A demand for property compensation for the Ahmet Vasıf Efendi Foundation which has property in the Ledra Palace area will be taken to the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR), lawyer Murat Metin Hakkı has said.
Hakki said that the foundation had approximately 4.5 donums of land located off Paphos Gate on Egypt Avenue, Nicosia.
He said the “Fulbright Centre, Egyptian embassy, electricity authority and a hotel” were all located on that site. These buildings have now been emptied of tenants and are now occupied by the Ministry of the Interior which is acting as guardian on behalf of the Department of Antiquities.
Efforts to seek a domestic remedy in the Greek Cypriot courts had been exhausted and the case now will be taken to the ECHR, he said. The foundation was the first to open a test case in the context of domestic law, the lawyer said.
He also stated that there are similar cases in Larnaca, Limassol and Paphos district courts and that he aims to take them to the ECHR. “If this case is won at the ECHR, many similar cases will be filed and in the long term the Greek Cypriot Administration will be forced to establish a similar commission to the Immovable Property Commission in the TRNC”, Hakkı said.
“I believe that the current regime in the south violates the right to fair trial and property in general”. said Hakkı.
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