Turkey is accused of preventing the work of the “property compensation commission” by prohibiting the entrance into occupied fenced Varosha

Writing in Turkish Cypriot daily Afrika (02.09.11), Turkish Cypriot columnist Mehmet Levent assesses the developments in Greek Cypriot refugee Andreas Lordos’ case at the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) and the prohibition of entrance into the occupied fenced city of Varosha by the Turkish occupation army. Under the title: “The EU, ECHR and Lordos”, Levent reports that the ECHR has taken a decision on the Lordos case after 21 years, but it cannot implement this decision. Noting that the property of Lordos is located within the occupied fenced city of Varosha, Levent writes, inter alia, the following:

“?It [the ECHR] cannot say that ‘Lordos is right?Turkey should pay this sum of compensation to him’! In order for it to say this, first the value of Lordos’ property in Varosha should be determined. However, this procedure cannot be carried out! Why it cannot be carried out? Because Turkey, which has lost the case, does not give permission for this! The permission for entering into Varosha, which has been a dead city abandoned to snakes and centipedes for 37 years and for carrying out this procedure should be taken by the Turkish army. However, the Turkish army, which turned down all the applications on this issue, does not allow this! ?”

Noting that the ECHR could do nothing about this situation, Levent says, inter alia, the following:

“Even the MPs of the EU and the EU officials cannot enter into Varosha which is an EU territory. Leave this aside. The Turkish army does not allow the entrance into Varosha even to high ranking officials of the TRNC!

Who has established the property compensation commission in the TRNC? Turkey. Why it has established it? In order to allegedly settle in this commission the disputes with the Greek Cypriots and prevent them from going to the ECHR. Afterwards this commission was accepted as Turkey’s local remedy and it was imposed as such to the ECHR. Now it [Turkey] does not allow the entrance into Varosha even to the members of this commission established by itself! However, the evaluations of this commission in Varosha are very important for determining the compensation to be paid to Lordos. Without these evaluations it is not possible to decide on the sum of compensation to be paid by Turkey. Exactly on this point, Turkey prevents these evaluations to be carried out by not allowing the entrance into Varosha!

Very recently the TRNC property compensation commission stated that many applications had been made to the military authorities in the TRNC with the aim of forming a solution proposal to businessman Andreas Lordos from Varosha, but all these applications were rejected and the permission of the Turkish army is still expected for this.

There is no sound from the ECHR in front of all these developments! There is no move in any of the EU organs regarding this issue! Even when EU Parliamentarians were not permitted by the army to enter into Varosha, the EU put up with it in an unbelievable manner and accepted silently the fact that no permission was given even to its own Parliamentarians to enter into a territory which belongs to itself in Cyprus!

Turkey, which is not member of the EU, keeps Cyprus, a member of the EU, under military and political occupation for 37 years and the EU says nothing against this occupation as if it is powerless! The EU is absolutely ignored on its own territory which is under Turkey’s occupation for 37 years! It has no authority?”