Americans in 1974 to facilitate the Turkish invasion.

New documents link Kissinger to two 1970s coups July 1, 2007

Release of CIA’s ‘Family Jewels’ provides insight into political juggernaut and Bush Administration adviser.

Former Secretary of State Henry Kissinger pushed for the 1974 Turkish invasion of Cyprus and allowed arms to be moved to Ankara for an attack on that island in reaction to a coup sponsored by the Greek junta, according to documents and intelligence officers with close knowledge of the event.

Nearly 700 pages of highly classified Central Intelligence Agency reports from the 1970’s, known collectively as the “Family Jewels,” are slated for public release today. However, the National Security Archive had previously obtained four related documents through the Freedom of Information Act and made them public Friday.

“In all the world the things that hurt us the most are the CIA business and Turkey aid,” Kissinger declares in one of those documents, a White House memorandum of a conversation from Feb. 20, 1975. On the surface, the comment seems innocuous, but the context as well as the time period suggests Kissinger had abetted illegal financial aid and arms support to Turkey for its 1974 Cyprus invasion.

In July and August of 1974, Turkey staged a military invasion of the island nation of Cyprus, taking over nearly a third of the island and creating a divide between the south and north. Most historians consider that Kissinger, then Secretary of State and National Security Advisor to President Gerald Ford, not only knew about the planned attack on Cyprus, but encouraged it.

Some Greek Cypriots believed then, and still believe, that the invasion was a deliberate plot on the part of Britain and the US to maintain their influence on the island, which was particularly important as a listening post in the Eastern Mediterranean in the wake of the October 1973 War between Israel, Egypt, Jordan and Syria.

According to columnist Christopher Hitchens, author of the book The Trial of Henry Kissinger, “At the time, many Greeks believed that the significant thing was that [Prime Minister Bulent] Ecevit had been a pupil of Kissinger’s at Harvard.”

Several intelligence sources, who wished to remain anonymous to maintain the security of their identity, confirmed to RAW STORY that Kissinger both pushed for the Turkish invasion of Cyprus and allowed arms to be moved to Ankara.

However, a former CIA officer who was working in Turkey at the time, suggests that Kissinger’s statement in the memorandum about Turkish aid likely means the Ford administration, following Kissinger’s advice, conducted business under the table with right-wing ultra-nationalist General Kenan Evren, who later dissolved Parliament and became the dictator of Turkey in a 1980 coup.

“The implication is that the US government was dealing directly with General Evren and circumventing the [democratically elected] Turkish government,” the former CIA officer said. “This was authorized by Kissinger, because they were nervous about Ecevit, who was a Social Democrat.”

“We technically cut off military aid for them,” the officer added, referring to an arms embargo passed by Congress after the invasion. “Technically… technically, but this would imply that the military and/or probably CIA aid continued even after the aid was cut off by Congress. This may substantively be what led to the overthrow eventually of Ecevit.”

According to the former CIA officer, Turkey’s democratically elected President Ecevit had good relations with the Johnson administration, but the Nixon administration, where Kissinger served as National Security Advisor and Secretary of State, had issues with Ecevit.

“I don’t remember now what all the issues were,” the source said. “But I remember that the White House did not like Ecevit.”

Kissinger could not be reached for comment Monday.

Kissinger, Rumsfeld, and Cheney, then and now > In Bob Woodward’s State of Denial, Kissinger says he met regularly with Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney to offer advice about the war in Iraq. “Victory over the insurgency is the only meaningful exit strategy,” Kissinger said.

Cheney, along with former Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, first came to prominence during the administration of President Ford. Rumsfeld had served in various posts under Nixon before being sent to Europe as the US ambassador to NATO in 1973, a period that included the Cyprus coup. When Ford became president on August 9, 1974, immediately preceding the second wave of the Turkish invasion of Cyprus, Rumsfeld returned to Washington to serve as his chief of staff, while Cheney became deputy assistant to the president.

The aid to Turkey referenced in Kissinger’s cryptic remark was precisely the subject of Congressional oversight on the Executive Branch in 1974-75. In a foreshadowing of how Iran Contra would play out a decade later, the White House violated both US and international law in providing arms and financing to the Turks for the Cyprus invasion.

The CIA, through various spokespeople, would not comment on how much additional information with regard to Kissinger, the attack on Cyprus, and the events leading up to the 1980 coup in Turkey with US support would be part of the declassified documents to come out this week. The only thing the agency would say is that “this was a different CIA at a different time,” and “people need to remember that.”

Read the rest of this article by Larisa Alexandrovna and Muriel Kane. Copyright by Global Research