President Tassos Papadopoulos announced the government’s decision to implement a plan granting refugees title deeds for their homes at refugee estates or housing estates and to provide counter measures to other refugees living in Turkish Cypriot properties or T/C land in the government controlled areas of the Republic.
Announcing the plan after an extraordinary meeting of the cabinet, the President underlined that the plan approved here Saturday was “neither easy nor simple”.
In his statement, President Papadopoulos said the government decided to “implement a complete plan, within its capabilities, granting a comprehensive and as much as possible, fair solution to the issue of title deeds for houses in refugee estates and housing estates” affecting around 25,000 families.
He also said the government decided to grant counter measures to all those displaced persons living in Turkish Cypriot property in the free areas of the Republic or in houses that were built in land belonging to Turkish Cypriots.
Around 13.000 displaced persons who legally and permanently reside in refugee estates or housing estates that were built on government land or land that was expropriated will receive title deeds within the next two years.
The government also decided to allot and grant government land to around 8,500 displaced persons who permanently and legally reside on the island in housing estates that were built in Turkish Cypriot land which was not expropriated nor can be expropriated.
It will also allot government land to around 5,000 displaced persons who are legally living in Turkish Cypriot properties following the 1974 Turkish invasion and occupation of the island’s northern third.
President Papadopoulos said that the prime concern of the government was to handle in the most impartial manner, “this complicated issue and to prepare a general plan that would grant the maximum level of justice to all refugees”.
“The solution approved today by the Cabinet was neither simple nor easy. Please bear in mind the many and complex problems were tackled providing practical and feasible solutions”, the President added.
