The high profile court case between a British couple who own a villa in Northern Cyprus and the original Greek Cypriot owner of the land Meletios Apostolides ended yesterday with a European court upholding an original judgement made in a Republic of Cyprus court in favour of Mr Apostolides.

The ruling means David and Linda Oram must now demolish the beautiful Lapta villa built with their life savings and pay Apostolides compensation (effectively ground rent) for the time they have occupied the land.

The landmark decision could have an impact on Greek Cypriot’s disputing ownership of land in Northern Cyprus and that could be bad news for the estimated 1400 owners in a similar situation to the Orams. Although the decision was made in a European court, it is not clear how the ruling will be enforced in Turkish controlled Northern Cyprus.

In 1974 after many years of unrest between Turkey and Greece, Turkish troops intervened after after a political coup took place within then Greek controlled Government of Cyprus. This led to many land owners being displaced from the north and relocating to the south. Many people believe the Oram’s have been used as political pawns between the Greek Cypriot and Turkish Cypriot sides in an attempt to add weight to their bargaining positions in the unification talks currently being held.

Greek Cypriot president Demetris Christofias and his Turkish counter-part Mehmet Ali Talat have been meeting regularly for over a year and recently intensified to regular twice weekly sessions in an attempt to find a solution. One of the main stumbling blocks between the two sides in the unification talks has been resolving the issue of property and land rights on the island. In addition to the Greek Cypriots there are also Turkish Cypriots who owned land in the south now occupied. Much of Larnaca airport is built on Turkish Cypriot owned land.

For those people with property in Northern Cyprus with ‘exchange deeds’ the advice is don’t panic, each case must be heard on it’s own merit and many Greek Cypriots have no wish to return to their land. If a solution can be found between the two sides it is thought a compensation package would be available to land owners with a claim.
Although the Orams cannot appeal on the decision there will be could more twists and turns to their story yet.

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