Selling Greek Cypriot property in the breakaway north of split Cyprus? You could end up in court

NICOSIA, Cyprus — Cyprus won't stop launching legal proceedings against realtors and developers who illegally make money off Greek Cypriot properties in the breakaway north of the ethnically divided island nation, with four such cases currently being adjudicated, an official said Friday.

A Ukrainian man, a German national and two Israelis — among them real estate developer Simon Aykut — are being tried on a variety of charges including illegally advertising the sale of Greek Cypriot property, illegal possession and use of such property and conspiracy. All four defendants remain in custody.

The properties are in areas along Cyprus' northern and eastern coastlines near the towns of Kyrenia and Famagusta in villages such as Akanthou and Ayios Amvrosios (Tatlisu and Esentepe in Turkish respectively) that are popular with foreign buyers because of their idyllic surroundings.

Property rights are a deeply contentious issue in Cyprus, which was split in 1974 when Turkey invaded in the wake of an Athens junta-backed coup aiming at uniting the island with Greece.

Some 160,000 Greek Cypriots subsequently fled the north where Turkish Cypriots declared independence that only Turkey recognizes. Around 45,000 Turkish Cypriots living in the south, where the internationally recognized government is seated, moved to the north.

Property has been a core issue over decades of failed, United Nations mediated peace talks. The EU's top court as well as the European Court of Human Rights have affirmed the Greek Cypriots' rights to property ownership in the north. But the ECHR has also backed the establishment of a Turkish Cypriot property commission to which Greek Cypriots can apply to either be compensated for their property or reclaim it.

But a recent boom in construction of luxury villas and apartments in the north has prompted Cypriot legal authorities to take a more assertive stance toward realtors and developers to discourage what they say is the large-scale ''illegal usurpation'' of Greek Cypriot land.

''It's not just a few homes being built on Greek Cypriot property, we're now seeing entire complexes being constructed,'' a lawyer with knowledge of the pending cases told The Associated Press. ''And the ongoing legal action has clearly had an effect on foreigners who are now more reluctant to get involved.''

The lawyer spoke on condition of anonymity because they can't discuss the matter publicly.

Last week, a Cypriot court sentenced two Hungarian women to 30 month and 15 month jail sentences respectively for advertising the sale of Greek Cypriot property in the north online.

''The exploitation of property that belongs to displaced Cypriots for financial gain is, from any perspective, unacceptable and condemnable,'' the court said in its decision.

The court also suggested that such exploitation could risk harming future peace talks by adversely complicating the property issue.

The island's Greek Cypriot President Nikos Christodoulides said this week that although the executive branch doesn't interfere in the work of the judiciary, the prosecutions are ultimately a message to all those involved in the sale of Greek Cypriot properties in the north that ''what they're doing is an illegal act and are prosecuted for it.''

''The right to property is an individual matter and the owner of the property is the one who should decide what to do with it, nothing more,'' he said.

But the court cases have sparked a furor among Turkish Cypriot leaders who view it as a hostile attempt to undercut their community's economic development.

Turkish Cypriot leader Ersin Tatar called the prosecutions a ''terrorist act'' against Turkish Cypriots in defiance of international law, aiming to ''weaken them legally and politically'' on top of harming their economic prospects. He also warned that the court actions ''won't go unanswered.''