Property wars in Cyprus: the Turkish position according to international law

Abstract

In the years that followed after the Turkish intervention in 1974, the UN buffer zone which cuts across the island of Cyprus has created a physical and social barrier between the Greek and Turkish communities. It also separates the internationally recognised administration in the South from the Northern part that is under Turkey's military protection. The Turkish Cypriot community formally declared its independence in 1983 through the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus, an act condemned by the international community. It is estimated that 40 per cent of the Greek population of Cyprus, as well as over half of the Turkish population, were displaced following the war in summer 1974. The figures for internally displaced Cypriots vary. The separation of the two communities via the UN-patrolled Green Line prohibited the return of all internally displaced people. Between 1955 and 1974, the main actors to the ‘Cyprus dispute’ resorted to weapons in order to pursue interests or to defend their rights. In the second half of the 1980s, the international community was fearful that a war may resume between the two communities which could ultimately engulf both sides of the Aegean. However, from 1990s onwards the ‘battle of weapons’ has been eclipsed by a ‘battle of books’. Losing faith in military means to force Turkey's troops out of Cyprus, the Greek side began placing more emphasis on international law in order to pinpoint to Turkey's elite the economic and political costs of maintaining the status quo. As will be demonstrated below, the issue of thousands of Greek Cypriot immovables under Turkish control has become a major headache for the Turkish side. However, the fate of thousands of abandoned Turkish Cypriot properties may also hit the Greek Cypriot authorities as a boomerang.