NICOSIA: A court in Cyprus on Friday sentenced an Israeli businessman to five years for developing and selling luxury apartment complexes in the breakaway northern part of the divided island without permission of the Greek Cypriots owners of the land.
The case is one of several where Cypriot authorities seek to bust developers and realtors who illegally make money off Greek Cypriot properties in the breakaway north — lands that their rightful owners cannot access because they are located in the Turkiye-backed region.
The criminal case also underscores the deeply contentious property rights in Cyprus, which was split in 1974 when Turkiye 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 Turkiye recognizes. At the time, around 45,000 Turkish Cypriots living in the south, where the internationally recognized government is seated, moved to the north.
Cyprus’ internationally recognized government in the south has no control over affairs in the breakaway north. Decades later, Greek Cypriots that left the north are demanding that their right to their property are respected in numerous rounds of United Nations-mediated talks that have failed to heal the rifts.
