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A Cyprus court on Friday sentenced one Israel Businessman jailed for five years for developing and selling luxury apartment complex in breakaway northern part of divided island without US permission Greek Cyprus land owner.
This is one of several cases where Cypriot authorities are seeking to bust developers and realtors who make money illegally from Greek Cypriot properties in the breakaway north – lands that their rightful owners cannot access because they are located there. turkey-Supported areas.
The criminal case also highlights deeply disputed property rights in Cyprus, which was divided in 1974 when turkey attacked in view of Athens Junta-backed coup aims to unify the island Greece,
Later about 160,000 Greek Cypriots fled north where Turkish Cypriots declared independence which only Turkey recognizes. At that time, about 45,000 Turkish Cypriots living in the south, where the internationally recognized government sits, moved to the north.
Cyprus’s internationally recognized government in the south has no control over affairs in the breakaway north. Decades later, Greek Cypriots who left the north are demanding that their rights to their property be respected in several rounds united nations-Mediated talks have failed to heal the cracks.
Aycott case
Israel Businessman Simeon Misreal Aykout, 75, who also holds Portuguese And the man with Turkish citizenship was arrested in June 2024 after he entered the Greek Cypriot part of the island from the north. Last week, he pleaded guilty to 40 counts of building and selling apartments in the North.
The three-judge panel said it was forced to impose a tough sentence because of the seriousness of the crime.
Between 2014 and 2024, Aykout led the Afik Group of Companies, which developed approximately 400,000 square meters (4.3 million sq ft) of Greek Cypriot-owned property in four villages in the north. Cypriot authorities estimate the combined value of the development at more than 38 million euros ($44 million).
Aykout’s supporters have campaigned for his release both in Israel and United States of America On the basis of health, he said that he is suffering from prostate cancer. The court rejected pleas to release him for medical examination abroad and said medical facilities in Cyprus were more than adequate.
The court said the sentence took into account the time Aykot had spent in police custody.
After the sentencing, prosecution lawyer Andreas Aristides told reporters that the ethnic division of Cyprus does not diminish the rights of legitimate owners of property in the north.
The court’s decision “sends a clear message … that if you buy, build on or otherwise use land in the Greek Cypriot-occupied territories, you are committing a serious criminal act,” he said.
Simos Angelides, a lawyer NicosiaThe Cyprus capital said Friday’s decision and similar cases have “struck panic” in the north’s booming real estate and construction industry and “shattered the illusion of legal immunity.”
The message is simple: “Don’t exploit stolen property, because you may soon have an arrest warrant in your name,” Angelides, who was not involved in the Aykout case, told The Associated Press.
The highest court of the European Union and European Court of Human Rights The North has confirmed the rights of Greek Cypriots to own property. But the ECHR has also supported the establishment of a Turkish Cypriot Property Commission, to which Greek Cypriots could apply to either get compensation for their property or to reclaim it.
other matters
In the past year, Cyprus has prosecuted another Israeli, a Ukrainian, a German and two Hungarians in similar cases. Among them, two Hungarian women who earned commissions as real estate agents in the North were sentenced in May to 36 months and 15 months respectively. Other cases are still pending.
Turkish Cypriot authorities have reacted sharply to the prosecution. Tufan Erhurman, the centre-left politician elected as Turkish Cypriot leader this week, has said the issue of Greek Cypriot assets in the north can only be resolved through dialogue.
Cafar Gurcafar, head of the Turkish Cypriot Contractors Association, warned that investors could disperse as 85% of privately owned property in the north could be caught up in similar lawsuits.
The case of five Greek Cypriots arrested on spying charges after crossing into the North in July is widely seen as retaliation for the prosecution.
A month before his arrest, Turkish Vice President Cevdad Yilmaz said that attempts to damage the Turkish Cypriot economy through politically motivated legal means “will not be tolerated.”
Greek Cypriot President Nicos Christodoulides insists that the judiciary is independent, but Aykout’s guilty plea confirms his government’s policy of shining a light on illegal property exploitation in the north.