The process with the filing of the 5th Transnational Appeal to the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) against the Turkish plans for Varosi will be multi-year, said the President of the Pancyprian Bar Association Christos Clerides to KYPE, adding that this is the first time the issue of Famagusta is appealed to the ECtHR.
Mr. Clerides said that if we succeed in this appeal - despite the dangers that lurk - then it will be another paper in diplomacy and pressure on Turkey. "Unfortunately, cases like this involve some element of politicization, even at the level of the courts, and therefore the outcome is unpredictable," he said.
As he explained, this is a transnational appeal of Cyprus against Turkey in relation to the violations of Turkey in occupied Famagusta, an appeal which is submitted under the provisions of the European Convention on Human Rights and is registered by the ECtHR in Strasbourg and concerns the Strasbourg which the Republic of Cyprus will support to show that Turkey is violating certain provisions of this Treaty, including the first protocol to the European Convention on the Right to Property.
He said that the actions of Turkey - which on July 20 announced on a pilot basis the abolition of the military regime in about 3,5% of the enclosed area of Famagusta and called on the Greek Cypriots to return under Turkish Cypriot administration and seek redress for property In the opinion of the Republic of Cyprus, they are violating the provisions of the European Convention on Human Rights and for this they will appeal to the ECtHR.
"This is the first time that especially for the issue of Famagusta, such an appeal is made to the European Court," said Mr. Clerides.
He recalled that four transnational refugees had preceded him and that a decision on the fourth had been issued in May 2001 when the late Alekos Markidis was the Attorney General. "For the most part, this appeal was successful and Turkey was convicted of continuing violations, including property, the issues of the trapped, the missing, etc., and Turkey's compliance with this decision is pending. "A conviction in the form of compensation against Turkey was followed by a decision of the order of 100 million euros, with which Turkey has not complied", he reminded.
There were, said Mr. Clerides, and many other individual refugees from individuals who complained about the continuing violation of the individual right to property by the well-known decision of Titina Loizidou, and others where the applicants were acquitted but these directly to the Court appeals were stopped after the Dimopoulos case against Turkey when the ECtHR put a brake on individual appeals, referring applicants to the Turkish real estate commission in the occupied territories. He explained, however, that there is no obstacle for the Cyprus transnational appeal against Turkey to proceed.
Regarding the duration of the process, Mr. Clerides told KYPE that it is multi-year and will go in the long run, adding that "and of course no one can prejudge the result."
"There is always a degree of uncertainty about the outcome in this kind of case," he said. The difficulties, he added, "which we will face are the first in terms of these properties, Turkey may raise the issue that they are properties belonging to EVKAF and therefore there is no question of violation and will raise the issue that no violation exists given the existence of the pseudo-committee to which the affected can apply either to get their property or for compensation, or for exchange, etc., in accordance with the provisions of the domestic instrument recognized by the Court in the Dimopoulos case ".
Unfortunately, he continued, such cases involve some element of politicization even at the level of the courts and therefore the result is unpredictable, "because I have the feeling if I judge from the Dimopoulos case that it may not be decided on the basis of purely legal arguments." .
If, he said, we succeed in this appeal - with the dangers that always lurk - then it will be another paper in diplomacy and pressure on Turkey.
He added that the appeal will be registered with the advice and guidance of the Legal Service and the Attorney General and foreign experts, who have already given an opinion on the matter.
Mr. Clerides said that he suggested that the team be enriched with experienced Cypriot lawyers, members of the Pancyprian Bar Association, who have knowledge of the subject but also former judges who could assist with the experience and knowledge of the ECtHR.