The north’s ruling coalition was on Tuesday lambasted by two opposition ‘MPs’ for the “reckless” and “ridiculous” policies they have followed regarding the matter of property.
The debate comes after the ruling coalition changed its legislation regarding the purchase of real estate by non-Turkish Cypriots last Friday, allowing them to buy more properties.
First to speak on the matter was the CTP’s Ongun Talat, the son of former Turkish Cypriot leader Mehmet Ali Talat, who asked, “what happened that you suddenly expanded the limits with a decree?”
He added that the ruling coalition had “made a move to sell more properties” in response to the growing number of criminal cases regarding the alleged illegal development of Greek Cypriot property in the north and asked whether the ruling coalition is “aware of the consequences” of such a move.
“We are going through a very critical process. An important is being experienced regarding the Turkish Cypriots being confined to the north, being imprisoned here, and the issue of existence,” he said.
He highlighted the ongoing criminal cases and the sentencing of two Hungarian nationals to jail in recent weeks, and added, “in return, you say, ‘I will continue to sell even more’”.
He went on to speak of the difficulties behind the creation of the Immovable Property Commission (IPC) when his father was Turkish Cypriot leader and said that incumbent Ersin Tatar’s insistence on a two-state solution to the Cyprus problem is “behind this decision” on the Republic of Cyprus’ part to begin arresting people over property.
“As long as this policy continues, there is no way out of here,” he said.
He added that people are as yet unaware of how many arrest warrants have been put out and who is impacted by them.
“Many people do not know what to do. Interpol has stepped in. They do not know whether these people can enter Europe or other countries,” he said, before adding that the ruling coalition has in response taken “reckless” steps “instead of developing a comprehensive strategy with Turkey”.
“You are shouting like a little uncle, but you are being ridiculous. The two-state solution has collapsed as a policy,” he said, adding that “the solution lies in returning to the negotiating table”.
“You will return to the table, you will initiative diplomatic initiatives, you will begin to explain this process to the world,” he said, before calling on the north’s ruling coalition to contact the Turkish government “immediately” and work with Interpol to solve the issue.
Fellow CTP ‘MP’ Urun Solyali was in agreement, though he also criticised the arrests, saying, “the Greek Cypriot leadership has used international law as a political weapon”.
Despite this, he said, the north’s ruling coalition should have been doing much more to ameliorate the situation.
“You should have been in Brussels, in Strasbourg, at the United Nations. You should have defended the European Court of Human Rights’ decisions and strengthened the IPC. Instead, you made us watch ‘lap’ politics on television,” he said, referring to comments made by Tatar about how President Nikos Christodoulides wants to “make us sit on his lap”.
“Not only did you create this impasse, you are now making a bare-faced mistake,” he added.
He added that the decision to allow non-Turkish Cypriots to buy more property was “unwise”, and that as a result, “the message you gave to the Greek Cypriot leadership was ‘arrest us all’”.
“This is a policy which thinks only of itself, not the investors,” he added.
The ruling coalition on Friday had changed the law regarding the purchase of property by non-Turkish Cypriots, with foreign nationals now allowed to buy two houses or three apartments, with the houses allowed to be set on as much as 3,000 square metres of land.
Previously, they were only allowed to buy one house or apartment each, provided that it is located on less than 2,500 square metres of land.
Nationals of “countries which recognise the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus”, thus, Turkish nationals, are now allowed to buy six apartments or three houses each.
The two Hungarian nationals sentenced earlier this month were the first to receive prison sentences over the matter, after having admitted to promoting and advertising the sale of houses near Kyrenia on the internet.
Meanwhile, the case of a German national who reportedly spoke about selling property in the north to an off-duty police officer during a flight to Larnaca is ongoing, and arrest warrants were issued on Tuesday for four Turkish nationals in connection with developments in the Famagusta district village of Lefkoniko.
Tatar had earlier described the arrests as “acts of terrorism” and likened the moves to the violence faced by Turkish Cypriots in the 1960s, while the north’s ‘finance minister’ Erhan Arikli had on Thursday called for “revenge”.
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