NICOSIA - The Cyprus government hit back at the international plaudits for new Turkish Cypriot leader Mehmet Ali Talat Monday, charging that his time as premier of the breakaway state had seen rampant illegal development of Greek Cypriot land.
Rejection of a UN reunification plan by Greek Cypriot voters a year ago sparked a building boom in the breakaway north as developers sought to cash in on the apparent blow to the chances of landowners displaced by Turkey's 1974 invasion returning to claim their properties in the forseeable future.
"This period has seen an increase, to an unbelievable degree, in the pillage of Greek Cypriot property," said Kypros Chrysostomides, spokesman for the island's internationally recognized Greek Cypriot government.
The "supposedly conciliatory" Talat had been the breakaway state's premier during that time while the "supposedly progressive" Tayyip Erdogan had been prime minister of its sponsor Turkey, Chrysostomides noted.
The spokesman warned that the Cyprus government would use every measure at its disposal to punish those who illegally exploited the property of displaced Greek Cypriots.
Last week, a British man living in the government-controlled south was arrested and charged with illegally marketing Greek Cypriot property on the internet.
Police also issued arrest warrants for two other Britons who own the real estate company which advertised the properties.
Around 200,000 Greek Cypriots fled homes in the north after it was invaded and occupied by Turkish troops, while tens of thousands of Turkish Cypriots fled in the other direction, leaving large numbers of absentee title-holders on both sides.
The UN reunification plan rejected by Greek Cypriots last year would have resolved the property issue through a mixture of restitution and compensation.
Talat took the oath of office as president of the breakaway Turkish Republic of North Cyprus Sunday, succeeding veteran hardliner Rauf Denktash.
The elevation of Talat, who led Turkish Cypriots in approving the UN blueprint in a separate but simultaneous referendum last year, was welcomed by both the European Commission and the United States.
04/25/2005 15:38 GMT