BREAKING NEWS Orams lose UK appeal
Published on January 19, 2010

THE COURT of Appeal has handed down its judgment in the case of Apostolides v Orams.  The Court of Appeal has decided in favour of Meletis Apostolides, a statement from his lawyers said. 
The present appeal is final, it added, and a further appeal to the Supreme Court of the United Kingdom is not permitted.
The judgment provides that the Cyprus judgments be registered and enforced in the UK.  The Cyprus Court had made a number of orders against David Orams and Linda Orams, regarding land in Lapithos belonging to Apostolides.  In particular, the Cyprus Court ordered that the Orams should:
-           Cease trespassing on the land belonging to Apostolides;
-           Deliver up possession of the land to Apostolides;
-           Pay ‘mesne profits’ (effectively, rent) to  Apostolides in respect of the period of their occupation;
-           Knock down the villa and fencing they had built on the land; and
-           Pay certain sums in respect of Apostolides’s costs of the proceedings.
The Orams will also be ordered to pay the legal fees incurred by Apostolides, regarding the London and Luxembourg proceedings.
“This judgment has determined in a final way that the legal rights of displaced Cypriots against trespassers, as determined by the Courts of the Republic of Cyprus, can be enforced in the United Kingdom,” said the statement from lawyer Constantis Candounas. 
“Mr. Apostolides feels totally satisfied that the European institutions have safeguarded his right to have his human rights to property enforced throughout the Union.  He had placed his trust in British Justice and has never felt that this was misplaced.”
Candounas said the ruling is expected to act as a future deterrent for speculators in stolen Cypriot properties, as well as those willing to take small or bigger risks. 
“The way is now open for all Greek Cypriots whose properties have been usurped by other EU nationals, to take legal action and enforce Cyprus judgments against such trespassers in the United Kingdom and other EU countries,” his statement said.

I think the decision was what most peple expected. England no longer has its own laws, its all Europe now. The EU showed their true colours by letting the south side into 'The Club' whilst they (GCs) were in dispute with fellow countrymen, ie Turkish Cypriots!

Kaz

Hi Kaz

Totally agree in that we were expecting that judgemnt from a bunch of spineless UK /EU Judges.

I'm hoping though that the judgement forms rule as to what will happen re: GC pre 1974 land and the requirements detailed.  I was worried there may be more about freezing / holding UK assets but that doesn't at the moment seem to appear.

Tom

Some members might be interested in the following.

Kaz

19/01/2010


Statement by the Presidential Spokesperson Mr. Hasan Ercakica



By its decision dated 19 January 2010, the Court of Appeal of England and
Wales has overruled the Orams' claims regarding the assignment of new
questions to the European Court of Justice (ECJ) and ordered recognition and
execution of the decision of the Greek Cypriot Court. The said decision is
being investigated in detail and the means to apply to a higher jurisdiction
and to the European Court of Human Rights are being discussed.

As we have reiterated many times before, the fact that the Greek Cypriot
side was unilaterally accepted in the EU before a solution was reached for
the Cyprus problem is a grave mistake and the unjust decision made today is
one of the most recent outcomes of it.

The one-sided policies employed by the EU and its institutions in favor of
the Greek Cypriot side by completely ignoring the realities on the island
casts a shadow over the EU's reliability and commitment to the universal
principles it has always promoted.

It should be reiterated that, as the Turkish Cypriot side, we are of the
opinion that the property issue cannot be settled through individual cases
but only within the framework of a comprehensive solution. To that end, the
Turkish Cypriot side is determined to continue to defend the ideas it has
submitted at the negotiation table within the established UN parameters,
primarily on the property issue and on all the other aspects of the Cyprus
problem. What is expected from the Greek Cypriot side is to refrain from
such initiatives which further complicate the property issue and come to a
realistic point at the negotiation table which is in accordance with the UN
parameters.

The TRNC state stands by the Orams couple along with all its institutions
and will adopt all the necessary measures to avoid any suffering on their
part.

The TRNC Presidency is determined to enact the necessary measures as soon as
possible for our economy to survive this decision with the least possible
impact through a complete harmony and cooperation with the government and
all the relevant sectors.

  _____ 

We will now have to wait and see what the next move is.

Could it be full partion?

Maybe the border will close again?

Will Turkish title become premium?

Maybe the property market will blosom again now that foreigners know how Europe will treat them?

Will Turkey tell the EU what it thinks or even GB?

Any good guess?

I understand that Turkish MPs and government officials have been here for 2 days and that a statement will be released  tomorrow. My personal guess is that there will be partition, posssible closures to GCs entering the north, (British passport holders cannot be denied entry to from the south), and that Turkish title will become the best title of land to hold, it was always the safest. When we purchased our Turkish title land, folk said that it was no different, maybe they will be correct, maybe not.

Kaz

More or less what everybody expected.  The EU is so biased towards the Greek Cypriot administration.  I have written to eight MEP's three times now, outlining the "continuing persecution of the Turkish Cypriot community in Cyprus" and only three of them had the courtesy to reply, which indicates to me that they are a waste of space.

