European Court judgement on property in North Cyprus
Sunday, May 3, 2009 by dev
Sarah Ludford, she was very keen to share a platform with PKK sympathizers on the 14th of March at London’s Trafalgar Square !!!!
She is from the same party (Liberal MEP) that Simon Hughes MP belongs to and spoke to Turkish audience at South London SCTA .. with not so full promises !! Difficult to judge what Liberal Party is playing at ?! HALUK SAVAS
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For immediate release: Thursday 30th April=2 02009
Contact: Sarah Ludford +44 7711 553587 or Rachel Hamburger +44 (0)20 7288 2526 Mobile +44 (0) 7841534466
European Court judgement on property in North Cyprus - LudfordThe EU’s highest court, the European Court of Justice, has ruled in the Orams/Apostolides case, that British couple Linda and David Orams are open to UK court action to seize their assets here if they do not demolish the house they built in north Cyprus and pay compensation to Greek Cypriot owner Mr Apostolides as the Republic of Cyprus court ordered five years ago. The Orams claim to have bought the land near Kyrenia in good faith based on deeds issued=2 0by the Turkish Cypriot administration in the North. Hundreds of ot her British ‘owners’ of property in north Cyprus are potentially affected.
London Liberal Democrat MEP Sarah Ludford said:
“The technical legal correctness of this ruling may be unquestionable, based on EU measures providing for ‘mutual recognition’ of judgements between 2 EU countries, in this case the Republic of Cyprus and the UK. It is also understandable that Mr Apostolides and other Greek Cypriot owners will feel that it represents justice. We20must not forget however that there are many Turkish Cypriots who have been unable to reclaim property in the South.”
“In any case it will strike many as strange that while EU law is suspended in north Cyprus due to the division of the island - so the judgement cannot be enforced there - the same EU law can be used for a backdoor enforcement of the claim in UK courts.”
“The decision risks reinforcing the sense of=2 0bewilderment felt by Turkish Cypriots. They voted by 2 to 1 five years ago to accept the UN plan for reunification, a plan the Greek Cypriots rejected by 3 to 1, and they were then given an EU promise of an end to isolatio n. Little has been delivered to make that a reality, and the disappointment was alarmingly evident in recent election results which saw a victory for nationalists in the north.”
“The decision makes it all the more vital that the EU finally weighs in to help push forward quickly a political settlement on the island. It has always been recognised that property restitution or compensation, for the rights of both Greek and Turkish Cypriots forced to leave their properties at the time of partition, will be one of the trickiest issues. It is an indict ment of politicians, Cypriot but also European, that this matter has been left to lawyers to sort out because negotiators have failed for so long.”
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