Untangling the immovable property problem in Cyprus: establishing the Cyprus property and settlement agency as an alternative remedial mechanism

The Cyprus problem is one of the longest running disputes on the United Nations agenda. Since 1974, the Island has been permanently divided into two separate entities. An important aspect of this division that extends to over five decades is the prolonged violations towards the Greek Cypriot immovable properties within the Turkish controlled northern sector of the island. Although the lawfare regarding these violations began as early as 1975, the intervention of the European Court of Human Rights and the introduction of a domestic legal remedy in the form of the Immovable Property Commission failed to have the desired effect.

This research provides a thorough consideration of the Cyprus problem and the immovable property dispute of Cyprus as one of its direct outcomes. The immovable property violations in the form of dispossession and illegal appropriation in a systematic fashion stands as one, if not the most important, setback in a possible future convergence between the two entities. As an answer, this research investigates two major issues. First of all, is the Immovable Property Commission a capable institution of providing remedies to the displaced Greek Cypriots. From the transitional justice perspective and the context and housing, land and property, what are the qualities and the deficiencies of the IPC?

The second issue is, what kind of qualities a future post-conflict reparatory/restitutionary mechanism in Cyprus should have. Upon investigating the IPC, United Nations brokered negotiations, the acclaimed normative structure of housing, land and property and the context of transitional/transformative justice that seeks to promote peacebuilding, sustainability and reconciliation, this research offers a novel breakthrough in the form of a mechanism. The Cyprus Property and Settlement Agency is proposed to resolve the immovable property dispute in Cyprus. When the normative structures of transitional justice and housing land and property contexts are evaluated concurrently with the previous property initiatives such as the Annan Plan, the Immovable Property Commission and the Guterres document, the Cyprus Property and Settlement Agency stand as the next natural step. Apart from its primary duty to resolve the property dispute on the island, it will create an overlapping positive euphoria of reconciliation and reintegration within the newly formed Cypriot society. More importantly, its pragmatic and effective structure can prove to be beneficial to other ethno-centric territory-based conflicts with similar qualities.