Another decision was issued by the European Court of Human Rights, after an application by the owner of an apartment block in Varosha. It ordered Turkey to pay compensation of €18,000 for moral damage to Cypriot company KV Mediterranean Tours Limited, owner of a 10-floor block of flats on the Varosha sea shore.

The company has been seeking compensation for loss of use of its property since 2005, when it filed an application to ECtHR. The case was dismissed as a consequence of the Demopoulos ruling by which the court referred all applications by Greek Cypriots for compensation for loss of use of their properties in the occupied area to the Immovable Property Commission. The Turkey-run IPC is considered an effective domestic revenue by the ECtHR.

KV Mediterranean Tours applied to the IPC in 2010 but because its case was not dealt with, it returned to the ECtHR seven years later, arguing that it had exhausted all legal remedies in the north. And eight years later, a decision was issued, on compensation for moral damages, while ordering the sides to register their claims in three months. The lawyer of the company said they were looking for compensation in the region of €40 million for loss of use for 50 years.

On Wednesday, the new leader of the Green Party, Stavros Papadouris, gave a news conference about the property issue, which highlighted the confusion regarding the property issue and the seeking of compensation by Greek Cypriots from the IPC. Interestingly, Papadouris did not take the traditional, official line that Greek Cypriots should not apply to IPC, as this constituted the selling off of Greek Cypriot land in the occupied area to Turkey. For any Greek Cypriot, what to do about their property was their decision, said Papadouris. Another party member speaking at the same event, Kyriacos Tsimillis was less charitable to ECtHR which had created the IPC “that has become a tool of seizure in the hands of the occupation regime.”

He has a point, but at least the owners are being paid some compensation for their property in the occupied area. What is the alternative for people with property in the north in the absence of a settlement? Donate their property in the north to Turkey in the vain hope that in 50 or 100 years there may be a settlement and compensation system agreed?

Refugees have been toyed with by the political leadership and fed false hopes for decades. Applying to the IPC, which was created by the ECtHR to deal with the avalanche of applications submitted to it after the 2004 referendum, as a local remedy is now the only option for them. The process may take very long and the compensation might be on the low side, but it is still better than nothing which is the alternative.