For Muscovite Yelena Merkusheva, an attempt to buy an apartment in the town of Kyrenia in northern Cyprus ended in arrest. In November 2006, the Russian woman came to the northern part of the island, paid a realtor a deposit of one thousand Cypriot pounds, and received a contract. Before making a final decision on the purchase, Yelena wanted to show the document to her lawyer. At the checkpoint in Nicosia, customs officers found the contract on Yelena, and at night in the hotel she was arrested by police on charges of buying property that did not belong to the seller. The court ordered the Russian woman to be taken into custody. She was released only after ten days on bail of 10 thousand Cypriot pounds (about $20 thousand). However, at the end of December, the Attorney General of the Republic of Cyprus acquitted Yelena and closed the case for lack of corpus delicti. But anyone who intends to buy a house in the northern part of the island can end up in such a situation.
Land beyond jurisdiction
Our compatriots have long favored Cyprus. Hundreds of companies are registered here. The sun shines here all year round. There are attractive offers for buying real estate. It is easy to obtain a residence permit here - just become a homeowner. But all this applies to the Republic of Cyprus. There is another Cyprus - the North, occupied by Turkey in 1974 and not recognized by the international community as an independent state entity. After the division of the island, about 170 thousand Greek Cypriots were forced to leave their homes in the north. Most of the property they left was redistributed among the population remaining there.
In 2001, the European Court of Human Rights found Turkey guilty of depriving Greek Cypriot refugees of the opportunity to use their property. The Turkish government was obliged to pay them compensation and allow them to return to their property. But only the first point of the demands was fulfilled. Meanwhile, real estate transactions were taking place in the north, including with property that previously belonged to those who left for the Republic of Cyprus.
In 2004, Greek Cypriot Meletis Apostolides filed a lawsuit in the High Court of the United Kingdom demanding the return of his land, which had been bought by the family of British serviceman Orams. However, the court ruled that neither British, nor Cypriot, nor any other EU courts have jurisdiction over the north of the island. And this point is clearly stipulated in the protocol adopted when Cyprus joined the European Union in the same year. The reason is simple: if Northern Cyprus is not recognized as a state, then its authorities, including the judiciary, are not recognized, and therefore European courts simply have no one to deal with there.
Meanwhile, the decision of the British Themis caused a real boom in the real estate market in the northern part of the island. Buyers are lured by the fact that land here is almost twice as cheap as beyond the dividing line. For example, a square meter of housing in the Republic of Cyprus will cost a buyer on average $2,750, while in the north it is $1,580. In the north, such a difference is explained by the fact that the market is supposedly still forming and prices are only at a growth stage. In the south, you will be confidently told that the whole secret of cheapness lies in the illegality of land transactions. Such an argument, however, does not stop citizens who are in a hurry to buy property in the north.
To understand what dangers may await 'new Cypriots,' we decided to buy, as an experiment, a 'six hundred square meters' plot on the Mediterranean coast in the northern part of the island.
Through the looking glass
The dividing 'green line' runs through the very center of Nicosia and crosses the ancient tourist street Ledra. At the entrance to the buffer zone, there is a massive poster with the inscription 'Territory of Northern Cyprus Forever,' and next to it two small booths where northern border guards issue us temporary visas without questions. That's it - we are in the looking glass, on territory that is essentially a black hole on the political map of the world.
We are met by realtor Alena. We get into her black jeep and rush to view properties. Now in the car stereo, instead of Greek syrtaki, there is Turkish Tarkan.
Some quarter of an hour, and we find ourselves in the most prestigious area of the northern part of the island - Esentepe. A kind of allusion to the euphonious Saint-Tropez. Around are olive groves and pine forests. Next door is a golf club. And multi-kilometer sandy beaches. Well, isn't this a paradise on earth where one can spend old age?
In Esentepe, a global construction site has unfolded, where guest workers from Turkey and Iran swarm like ants. We drive up to a small cottage village. Alena arranges a showing of one of the houses. Its area is 145 square meters, next to a swimming pool. Two steps to the sea. The price of $230,000 looks very attractive, considering that the cost of a similar house on the other side of the border would approach half a million, and near the native capital it would exceed a million.
