Dam Cheek! – the plan to pipe water from Turkey to North Cyprus is under threat as residents of the about to become submerged village in Turkey, where water will be stored, plan to prevent the project unless they receive more money. The plan to pipe electricity at the same time is also under threat.
New Villas expats ‘have lost everything’ – buyers at Bahçeler have been refused Permission To Purchase because the land is Turkish Title. An officer from the Civilian Affairs Department confirmed this and an official at the Interior and Local Administrations Ministry blamed the buyers’ estate agents, builders and lawyers for not informing them of this rule. Editor: which is clearly written down nowhere? Beware of the nonsense you find written elsewhere about it being safe to buy pre-74 Turkish title property. Normally the title could be assigned to the lawyer, for example, but in the case of this site there are further problems with there being no building licenses for some of the villas.
Eviction notice is served – to Kulaksiz 5 residents. Akfinans Bank is actively seeking to sell the villas for £110,000. Editor: see NCFP
‘We can’t stop expats buying homes’ – the new British High Commissioner to Cyprus, Matthew Kidd, is quoted as saying. He explains that the FCO website warns buyers about the pitfalls of buying in the north but that is as far as they can go. Editor: Matthew, I wouldn’t worry, the current government’s property inaction is doing the job for you.
Protest at court over unionists’ trial – charges against 11 of the trade unionists accused of attacking police were dropped on the first day of their trial.
Tender to privatise Ercan is imminent – Editor: I wonder if the price of a cup of coffee will be raised to more than £3?
Revealed: The new name for CTA – (Editor: MUD?) no it’s North CTA.
Low meat orders fears for breeders – orders for sacrificial animals ahead of Kurban Bayram are virtually non-existent. Customers are not prepared to pay the 4-500TL demanded for a sheep or 4-5,000TL for a bullock. These animals are usually donated to charities but people have moved to donating money instead.
Poll reveals South mistrust – a poll by the Fileleftheros newspaper in the south revealed that 71% of those polled were against Turkish settlers remaining and 80% of those in the 18-34 age group rejected moves for there ever being a Turkish Cypriot administration of Cyprus as suggested in the idea of a rotating Presidency. 72% said they did not trust the British and 61% the Americans. Most said they did not want to work for a Turkish Cypriot or take instructions from them. Editor: a united Cyprus would be impossible with these attitudes.
Bertil Wedin’s Column – ‘a chivalrous TRNC could be loved and recognised.” Home-buyers have been “simply robbed of money.” Bertil counters the accusation that ex-pats should never have trusted their lawyers by saying that using the same argument they should not trust the shop-keeper to provide milk rather than water in a carton produced by local dairies, or the pilot on a CTA flight. He also criticises that PTP wait of up to 7 years as being “crazy.” He blames bureaucratic interference in Free Trade whereby instead of a binding sales contract being made between a buyer and a seller, in North Cyprus, “ownership is not changed before the state agrees.” Betil demands that either the law should be changed or its interpretation. He also stands up for freedom of speech in the form of pressure groups and the use of the media to highlight the plight of people such as the Kulaksiz 5 pensioners. (Editor: and no doubt he would have attended the banned silent candlelit vigil.) He ends by saying that in order for the TRNC to gain international respect it would have to “save decent, innocent and vulnerable people from being abused by tricksters and other criminals.” Editor: phew Cyprus Today just employed a knight in shining armour to defend ex-pat home-buyers. I wonder which dragon will be at the end of his lance in his next column?
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