Maybe the way forward is to sell of any assets in the UK or EU and re-invest any capital in Turkey or TRNC.

It seemed straightforward when I first started reading about it, but now it gets more and more complicated.  I have been reading about it on frankandjoan site, and it's too long to paste and copy here, but suggest you have a look at their site for the January news for this year, and it explains a bit more about the situation (to me anyway).

Part of it I have copied and pasted anyway... (part of Frank's reply to the Orams when they challenged him on his site (before the final decision)

The Orams’s were directly advised by the President’s office here not to attend the court in the South.

Justification is obvious. The South do not recognize the North except as an occupied territory, therefore the server had no legal right here and it was 100% guaranteed that the case would be lost even before the border was crossed. It is consistently maintained by very, very many here, that had they not attended the court then the case would not have been able to escalate to the current position and would not have fed the hungry publicity machine for the South and would not have had such a devastating effect on the economy of the North. There have in fact been other arrest warrants issued. The recipients were also advised not to attend court, they didn’t and there has been no further publicity. It is a definite fact, that I cannot deny, that this case now has far reaching effects for the North. If the case is eventually won then a very positive situation exists as far as land and property issues here are concerned, let's hope to goodness they do win, because consider the outcome if the case is lost and then consider the initial advice given.

In addition to the above, there is one other reason for my comments. We have heard, some considerable time ago, from a very reliable source, that one of the organizations here, set up to counter the South’s propaganda machine spent around £7,000 to £8,000 on legal advice for the Orams with a team of experienced barristers, which they then chose to ignore. I find that very hard to swallow, especially when I consider that that money came in as small donations from property owners here, encouraged to fund and hopefully improve the North’s publicity campaign.

Enough said, you now know how I feel about this situation and why I have made previous comments, but I shall no longer mention the Orams, unless of course there is an article in the press that I feel needs highlighting. I particularly like articles by that well known correspondent, Tom Roche, who included them in his New Year’s honors list, for NOT seeking publicity in 2005.


The facts remain the case has been finalised everybody is now worried about the future and their position here so we will have to see what the future brings.

There is to be a meeting in parliament here this coming week and no doubt we will get to here the outcome and how much support we can expect.

Meantime the newspaper headline for today reads:- DON'T PANIC.

President Talat is urging the people to "stay calm" in the wake of the Orams verdict and he said that they were evaluating the possibility of further appeals. This despite the ruling in UK that no further appeals were to be allowed. He said that necessary steps will be taken to diminish the economic implications of the verdict and to prevent foreign homebuyers from suffering. Everybody's rights are under guarantee, he said.
Mr Talat accused the court of being one sided and blamed the EU for its unilateral acceptance of South Cyprus into its ranks in 2004 and further said that the Court of Appeal had totally ignored the ongoing negotiations process in Cyprus.

The Foreign Minister and Cabinet spokesman has also said that the government would not allow the estimated 15,000 Britons who had purchased property here to suffer any hardships.

No surprise there then.

A great chance to torpedo the talks, and get  both sides stirred up again. Just when they should be trying to bring both sides together, I must say the timings spot on. 

 Doesn't it just stand out a mile how prejudiced towards Turkey the EU is, and it was expected that the spineless British Court would just follow suit with the EU ruling, after all we never like to upset the big players, as in George Bush and his poodle..

Surely this should work both ways, so shouldn't Turks who gave up land in the South also be able to put their claims in now?

Congratulations G.B. you may have won many Greek friends, but you've certainly alienated a lot of Turkish  and Brit. property owners.

No need to panic though we'll just have to see how things develop. 

Another interesting news item from the UK press.

Kaz

 <http://www.guardian.co.uk> guardian.co.uk home


Turkish Cypriot appetite for united island dwindles as hostility grows


Separatist sentiments gain ground in north of Cyprus despite new round of
reunification talks

·          <http://www.guardian.co.uk/profile/simontisdall> Simon Tisdall in
Kyrenia, northern Cyprus

·          <http://www.guardian.co.uk> guardian.co.uk, Tuesday 26 January
2010 19.38 GMT

·           <http://www.guardian.co.uk/help/accessibility> larger |
<http://www.guardian.co.uk/help/accessibility> smaller

Turkish Cypriot boy with flags

Surveys suggest rising numbers of Turkish Cypriots feel that a separate
state is a more viable solution than reunification. Photograph: Fatih
Saribas/Reuters

Mustafa Iusufoglu was only a small child when Turkish troops overran his
village a few miles outside Nicosia in the summer of 1974. But he remembers
clearly the elation with which his father and the local Turkish Cypriot
community greeted their arrival after years of often bloody, island-wide
confrontation with the Greek Cypriot majority.

<http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/cyprus> Cyprus has been divided ever since
by a UN-monitored ceasefire line running east to west. But that's for the
best, Iusufoglu said. "Before 1974 it was no good. In the village we had two
quarters, one for them, one for us. There was one church and one mosque.
There were two separate schools. There was no co-operation, no visiting.
There were terrible feuds. It's better now.

"The Greeks don't like us and we don't like them. We need to have separate
states, though of course it would be good to have a better atmosphere," he
said.