A couple of houses in this village have already been bought by our compatriots. With one of them, Muscovite Yuri, we met as future neighbors. 'Join us so that a whole Russian street appears here. And we'll put up a sign - "To Barvikha,"' he laughs. It seems he is not at all interested in the legitimacy of the deal. 'Aren't you afraid,' we ask him, 'that the house will be taken away?' 'No. Look, they tried with the British, didn't take it away, and they won't be able to from us.'
'Lately, there has been a lot of talk about the illegality of transactions in the north, but don't fall for it,' Alena continues the conversation. 'Greek Cypriots are intimidating future buyers. And you know why? They are simply afraid that land in the south will also fall in price due to cheapness in the north. For example, the British have no questions when they buy land from us. And now about 15,000 of them already live here, and there will be even more. But Russians are still afraid to come here, and in many cases completely without reason.'
For example, today the most convenient way for owners of local real estate to get to the north is via Istanbul. It is from there that daily direct flights to the northern airport of Ercan operate. But it should be noted that those arriving in this way will not be allowed into the Republic of Cyprus. Flights from Europe go to Larnaca and Paphos. From there you can easily travel to the north. However, one should consider the following point. 'The southern government threatens potential real estate buyers with prison terms,' says Alena. 'For example, with our brochure about real estate at the border, you could easily be arrested. But this is illegal. You buy a house and receive a so-called title deed - a title of ownership confirming the right of ownership. It is written in black and white that you have purchased the land and it belongs to you. And the rest should not concern you. Solving the Cyprus issue is a problem for citizens, not politicians.'
If we follow the logic of real estate agents in the northern part of Cyprus, in order to avoid ending up in the situation that Elena Merkusheva previously found herself in, one must avoid visiting neighboring Cyprus with any real estate documents in hand. In general, act like an underground millionaire. However, is that really the case?
This land was ours!..
'No matter how long the resolution of the conflict is delayed, Cyprus will sooner or later be united, and the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC) will become Europe. Today the TRNC is a massive construction site, where real estate prices are on average 30% lower than in the southern territory of the island. And tomorrow Northern Cyprus will become a full member of the EU with European living standards and prices. Welcome to the TRNC...' Such text can be seen on almost all websites opened by real estate sellers in Northern Cyprus.
Nevertheless, buying real estate in the north of the island is a risky step, and before taking it, you should measure seven times. Especially if you want your transaction to comply with all international law norms and not one day be called into question by former owners of the land. Lawyer Michael Kyprianou, who defended Elena Merkusheva, advises: 'In order to ensure that buying real estate in the north of the island does not lead to unpleasant consequences, before signing any documents, it is necessary to check the title deed at the Department of Land Registration in the government-controlled territory of the island. Checking and registering real estate in the north is considered illegal and has absolutely no legal force. According to paragraph 1 of section 303A of the Criminal Code of the Republic of Cyprus, a person involved in a sale and purchase transaction of property not belonging to the seller is found guilty and may be punished by imprisonment for up to 7 years. The court brings charges of fraud and criminal conspiracy. In addition to direct intent, indirect intent is also provided for, when, based on the circumstances, the suspect should have known that the transaction was being carried out without the consent of the legal owner.'
Minister of Internal Affairs of Cyprus Neoklis Sylikiotis, in a conversation with Itogi, was very specific: 'I want to warn Russians who wish to buy real estate in the north. According to the legislation of the Republic of Cyprus, the sale of real estate in the north of the island is considered an offense and is equated to trading in stolen property. The buyer is also considered a violator of the law, but the accusation against them depends on the degree of their awareness of the legality of the transaction at the time of its conclusion. To date, the purchase of real estate in the north of Cyprus is recognized as legal only if the object of the sale belonged to a Turkish Cypriot before 1974 and the transaction is registered with the Department of Land Registration in the government-controlled territory of the island. Notably, even Turkish Cypriots wishing to transfer property to their children apply to this department, and not to its counterpart in the north.'
Currently, the area of the northern territory of Cyprus is 3,350 square kilometers. Only a quarter of these lands belong to Turkish Cypriots, and therefore, according to the legislation of the Republic of Cyprus, can be the subject of a sale and purchase transaction. If Cyprus remains divided, then the new owners of villas may never know that they have no rights to own this real estate. If the process of rapprochement intensifies in at least one part of it - in terms of rights to property lost as a result of the division, then the first to be interested in the lands in the north will be their former owners.