Greek Cypriot wins compensation case, seizing KKTC ministries’ official vehicles

The Greek Cypriot applicant has had vehicles of the ministries seized after the compensation awarded to him by the Immovable Property Commission has not been paid. (Photo: Cihan)

A Greek Cypriot citizen who has been awarded 2.1 million pounds in compensation for property abandoned in the Turkish Cypriot north following a Turkish military intervention in 1974 has had the official vehicles of the finance and agriculture ministries of the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (KKTC) seized after he was not paid the required compensation.
The Greek Cypriot citizen, whose name was not disclosed, had applied to a property commission created by the KKTC authorities in 2006 to process property complaints from the Greek Cypriots that had to abandon their real estate in the north of the island following the 1974 intervention. Ankara sent troops to the island after a Greek Cypriot coup staged by supporters of unification with Greece, dividing the island into a Turkish Cypriot north and a Greek Cypriot south.

The citizen was awarded the compensation by the KKTC’s property commission, officially called the Immovable Property Commission, for a 60,000-square-meter plot of land, but he has not been paid the money yet due to the financial troubles the commission is facing.
The Greek Cypriot then took his case to a KKTC court, which ordered the seizure of the KKTC ministries’ vehicles due to the unpaid compensation earlier this week, the private Cihan news agency reported on Friday. The ministries’ vehicles were seized by Turkish Cypriot officials in line with the court order.
Özkan Yorgancıoğlu, KKTC’s prime minister, acknowledged that two of KKTC’s ministries had their official cars seized in a press statement made on Wednesday after a cabinet meeting and that the government would have no objection to it. “Denying the seizure ruling is not right,” he said.
Yorgancıoğlu admitted that there were problems in financing the Immovable Property Commission, but this does not mean compensation orders will not be paid.
Yorgancıoğlu said the Greek Cypriot in question was due to be paid but that 12 other people were in line for payment before him.
The property commission, which was funded by Turkey until last year, has been facing financial difficulties over the past year and a half due to a lack of financing, according to Cihan. Financial troubles are causing delays in payments due to be made to Greek Cypriot applicants who are awarded compensation for their property in the KKTC.
Yorgancıoğlu said the government was in talks with “relevant authorities” for additional funds to be added to the KKTC budget to finance the property commission.

TODAY’S ZAMAN / ANKARA