Iusufoglu is not alone in his views. Separatist sentiments are gaining
ground in Turkish northern Cyprus despite a new round of internationally
mediated reunification talks, the latest in a series going back more than 40
years.

Ever distrustful of Greek intentions, angered by the international trade
embargo and other sanctions imposed on their isolated, mostly unrecognised
republic, and buoyed by the rise of
<http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/turkey> Turkey as a regional superpower,
Turkish Cypriots are tired of waiting for a settlement that never comes.

A rising number - 34% in one recent poll - want to go their own way. Another
survey found that 85% of Turkish Cypriots do not believe a reunification
solution is possible. There is much scepticism on the Greek Cypriot side,
too.

"For me personally I think it is better that the two communities are
separate," said Halil, a civil servant in Kyrenia. "We tried. But you saw
what happened between 1960 and 1974 [when Greek Cypriots discarded a
power-sharing constitution bequeathed by Britain, the former colonial
power]. The Greek Cypriots feel the same way."

Suleyman Oral, owner of the Mardin restaurant near Lefke, is more vehement.
"The Greek Cypriots are looking at the world with one eye. They don't
understand the realities. The Greeks would like to see all Turkish people go
back to Turkey. If Turkey [which has an estimated 30,000 troops in the
north] leaves, in a minute they will destroy us. They have tried to do this
before."

Businessman Gunay Cherkez, president of the Turkish Cypriot chamber of
commerce, said the self-styled Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC)
was viable economically, especially if post-1974 restrictions on direct
trade and exports, flights, visas, telecoms and higher education
opportunities within the EU were lifted - although he conceded it would
continue to rely on support from Turkey.

Like other Turkish Cypriots, Cherkez expressed anger at last week's court of
appeal decision to uphold a ruling ordering a British couple, David and
Linda Orams, to demolish a house they built in northern Cyprus on land
belonging to a dispossessed Greek Cypriot.

He claimed the case demonstrated the insincerity of the Greek Cypriot side
in the peace talks, where property rights on both sides of the UN buffer
zone are a central issue along with security, territory, and governance.

With the current nationalist prime minister, Dervis Eroglu, tipped to
replace the TRNC's pro-reunification president, Mehmet Talat, in elections
in April, separatist momentum seems likely to grow. Only an unexpected
breakthrough in the latest round of talks, due to concludetomorrow, would
significantly change the current dynamic, said Ahmet Sozen of the Cyprus
Policy Centre in Famagusta.

"Turkey will push the TRNC to stay at the negotiating table" for fear of
damaging its bid to join the EU, Sozen said. "But if the Turkish Cypriots
are forced to quit, there are other scenarios. One is growing normalisation
of relations with other countries, like Taiwan has done. Some countries will
start recognising the TRNC, Muslim countries like Syria and Qatar."

Comparisons with Kosovo were also valid, Sozen suggested. In that case, an
independent state had been carved out of territory belonging to a sovereign
power (Serbia) after a military intervention. A degree of international
recognition had then followed.

Turkish Cypriot leaders say they are committed for now to the UN-brokered
reunification process. But foreign minister Huseyin Ozgurgun said that if
the talks failed again, "we will work for recognition" of the TRNC as an
independent state. He said his government had increased the number of its
representative offices overseas and obtained observer status in the
56-country Organisation of the Islamic Conference. It may open direct air
links with Iran next year.

Gunay Cherkez summed up Turkish Cypriots' exasperation with what they
characterise as endless Greek Cypriot foot-dragging: "I want to dance. I
arrange the music. I lower the lights. I'm all dressed up! But my partner
doesn't want to join me. So maybe I dance on my own."

·         guardian.co.uk © Guardian News and Media Limited 2010

Surprising there hasn't been more speculation about possible consequencies of this decision. 

 I would like to know Medviews take on this, as Ali Safa himself told me he had exchanged land in the South for land in the North, so is there any possibility of claims against us?

 Also the Company did say they'd idemnify us against any losses, but could they afford to do that now as this must have hit them very hard.

 These losses, I thought just meant compensation for the value of the land at pre 1974 prices, but seems they can insist on back rental also, and ask for demolition.

I can't see demolition  happening as long as the Island stays divided, as now seems likely, but suppose they could impose stringent penalties through EU court against  EU citizens if not carried out .

We all took a gamble when we bought our properties at massively reduced prices compared to the South, so if we do come unstuck, that's life, but I live in hope of common sense prevailing eventually.

Turkey has told Europe that it will not withdraw its troops from Cyprus and wil not surrender Maras to Greek Cypriot Rule.  The European Parliament on Wednesday backed calls for Ankara to change its tack on Cyprus but Turkish Prime Minister Erdogan has denounced the recommendations as "one sided".

He said that it was only possible for Turkey to accept reports from the European Union "if they are neutral,unbiased and unhampered by the internal politics of the blocs Parliament"

TRNC President Mehmet Alu urged Europe to keep its nose of of the negotiations process and leave it to the UN.

Please also look at Cyprus Mail and Cyprus Free Press for information re Larnaca  Airports which belonged to the TCs.

A