NICOSIA, Sept 24 (AFP) - A Turkish Cypriot family, displaced by the population movements which followed Turkey's 1974 invasion of the north of the island, have won a court case for the return of their home in the south even though it is now inhabited by a displaced Greek Cypriot family.
The Greek Cypriot high court ordered the restitution of the property in Episkopi, near the southern city of Limassol, to father-of-two Arif Mustafa, even though it has been lived in for the past 30 years by a Greek Cypriot family, who now include a 93-year-old grandmother.
Mustafa only secured a hearing for his case because he has been resident in the government-held south since 2003, but Greek Cypriot officials acknowledged it might be just the tip of the iceberg.
Counsel for the Greek Cypriot family, who originally hail from the now Turkish Cypriot-held town of Kyrenia, expressed surprise at the ruling, charging that it was "unfair" because they had been made "refugees twice over".
Lawyer Christodoulos Taramountas said the court's decision was also "mistaken" because the family had no redress in the breakaway Turkish Cypriot state to secure the return of their own property in the north.
"The court got it wrong because Greek Cypriot refugees are not free to go back home," he said.
The Greek Cypriot authorities said they were considering an appeal but stressed they would respect the final ruling of the court.
"The decision is being reviewed by the attorney-general's office for a possible appeal but Cyprus is a democratic country and abides by international law," said government spokesman Kypros Chrysostomides.
Turkey's occupation of Cyprus's northern third following a Greek Cypriot ultra-nationalist coup in 1974 left large numbers from both communities on the wrong side of the armistice line, sparking major displacements on both sides.
Central districts of the main Greek Cypriot towns of Larnaca, Limassol and Paphos were all majority Turkish Cypriot before 1974, sparking fears of major population returns.
"Let's wait for developments and see if there is a wave of people and how we address it," the government spokesman said.
Cyprus's admission to the European Union on May 1 has created a legal limbo, with the whole island nominally part of the bloc but only the government-controlled south subject to its laws in practice.
Turkish Cypriot property in the south is managed by the government and largely, although not exclusively, used to house displaced Greek Cypriots.
Property rights and compensation are central to any settlement of the island's three-decade division and one of the main reasons why Greek Cypriots rejected a UN reunification blueprint in a referendum in April.