For the first time in the 13 years since its establishment, the Real Estate Commission (EAI) operating in Turkey in the northern part of Cyprus decides after hearing an application to restore (albeit in part) the property rights of a Greek Cypriot owner. This is Andriani Ioannou, whose application to the EAI had been made public in 2017, when the ECtHR awarded her compensation for non-pecuniary damage on the part of Turkey due to "prolonged and ineffective" procedures in the examination of her application submitted to the EAI in 2008. In October 2018, the EAI brought before it the request of Mrs. Ioannou, and on January 23, 2019, according to a letter from the lawyer of Achilleas Dimitriadis to the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe (CoE), a decision was taken to restore two of its five properties in the occupied Coma of Gialos (Famagusta province). EAI did not inform Ms. Ioannou's lawyer about when its decision will be implemented, who emphasizes in his letter to the CoC that for the two properties, EAI did not compensate Ms. Ioannou for loss of use.
Compensation 10-14%
For the other three properties of Andriani Ioannou in Koma tou Gialos, EAI approved compensations for their "expropriation", amounting to 169.258 euros. According to the estimated value of the land by the Cadastral Department of the Republic of Cyprus, the "expropriation" compensation should amount to 1,18 million euros. Ms. Ioannou's lawyer, Mr. Achilleas Dimitriadis, emphasizes in his letter to the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe (dated 16 April 2019) the lack of transparency in the operation of EAI, since the amount of 169.258 euros is not analyzed separately for each one of the three properties.
As problematic points in the crisis of EAI, Mr. Dimitriadis also records the fact that the compensation of 79.799 euros for loss of use of the three properties covers the entire period from 1974 to 2018, while only for the twenty years 1997-2018, the applicant had estimated the loss of use (for all three properties) at 807.839 euros. In total, the difference between the estimated value of the three properties and the amount of the "expropriation" reaches 14% and the difference of the compensation for the loss of use from the one claimed by Mrs. Ioannou at 10%. Compensation for non-pecuniary damage was not approved by the Real Estate Commission in favor of the applicant, nor to cover the legal costs. It is noted that although the decision of EAI in the application of Ms. Ioannou was taken on January 23, 2019, its notification to Ms. Ioannou was delayed by two months (March 18, 2019). The delay in notifying a decision taken is not something that EAI is accustomed to, which points to the unprecedented content of that decision.
Ten have been restored since 2006
Updated statistics for the examination of applications before it was posted on its website by the Turkish Real Estate Commission. In total, until April 2019, 6.536 applications of property owners in the occupied areas were submitted to the EAI. Last year, applications had risen to 117 and in the first four months of 2019 to 27. The highest flow of applications to EAI was recorded in 2011 with 1.926 applications and the lowest in 2016 with 50. By amicable settlement between 2006-2019 1.161 applications were settled, while After a hearing before the EAI, decisions were taken on 33 applications, including the application of Andriani Ioannou for the five properties in the occupied Coma of Gialos. Of the total of 1.194 cases settled before the EAI, ten concern rehabilitation decisions (partial, total or in combination with compensation). The only decision to restore the owner's rights, after a hearing, concerns the application of Mrs. Ioannou. A total of 34.297.204 square meters. meters is the area of land covered by the 1.194 decisions of the EAI of Turkey and the total amount allegedly awarded to E / C applicants is about 348 million euros.
Declares absent the land registry
It is not yet known whether Andriani Ioannou will accept the decision of the Turkish Real Estate Commission. Her lawyer's letter to the Council of Europe, however, presupposes a negative attitude, as she characterizes EAI's measures in the case in question as "obviously ineffective", referring both to the non-return of loss of use for the two properties that were decided to be returned to Ms. Ioannou , as well as the low level of "expropriation" compensation and loss of use for the other three properties. For the 10% to 14% lower than the estimated amount of compensation from the EAI, the Department of Land Registry is also responsible. Specifically, the Land Registry issues estimates for the occupied properties of the applicants before the EAI, but does not accept an official to come before the EAI in the northern part of Cyprus to defend the assessment and provide evidence. Therefore, the members of EAI are able to rely only on the assessment presented by the Turkish Cypriot "authorities". In a statement to "Politis", the lawyer of Ms. Ioannou, Mr. Achilleas Dimitriadis, sharply commented on the specific attitude of the state with which its citizens are left unprotected before the EAI of Turkey. As Mr. Dimitriadis explained, the legal interpretation for appearing before the EAI is clear, since it is an instrument of the Turkish state.
Source: CITIZEN