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WHEN A well-known British fugitive says he will hold a seminar in one of Kyrenia’s most prestigious hotels in order to help throw light on the ramifications for British ‘owners’ of Greek Cypriots properties in the north in the light of court proceedings brought by a Greek Cypriot against one of their compatriots, one naturally expects a great deal of public and media interest.

That is what Gary Robb, on the run from British justice since he jumped bail pending drugs charges in the UK several years back, must have been thinking when he organised the seminar as a means of promoting his project to build “the biggest housing development ever undertaken in the TRNC”.

His brochure boasts that he will “create a new village within the Amaranta valley in Arapkoy [Klepini]. A village with shops, a post office, restaurants, and most importantly, a pub”.

But whether the seminar sent out the message Robb wanted his potential buyers to hear seemed doubtful.

Of the several hundred mostly-British attendees at Friday night’s seminar in Kyrenia’s plush Colony Hotel, very few will have been reassured by what Turkish Cypriot lawyer Mert Guclu told them – the bottom line being that while foreigners living in homes or on lands abandoned by Greek Cypriots in the wake of the 1974 Turkish invasion may eventually win the right to remain in the properties, it will not be without recourse to lengthy and expensive legal proceedings.

The atmosphere at the seminar was one of apprehension with the Kyrenia Brits keenly aware of the looming legal and political problems souring their plans for idyllic retirement. What few of them are aware of is what exactly will happen to them and their properties.

“It’s very hard to get independent legal advice,” someone behind me muttered.

And this is perhaps the crux of the matter – that these people have been given so many pieces of conflicting information about where they stand legally, no one knows who to believe anymore.

After being introduced by one of Amaranta Estate’s main movers, a young Turkish Cypriot barrister in law, Mert Guclu, began his explanation of how Linda Orams, a British woman recently ordered by a Greek Cypriot court to demolish the home she built on Meletis Apostolides’ land in Lapithos and pay compensation and rent, could win the right to keep the property.

Such a case is unprecedented in Cyprus in that the plaintiff will seek, through courts in the UK, to seize Oram’s assets in England if she refuses to carry out the court’s order in Cyprus.

Mert told those gathered, “in layman’s terms”, that he believed there were a number of cards in Oram’s hand that would eventually lead to her keeping the Lapithos property. In short, these were the belief that Britain would be loath to prosecute a British citizen on behalf of the Cypriot government, that British public policy would supercede the EU law that allowed the transfer of cases from one member state to another, and that Orams could insist she lived more than nine months per year in Cyprus, meaning she would not be eligible for trial in the UK.

“Go and tell everyone you are intending to live in Cyprus for the rest of your lives,” Mert told his audience, who looked even more aghast when he said, “Prepare to be buried here!”

Guclu believes also that the UK, being sympathetic to the Turkish Cypriot cause, would refuse to enforce Cypriot law and would insist that such things be left until after a settlement of the Cyprus problem.

He also argued that the summons issued by a Cypriot court could not be delivered “officially” in the north, and therefore could be ignored.

Ultimately, however, Guclu believed the argument that Brits had come to live on the island “in good faith, and not to exclude the rights of Greek Cypriot owners” was enough to convince political leaders and the courts that they had done nothing wrong.

At times, however, the seminar threatened to dissolve into a shouting match, as increasingly angry punters sought answers to their queries.

Donald Crawford, a British lawyer living in the north, stood up to add support to Guclu’s arguments. But he was clearly in a different camp from Guclu, who made it clear he was not interested in politics but sought only legal ways out of the quagmire.

Interesting, Crawford was actively censored by the Amaranta man, but not before he declared, “I’d like to see this case in the UK. I’d like to see Constantinis Candounas [Apostolides’ Greek Cypriot lawyer] facing a real judge and not a rubber stamp lampoon.”

Candounas, who was seated next to me, lost his grin for the first, and perhaps only, time that evening.

Guclu then went on to explain the ramifications of the Annan plan for foreign property owners in the north. After hearing that foreigners could, in many cases, be forced to pay compensation to Greek Cypriot owners, but that “it’s OK because you will then be able to sue the Turkish Cypriot state for compensation”, one elderly woman was prompted to say, “If I’m going to have to spend my retirement going to court to prove my rights to my property, England is becoming a very attractive proposition.”

That the Annan plan is still far from acceptance south of the Green Line did not seem to make the spectre of its implementation any more palatable to the British expats. Guclu, however, who was clearly a fan of the plan, pleaded with them to join him in a letter writing campaign in support of it. Perhaps he is not aware that the Brits of north Cyprus are among the plan’s greatest enemies.

As the evening pressed on, the expat irritation intensified, and on several occasions some expressed open hostility towards the young lawyer delivering the bad news. They had, after all, come here to be reassured that the ‘TRNC’ would defend them to the last. Many now believed they had been duped by the north’s authorities, estate agents and lawyers into buying properties they looked set to either lose or spend the rest of their days fighting in the law courts for.

“From what you are saying tonight I’d be surprised if anyone bought a chicken house in the TRNC,” an elderly British woman said to bitter applause.

No one left the Colony Hotel in a good mood that night. The young lawyer had been harassed, Robbs and his company had scored an own goal, the Brits were more confused than ever. Only Candunas was grinning from ear to ear.

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By Mary Antonescu - mary@cyprus4properties.com