Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
when our neighbours in the south manage
3 million' (NCHA, 2005).
The current pattern of tourism investment
in the north suggests that the profile of the
accommodation sector there is about to change
dramatically. Bed capacity was scheduled to
double in little over 2 years to about 24,000
by the end of 2006. Whilst hotels with over 500
beds would still form only a small proportion
(5.1%) of the total number of establishments,
these would contribute 51.6% of the total bed
capacity, with four out of the nine largest estab-
lishments offering more than 900 beds each,
and three of these, totalling around 3000 beds,
concentrated in one small village location
(Table 18.5). Such developments have raised
questions not only about the desirability of the
mass tourism route, but also about its environ-
mental impact, and the ability of the north to
meet the infrastructure requirements implied by
this increase in capacity.
substantial development on Greek Cypriot land
would be entitled to receive the title deed, on
payment to its original owner of the value of the
land alone. This provision in the Annan Plan
provides a strong motivation for Turkish Cypriots,
as the current users, to secure the right to keep
the property allocated to them in place of their
property in the south, either by erecting a build-
ing on the land, or by selling Greek Cypriot
owned land to developers as soon as possible.
The suggestion that a future settlement would
safeguard such investments has also stimulated
a keen foreign interest in property ownership and
have seen a steady steep increase, with inves-
tors principally from Britain and Israel establish-
ing new estate agencies in partnership with
Turkish Cypriots living in Cyprus or abroad,
and offering current users prices of from £5000
to £50,000 sterling per donum (1338 m
2
). Many
European purchasers have been convinced by
the promise of a continuing rise in property
prices in the north in the coming years.
These recent developments have introduced
a new and complicated dimension to the prob-
lems of the property issue in Cyprus. Whereas,
in the past, this took the form of Turkish Cypriots
and Turkish settlers living in former Greek Cypriot
property, with Greek Cypriots living in Turkish
Cypriot property left in the south, now, not only
are foreigners being issued 'unrecognized' titles
to land in an 'unrecognized state', but Greek
Cypriots are seeing their dreams of return
destroyed by bulldozers and housing com-
plexes. Events have taken a further turn with the
issuing of lawsuits against foreign investors for
the use or development of Greek Cypriot owned
have made Greek properties less favourable for
development, and have diverted the attention
of developers to Turkish Cypriot or publicly
owned
The Annan Plan, the Referendum and
the Construction Boom
The referendum on the Annan Plan on 24 April,
2004, was swiftly followed by a massive boom
in the construction sector in Northern Cyprus,
closely related to the failure of the referendum
to resolve the property issue. This opened the
door to widespread speculation in land and
property in anticipation of a likely settlement in
the future. The current situation regarding pro-
perty in the north dates back to a law enacted
in Northern Cyprus in 1977, and subsequently
subject to several amendments, which distributed
Greek Cypriot owned properties in the north to
displaced Turkish Cypriot refugees from the
south (see Morvaridi, 1993; Scott, 1998). The
intention of the Annan Plan was to introduce a
new property regime in compliance with inter-
national law, recognizing the needs and sensi-
tivities of the two communities and the basic
requirements for bi-zonality and bi-communality.
According to the property provisions of the
Annan Plan, current users of affected properties
who are themselves dispossessed owners or
persons who own significant improvements to
affected properties may apply to receive title to
such properties. This has been widely interpreted
as meaning that a current user who carries out
land,
regardless
of
their
location,
environmental or cultural sensitivity.
Environmental Consequences of the
Construction Boom
After the referendum, the number of planning
or building applications tripled. The number of
