Nicosia will wait to see the actual impact of Ankara’s reaction in Strasbourg, after the Turkish delegation left a meeting of the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe, on Thursday, protesting against the non adoption by the Committee of its recommendations.
The Turkish delegation, CNA has learnt, walked out of the meeting towards the end of a three-day session of the Committee of Ministers, charged with supervising the execution of European Court of Human Rights judgments. The protest was related to the discussion concerning Greek Cypriot properties in the Turkish-occupied part of Cyprus.
In particular, Turkey attempted to end the supervision of some cases, but failed to persuade other delegations to pass a relevant decision.
In a memorandum submitted before the June 5-7 meeting in Strasbourg, the Turkish government asked, inter alia, the Deputies to instruct the Secretariat of the Committee of Ministers to terminate the supervision of a series of property-related cases, including “Loizidou”, “Eugenia Michaelidou Developments Ltd and Michael Tymvios” and “Alexandrou.”
A well-informed source has told CNA that the Turkish delegation left in protest, as the Committee of Ministers could not satisfy its demands.
Before leaving the meeting, the Turkish delegation made an oral statement, expressing its disagreement over the course of events, and said it would not cooperate with the Committee of Ministers in matters relating to the supervision of the execution of Court judgments.
Asked about the actual impact of this statement, the same source said that “we will have to see that in action.”
The discussion at the Committee of Ministers involving Greek Cypriot properties is expected to resume next September, according to a decisionadopted unanimously on Thursday.
Cyprus has been divided since 1974 when Turkey invaded and occupied its northern third.
The European Court of Human Rights sentenced Turkey in numerous cases, brought forward by Greek Cypriots, concerning the violation of their fundamental human rights, following the 1974 invasion, with regards to their property.
