The Economic Organizations Platform (EOP), established by the major economic organizations operating in Northern Cyprus, recently released an announcement which evaluates the developments in the real estate sector and emphasized that the solution to the problems in this regard is the Immovable Property Commission (IPC).
The announcement reminded that the IPC operating in Northern Cyprus was identified by the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) as a legal and valid process to resolve immovable property problems, and underlined that the Greek Cypriot side had to comply with this.
The EOP emphasised that the arrest by the Greek Administration of business people who have made investments in real estate in Northern Cyprus or have activities in this field threatens the peace on the island, and stated that this attempt of the Greek side may be due to the recently increased momentum of the work of the IPC.
The announcement, which explained the legal framework regarding the formation and work of the IPC, also reminded that the Demopoulos judgement of the ECHR specified that decisions regarding immovable property should be made by local authorities “who are best placed to evaluate the conflicting interests”.
In the announcement released by the EOP, a call was also made to the European Union (EU), reminding the EU’s commitment that ‘’in accordance with the Protocol 10 of the EU Accession Agreement, the initiatives for the economic development of the Turkish Cypriots cannot be prevented,’’ and the EU members need to step in against these attempts made by the Greek Cypriots which aim to deal a blow to the economy of the Turkish side. The announcement highlighted that the Greek side attempts to raise tension with such efforts every 10 years and that the immovable property issue in Cyprus cannot be resolved by filing lawsuits against individuals and arresting them. In the announcement, the statement was made that the international community should step in against such efforts made by the Greek Cypriots every ten years, and should be aware that these actions which are purely based on the Greek Side’s own internal political machinations with an aim to increase tensions, will produce no results.