The Immovable Property Commission (IPC) is looking for funding because it has become non-functional during the past few years owing to the lack of resources in the face of an increasing number of applications.
Preparations have been made by the state to implement increases in various taxes to create resources to pay compensation to Greek Cypriots for their properties in North Cyprus.
Finance Minister Olgun Amcaoglu said that the readjusting of immovable property taxes and other taxes was on the agenda. He noted that no payments had been made by the IPC this year because the previous government had not signed the economic protocol with Turkey. He added that approximately 900 million Turkish lira were expected to be paid this year.
He said that: “There are five cases at the European Court of Human Rights. The last payment of 45 million TL was made in 2018. Not one kurush was paid in 2019. With the agreement which we will make in 2020, 440 million TL credits will be granted, of which 100 million TL are financial support to the Immovable Property Commission, 100 million TL for reforms and 240 million TL for payment of interest regarding the protocol signed with the cooperatives”.
Meanwhile, member and former chairperson of the IPC Sümer Erkmen, said that they were searching for solutions to pay compensations and they had provided for preparing a number of laws. She noted: “There really are delays in the payments, there is congestion. This has existed for a long time. During the past few years it has increased, because applications increased”.
She said that money was given by Turkey every year, but this was not enough. Ms. Erkmen noted that sometimes almost all of this money was spent on one property compensation alone and added that various formulas had been produced, such as taking a commission from the persons who occupy the Greek Cypriot properties, but no law had been was prepared until now.
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