Christodoulides: "Property Arrests ‘Will Certainly not Stop, no Matter What Tatar Says"
The arrests made by the Republic of Cyprus of people accused of selling Greek Cypriot-owned property in the north “will certainly not stop, no matter what Tatar says”, President Nikos Christodoulides said on Tuesday.
Speaking to journalists outside the general assembly of the Cyprus shipping chamber in Limassol, he ruled out the prospect of calling a halt to the arrests, despite the fact that Turkish Cypriot leader Ersin Tatar had on Monday ruled out the prospect of meeting him under the current circumstances.
“Beyond that, what I hold is the fact that he is refusing to meet. He who refuses to meet is the one who is in a weak position,” Christodoulides said.
He added, “whatever he says publicly, we have heard such statements many times, and our own strategy was the one which led to the appointment of [United Nations envoy Maria Angela] Holguin, and to her reappointment, and to the enlarged meeting in Geneva, and to the appointment of [European Union envoy Johannes] Hahn”.
It is also his own initiative, he said, which has led to the next enlarged meeting taking place, “apparently, as Holguin mentioned, in New York”.
“We, away from the spotlight, away from statements which may be intended to serve other purposes, continue this great effort, so that conditions are created for the resumption of negotiations,” he said.
Asked whether the matter of property will be raised by Holguin, he said that the matter had been raised by Tatar during the informal dinner held with himself and UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres in New York in October last year.
“It is nothing new. The issue was also raised by Tatar in Geneva. Firstly, illegality cannot be justified in any way. Secondly, I repeat, I told Tatar, I told [Guterres], who himself knows because he was once the prime minister of Portugal, I told the president [Isaac Herzog] and prime minister [Benjamin Netanyahu] of Israel: we do not interfere in the judiciary,” he said.
The reference to Israeli officials come after disquiet in some quarters in Israel over the arrest of Israeli property developer Simon Mistriel Aykut, who stands accused of having developed and sold €43 million worth of property on Greek Cypriot land in the north, with protests against his arrest having taken place in Israel during Christodoulides’ visit to the country.
“Those who commit crimes are prosecuted. It does not matter what statements Tatar makes or how many statements he makes, or anything like that,” Christodoulides added.
Tatar had met Holguin on Monday and described the arrests as “terrorism”, declaring that “these terrorist activities must stop now”.
“I said there was no need for a tripartite meeting. I said that a meeting with Christodoulides could not be held in such an environment, that there was discomfort on the issue of property, and that it would not be right to create such an environment without resolving these issues,” he said.
“If they think they can put even more pressure on us with these steps, I told Holguin that this would be a huge miscalculation.”
“The Greek Cypriot leadership’s terrorising steps are destroying the grounds for talks. Unilateral steps taken on property issues are preventing us from making healthy progress in other areas. For this reason, I requested that [Holguin] forward the minutes of the talks to [Christodoulides],” he said.
However, he has since faced criticism from within his own political party for his stance, with his own former ‘health minister’ and current ‘MP’ Ali Pilli calling on him to rethink his refusal to speak directly to Christodoulides.
“We have to defend our rights. You will not get anywhere by remaining silent, you will not remain silent. If you are right, you will seek your rights, but unfortunately, we remain silent,” Pilli told the north’s ‘parliament’ on Monday.
“If he wants a meeting, you will hold the meetings. Why would you not? Whether it is a three-party meeting or a five-party meeting, when you speak there, the world hears it. You will go out and speak.”
The number of cases regarding the development of Greek Cypriot property in the north is on the rise, with two Hungarian nationals having become the first to be sentenced to prison over the matter last week.
They had admitted to promoting and advertising the sale of houses near Kyrenia on the internet.
Meanwhile, the case of a German national who reportedly spoke about selling property in the north to an off-duty police officer during a flight to Larnaca is ongoing, and arrest warrants have been issued for four Turkish nationals in connection with developments in the Famagusta district village of Lefkoniko.
Source: Cyprus Mail
Comments
Attention!
Sending all kinds of financial, legal, criminal, administrative responsibility content arising from illegal, threatening, disturbing, insulting and abusive, humiliating, humiliating, vulgar, obscene, immoral, damaging personal rights or similar content. It belongs to the Member / Members.