THE COUNCIL of Europe's Committee of Ministers is set to issue a strongly worded third interim resolution pressuring Turkey to comply with the European Court's decision and pay compensation to a Greek Cypriot refugee.

Announced yesterday, the decision was taken by a more than two-thirds majority during a Committee meeting on Thursday.

Titina Loizidou challenged Turkey before the European Court of Human Rights, claiming that her right to enjoy her property in the occupied areas had been violated by the continued presence of the occupying Turkish army.

On July 28, 1998, the Court ordered Ankara to allow Loizidou access to her property and pay her damages of $900,000 (approximately £570,000), and said that Loizidou was and must be regarded as the legal owner of her property.

Turkey has refused to pay, arguing that the 'Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus', which only Ankara recognises is an independent country.

But the Court said that Turkey was responsible for what happens in the occupied areas because of the presence of its troops there.

The draft of the third interim resolution will be finalised at the next Committee meeting in early April.

Nicosia lawyer Achilleas Demetriades, who represented Loizidou in her battle, welcomed the decision yesterday.

“It is encouraging to see that a third interim resolution will be discussed, but we also have to study its contents to see if it is more severe than the previous ones,” he told the Cyprus News Agency.

“Turkey's obligation to comply with the Court decision must and should always be raised in the context of Ankara's links with the EU, in that the Copenhagen criteria relating to its accession course are directly related to human rights issues,” Demetriades said.

In its second resolution in July 2000, the 41-nation group's Council of Ministers said that Turkey's failure to obey a European Court of Human Rights judgment was unprecedented. The first interim resolution was issued in October 1999.

Although the Council of Europe, which monitors human rights and democracy in the region, is independent of the European Union, a sanction would reflect badly on Turkey's bid to join the EU. The EU has granted Turkey candidate status, but also said it must improve its human rights record if it is to begin the actual accession process."