North Cyprus Property Problems | Media attention builds

What is that wind I feel upon my face, no it is not the result of the curry I ate last night. Could it be the wind of change? After the initial outpouring of sympathy for the Kulaksiz 5 back in 2010, all went quiet, so quiet in fact that many people believed the problem had been solved. Exactly what Akfinans Bank wanted.  Exactly what all the perpetrators of property fraud wanted. The glare of publicity was not at all to their taste.

How many of you will remember the front pages carrying news of all the property related tragedies. One newspaper, Yeniduzen even carried a photo of one of the Tutuska victims hugging one of the Kulaksiz victims, two victims united in misery consoling one another with the banner headline ‘Tragedy’.  In truth, that is exactly what it was and what it still is. Kulaksiz victims still do battle with ***DELETED*** Bank, Tutuska victims now have a valueless piece of paper called a Memorandum which gives them the right to stand at the back of the queue of creditors when their homes, paid for from the savings that took them years of hard work to accumulate, are sold.  Their ‘villain’, Nurettin Tutuska, having used their homes as security to borrow to fund his lavish lifestyle. Not quite so lavish these days as he is a regular guest in the prison system in North Cyprus. It would seem Mr Tutuska still thinks the world owes him a living. He could try putting in a honest days work and only spend money he has earned, but no this man still thinks he can con the system.  Not a very pleasant example of mankind.

Building companies like Nokta, Boyut, Santa Fe, Sercem, Kulaksiz and Tutuska are serial offenders in one way or another. A government who sits back whilst the state owned Kibtec still further victimises their already victimised customers by charging builders rates knowing full well that the builder has absconded leaving their purchasers in the proverbial. This is one scam that could easily be rectified by a caring government. Why help the ‘cash cow’ when you can still go on milking it seems to be their attitude. It is an attitude that does this government no credit.

The property sector is on its knees on the whole island of Cyprus. I was amused to read that Halkin Sesi believes it knows what is happening in the south too.  Claiming that the property victims there do not do much to help themselves. In fact there are well organised and well led pressure groups there. Conor O’Dwyer, after suffering so much at the hands of his builder and the system, has now been granted Legal Aid. They quote people being beaten up in the south in the plural, when in fact I have only ever read of one person being so treated; Conor.  There are many cases before the European Courts and domestic courts in the RoC and no doubt many more to follow. Blaming the victims seems to be a common policy in both the North and the South, when in truth the blame lies with the builders/landowners/legal professionals/court system and of course the respective governments.  It does not matter which political party was or is in power. The buck will always stop firmly on the desk of the man at the top.  High office carries with it the responsibility for all that happens within the country, regardless of whether your party was in power when the rot set in.

The attitude that because it is happening elsewhere makes it alright for it to be happening here, is just what  it seems, a cop out. Theft is theft. Fraud is fraud.  You can wrap it up in gold plated paper, you can use every argument you can think of, you can quote any law you like to justify it but what you cannot do is make it RIGHT. Laws are made by men. Men are fallible. Men can recognise this. Men can act and make it RIGHT. Why then is it  not being made right? Simple answer; greed.

To end where I started, is it the wind of change I feel on my face, or is it the whirling dervish Pauline Read taking on the system yet again? Interest has been gathering. The media are wakening, even those who would talk against her and recommend her deportation. Does it matter what they are saying? No, that it is back in the news is the most important consideration. So I say to Pauline Read, keep doing whatever it is you are doing, because for whatever reason, the property issue is back where it belongs –  in the public domain.

CITIZEN SMITH