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The European court of justice yesterday awarded a Greek Cypriot refugee the right to win back land he was forced to flee when war partitioned the island in 1974, in a landmark ruling with possible ramifications for thousands of second homeowners in northern Cyprus.
The decision, announced nearly five years after Meletis Apostolides sought recourse through the courts to reclaim property that was subsequently sold to a British couple, is expected to encourage other refugees to seek similar restitution. It could also have a profound impact on crucial talks to reunify Cyprus.
Met with euphoria in the island's internationally recognised Greek-controlled south and consternation in its breakaway Turkish-run north, the ruling overturns a judgment made by the high court in London that supported the British couple's ownership of the property and questioned the ability of a Greek Cypriot court to demand that it be returned to the refugee.
Linda and David Orams appealed to the tribunal - appointing Cherie Booth, the wife of the then prime minister Tony Blair, to defend them - after a court in the island's divided capital, Nicosia, ordered the couple to not only compensate Apostolides but demolish the dream home they had built on the land.
When they failed to comply, the Greek Cypriot vowed to exploit the island's membership of the EU and take the case to its highest legal body.
"I am very much pleased," the architect, whose family still owns the title deeds to the land, said yesterday. "The decision is what we expected." The ruling paves the way for Apostolides to pursue a claim for compensation in the UK, where his lawyers have said they will fight to have the Orams' assets seized.
"The recognition and enforcement of the judgments of the Cypriot court cannot be refused in the United Kingdom," the EU tribunal 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 judgments in another member state."
About 200,000 Greek Cypriots were forcibly displaced when the Turkish army invaded the island and seized its northern third after an Athens-backed coup aimed at uniting it with Greece. Historically inhabited by Greeks, northern Cyprus was home to very few Turkish Cypriots at the time. Before the invasion prompted a population exchange on either side of the island's UN-manned ceasefire line, land registries show that about 82% of properties in the area belonged to Greeks.
After the invasion many properties were sold by Turkish Cypriots to foreigners, with Britons leading the scramble to snap up real estate at bargain prices. Records show about 6,000 UK citizens owning holiday retreats in the territory.
"The impact of this [decision] could be enormous," said James Ker-Lindsay, a political expert on Cyprus at the London School of Economics. "After this, every Briton in Greek Cypriot property in northern Cyprus faces the real prospect of legal action through the UK courts." If other Greek Cypriots followed suit, it could have a "profound impact" on talks to reunify the island's communities, he added.
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