. Lobby for Cyprus provided comments and information to the Cyprus Weekly for this article.

BRITONS illegally buying Greek Cypriot property in the Turkish-occupied north could find themselves without a home and in court on this side of the divide and in their home country, The Cyprus Weekly has learned.

Lawyers in Nicosia and London mobilised this week to put a halt to a reported upsurge in property sales in the north by Britons supposedly eager to cash in on rocketing real estate prices following an "imminent" Cyprus settlement.

The report, carried in the Observer, said the number of estate agents setting up shop in the north over the last year to peddle bogus title deeds for Greek Cypriot property in idyllic Kyrenia-area villages had mushroomed from three to 15.

One Briton who bought the Bellapais home of a Greek Cypriot refugee was quoted as saying that the true owner would reclaim his property "over my dead body." 

The report touched off a storm of protests from angry refugees who hit back saying that neither time, nor bogus title deeds issued by unscrupulous real estate agents could erase their rights to their land. 

"I wouldn't give away an inch of my property and I think every other refugee feels the same," said 73-year-old Kallis Christou.

"They would take my property just because they want to? That's illegal and unjust," added the refugee from occupied Spathariko.

The government stated that the sales were not legal and foreigners buying the title deeds would end up losing their money.

Naive
"If they are so naive as to throw their money away at any usurper of foreign land, then in they end they should have no one else to blame but their own pigheadedness," said Government Spokesman Michalis Papapetrou.

Attorney General Alecos Markides said private or "TRNC" title-deed transfers are illegal because any transaction involving either Greek Cypriot or Turkish Cypriot property must be rubber-stamped by the government to be rendered valid.

Interior Minister Andreas Panayiotou said the Cabinet, by law, has final say on any real estate purchase by foreigners and the actual transaction must pass through District Land Registry offices.

"Everyone must understand that if they go ahead with a so-called purchase of property in the occupied areas, this action is illegal, invalid and they will lose their money," said Panayiotou.

Panayiotou added that his ministry had no information on any increase in real estate sales in the occupied north. British High Commission Spokesman Stuart Summers echoed Panayiotou, saying that he was "unaware" of any increase in property transactions involving an estimated 800-900 Britons permanently living in the occupied north.

"We make it very clear that private citizens make their own decisions, but we also remind them of the unique situation in Cyprus and the potential ramifications of their decision," said Summers.

Implications
The German Embassy follows the same line for the estimated 200 German nationals living in the north. Charges d'Affaires Mario Soos said the Embassy advises German citizens of the "legal implications" of taking up residence in the occupied areas.

In both London and Nicosia, lawyers are already preparing for court battles to prevent any further land transactions in the north.

Disy MP and member of the House Refugee Committee Christodoulos Taramountas said he is considering opening case files on identified foreigners who break Cyprus property laws.

The move would force the hand of Attorney General Alecos Markides to investigate the cases and issue arrest warrants against law breakers who would be arrested by Interpol to face charges in case they ventured out of the north.

"I will take all measures the law affords me," said Taramountas, who did not exclude the possibility of taking foreigners to the nascent International Criminal Court.

However, Britons who buy land in the north, face the possibility of trial in their home country. London-based lawyers are now armed with new European Union human rights laws which afford them a stronger legal arguments to take Britons to court on their home soil.

Costas Frangeskides, a commercial litigation lawyer with top London firm Holman, Fenwick, Willan, said the EU Human Rights Act of 1988 now incorporated the provisions of the European Convention of Human Rights into British law.

That means that a British citizen, whose property rights in the occupied areas have been breached by a compatriot, would now have a stronger chance of winning a private lawsuit in a British court.

Key
A key provision of the Convention states that public authorities "have the duty" to ensure that an individuals rights are protected "even in litigation between private parties."

The provision could potentially overturn a 1979 House of Lords ruling that British courts have no jurisdiction over property rights in foreign countries.

Cases launched against British law-breakers would hinge on the landmark 1986 European Court of Human Rights ruling which found Turkey responsible for deprivation of use of property belonging to Kyrenia native Titina Loizidou.

"No right-thinking person would deal the property of another by taking advantage of the Turkish invasion of the island," said human rights advocate Achilleas Demetriades.

Demetriades said he has information that even Turkish Cypriot banks do not accept "TRNC"-issued title deeds and only give mortgages to holders of pre-1974 title deeds. 

Frangeskides said Lobby for Cyprus lawyers in London would be spearheading a letter-writing campaign to British-owned real estate agencies doing business in the north to stop illegal property sales or face being dragged to court.

The British daily newspaper The Guardian earlier this year reported that James Corrie, Tory MEP for the West Midlands, was given a holiday home for 70 pence a year by the occupation regime for the next 49 years. "