Mafia on both sides ‘involved in property sales’

Mafia on both sides of the divide in Cyprus seem to be cooperating in selling off Greek Cypriot properties in the north to foreigners, HP party leader Kudret Ozersay said on Monday.

Ozersay’s comments come as the immovable property commission in the north said the Greek Cypriot side is trying to make political gains by having Turkish Cypriot lawyer Akan Kursat arrested in Italy, based on a warrant for selling properties in the north.

Speaking to daily Politis about skyrocketing property sales to foreigners in the north, Ozersay said it seems a loophole in the ‘law’ of northern Cyprus allows Turkish Cypriot lawyers to act as middlemen for foreigners buying property.

He said when the lawyer becomes the middleman then a foreigner is then allowed to buy as much land as they want in the north. Ozersay clarified a different measure exists for Turkish Cypriots, who are allotted land based on title deeds submitted to the ‘TRNC’ for the loss of property in the state-controlled areas.

The party leader also questioned practices in the state-controlled areas where Turkish Cypriots are denied access to their properties under the law of custodianship enacted by the Republic following the Turkish invasion.

“My family has property in the south but cannot enjoy it because of the custodianship law on Turkish Cypriot properties, which says until the solution of the Cyprus problem it is basically impossible for me to get that land, unless I move to the south,” he said.

He also commented on the fact that Turkish Cypriot properties under the Turkish Cypriot Property Management Authority have also been given to non-refugees or are being sub-let, while others were still commandeered by the state to make roads and schools.

As a solution to the mess caused with properties on both sides, Ozersay said that at least the north has tabled and created the immovable property commission (IPC) despite problems.

The IPC is recognised by the European Court of Human Rights as an effective domestic remedy. In an interview with Yeni Duzen, the head of IPC Novber Vechi has said that in 2023, 32 cases have been settled by the IPC with £12 million paid.

Ozersay also said Greek Cypriots and Turkish Cypriots need to work together to solve the property issue, and not hit out at each other, as he evaluated the arrest warrants issued from 2004-2005 with the construction boom in the north.

On Friday, it emerged that the Cyprus bar association has begun investigating some members and a company, believed to be involved in buying and selling of property in the north.

Sources told the Cyprus Mail the company being examined seems to be run by Berk Gokhan and Rikkos Mappourides, both subjects of the investigation.

Mappourides is also believed to have connections to Akan Kursat, a Turkish Cypriot lawyer currently in custody in Italy over selling Greek Cypriot land in the north.

The bar will also examine whether Mappourides has any connection to Kursat in this case, as he also appears to be Kursat’s legal counsel regarding the arrest in Italy.

Kursat was arrested at his hotel in Rome on New Year’s eve, where he had travelled with his wife and CTP ‘MP’ Fazilet Ozdenefe.

Kursat is linked to British con man and drug dealer Gary Robb, who had swindled millions of pounds out of prospective Brits wanting to buy property in the north. The properties were never completed.

Robb had been convicted in the Cyprus Republic and sentenced to ten months in prison by a Cypriot court, after he was extradited for selling Greek Cypriot land to Britons.