A top European court on Tuesday backed the right of Greek Cypriots to reclaim property they abandoned in the north of the island when it was divided, and which was then sold to foreigners.

The European Court of Justice supported the claim of a Greek Cypriot man to the ownership of land on which a British couple built a holiday home, after he was forced to leave it when Turkish troops invaded northern Cyprus in 1974.

The long-awaited and complex ruling is likely to strengthen any legal claims Greek Cypriots might want to assert over their former properties, and a lawyer warned foreigners with suspect land there to seek legal advice.

After the Turkish military occupation of the north, some 170 000 Greek Cypriots fled south, abandoning their properties.

Many of the abandoned properties were distributed among Turkish Cypriots who had left behind assets in the south and many of whom subsequently sold them on to foreigners, mainly Britons.

The EU decision revolves around a court case in Nicosia dating from 2005.

In it, British couple Linda and David Orams were ordered to demolish a villa, built on land popular with foreign pensioners which they had bought from Turkish Cypriots, and to pay compensation.

The land's original owner, Greek Cypriot Meletis Apostolides, took the case to a British appeals court so that the order — which recognised his ownership of the land — would be enforced.

The British court sent the case to the EU tribunal in Luxembourg for a ruling on the complicated issue of whether the decision by the court in Nicosia is applicable in the Turkish north.

"The recognition and enforcement of the judgements of the Cypriot court cannot be refused in the United Kingdom," the EU court said on Tuesday.

The so-called Turkish Cypriot statelet in northern Cyprus is recognised by Turkey but not the rest of the international community.

The court said "the fact that the land concerned is situated in an area over which the government does not exercise effective control... does not preclude the recognition and enforcement of those judgements in another member state."

The Orams argued the property was bought in good faith, but they could now face enforcement action through the British courts as Cyprus is a fellow member of the European Union.

Indeed, technically speaking, the entire island joined the EU in 2004 but the application of EU legislation has been suspended in the north.

The Greek Cypriot-run government welcomed the judgement.

The court "has defended the property right of the citizens of the Republic of Cyprus, as EU citizens, irrespective of whether the property is located in the free or in the occupied areas," spokesperson Stefanos Stefanou said.

But Turkish Cypriot leader Mehmet Ali Talat said in a statement from his office: "Unless the Cyprus problem is solved, it is not possible to solve the property issue comprehensively.

"In a comprehensive settlement, (the) property issue will be solved taking into consideration not only the rights of the pre-1974 owners but also the rights of the current users."

An estimated 4000 Britons live on a permanent basis in the breakaway Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus, and they too could face a barrage of lawsuits by Greek Cypriot owners.

Cyprus has been divided along ethnic lines since 1974 when Turkey seized its northern third in response to an Athens-engineered Greek Cypriot coup aimed at union with Greece.

After a ceasefire, some 45 000 Turkish Cypriots moved out of the south and almost all the remaining Greek Cypriots still in the north crossed in the opposite direction under an agreed transfer of populations.

AFP

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