EVKAF HEAD: WE HAVE ALL THE TITLE DEEDS PROVING THAT THOSE PROPERTIES B BELONG TO EVKAF
IN SEPTEMBER 2020 I interviewed the head of the Cyprus Foundations Administration (Evkaf), Prof Ibrahim Benter, who said that Evkaf owns thousands of dönüms of land in the British Sovereign Base Areas (SBAs) of Dhekelia and Akrotiri. This is what he said on the issue at the time, as reported by Cyprus Today:
“We, as the Evkaf administration, wrote a letter to the administrators of the British bases and to the High Commissioner in Cyprus, saying that there are Evkaf properties in the bases.
“We have all the title deeds proving that those properties belong to Evkaf and we would like to use those properties for non-military projects and developments, investments and that these properties should not be given to anyone other than Evkaf. It would be illegal to give Evkaf properties to others, whoever they may be, under the 1960 law and international law, because basically you cannot take my property and give it to somebody else without my permission. Right? As simple as that.
“So, the British authorities in the bases wrote back to us saying that all the Turkish properties, you know, the property owned by Turks and Evkaf, will not be given to anyone without the permission of the Turkish owners, or Evkaf.
“So we were happy to receive such a note because the note means that the British administration, officially, agrees not to give our properties to others. Since [then] we have been doing some analysis for the properties in the area, trying to find out what is the situation on our properties there, you know, which buildings are there and who is using our buildings.
“We are investigating such information. The next step would be that we again contact the British authorities and ask them to work with us based on their rules and regulations to begin using our properties and possibly investing, developing those properties.
“In the Akrotiri area there is around 2,400 dönüms of Evka properties plus properties tha belong to Turks . . . it is agricultural land and [land] tha have buildings on them.
“There are also properties Dhekelia and we are also working on those, trying to de all the properties that belong us.
“We have a number but it not finalised yet. But again, E properties plus private proper owned by Turks; its hundreds dönüms.
“We will have a value on t once our analysis is complete probably in the next month, b [for] Evkaf properties that wer the British bases and all aroun the island that have been use by others, especially in the So under the Greek administratio since 1974, our loss due to uncollected rents is estimate around billions of euros.
“Especially after 1974 we cannot collect any rents. The [Greek Cypriots] keep saying that we cannot rent out our properties, only after an agreement [between the tw sides of Cyprus] is establish
then you may be able to rent them [out].
“People can build . . . hotels, restaurants or residential buildings. We are the owners. We are the landlords. Anyone can come and invest.
“Whatever the British rules and regulations allow us, within those limits, we can do all that.
“There are [Greek Cypriots] interested [in investing in Evkaf land and property on the SBAs]. I could [give you examples] but I don’t want to.
“In London we have a building that we are renting out, so I don’t see any difference from that.
“This is a British sovereign area and we have property and we just rent it out. So whatever are the rules or regulations in England or in the British bases, we just follow the rules and you invest and rent.
“At this point the British administration has been cooperating with us and we have no reason to believe that they will not abide by what they’re saying. I don’t think they’re going to say one thing
and then do something else.”
Prof Benter added: “In addition to Evkaf, many Turkish Cypriots have a lot of properties on the British bases and are concerned about two issues: whether they will be able to freely use their properties and invest in them; and why did the [SBA] authorities designate almost all Turkish properties as agricultural zones [but] Greek properties opened for all kinds of development, such as residential and touristic (e.g. hotels)?
“[Turkish Cypriots abroad], especially those living in the UK, are preparing hundreds of lawsuits.”