The following article appeared in the Cyprus Mail of Nicosia on 17 July 2002, written by Jean Christou.

A GROUP of lawyers from Morphou have offered free legal services to any refugee who wishes to take Turkey to the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) for violation of their human rights by not being allowed access to their property in the occupied north of the island.

The initiative, by a total of seven lawyers, all refugees from Morphou, is being led by Yiannakis Erotokritou, Christos Kitromilides and Vatoulla Shittis.

Erotokritou, who has just had a case declared admissible by the ECHR, told the Cyprus Mail yesterday that the group of lawyers had cleared their proposal with the Attorney-general's office and were ready to begin accepting cases.

"We are ready to help them proceed to the European court without any financial burden," Erotokritou said. "We consider this our contribution to the protection of human rights and we hope other lawyers will join us."

Last month, Erotokritou, acting on behalf of an elderly couple from occupied Lapithos, secured admissibility at the ECHR for his client's inability to access her property due to the Turkish occupation.

In its decision, the court ruled there was no reason to depart from the December 1996 judgement against Turkey in the Titina Loizidou case, which found Ankara guilty of denying the Greek Cypriot woman from Kyrenia the right to enjoy her property. "The court finds no reason to depart from these conclusions," the decision said."