European Journal | Cyprus/Britain: Foreigners

Talks on the reunification of Cyprus are making slow progress. Unclarified ownership questions are the largest stumbling block. In 1974, many Greeks fled the north of the island from Turkish troops.Their houses were given to Turkish people who had lost their assets in the Greek part of the island. But many foreigners also bought up plots of land. Now they are threatened with eviction and the prospect of their homes being torn down. One British couple has already been forced to evacuate their house, when a British court ruled that a former judgement from a Nicosia court must be upheld, and the land given back to the original owner.