The Turkish Cypriot heirs and the Republic are in court for a large area of land mainly in Paphos worth tens of millions, which affects refugee settlements, the city's airport and even the "Andreas Papandreou" air base.
The administrator of the estate and the heirs entered into an agreement to sell the property for €11.8 million and attempted to deposit it with the Paphos Land Registry, which estimated its value at €58 million. However, the Minister of the Interior and Guardian of the Turkish Cypriot properties refused to give his approval because the land is used for public utility projects.
The administrator of the estate and the heirs appealed to the Court which dismissed their appeal and filed an appeal. The Administrative Court of Appeal ruled that both the appeal and the present appeal are considered inadmissible, due to the lack of jurisdiction of both the Administrative Court and the Administrative Court of Appeal and referred them to the civil Courts.
According to the decision d. 30/4/2026 of the Administrative Court of Appeal, the first applicant is a Greek Cypriot appointed as administrator of the property of a deceased Turkish Cypriot couple, who resided in Paphos until the year 1974, when, as a result of the Turkish invasion, they moved to an area, which is not under the control of the Republic of Cyprus. The other applicant is the daughter of the deceased, a Turkish Cypriot, who lived in the village of Episkopi in Limassol and subsequently also moved, in 1975, to an area that is not under the control of the Republic, while the third applicant is a daughter, granddaughter of the deceased Turkish Cypriots, who left Cyprus around the year 1969 and resides permanently in the United States of America.
As mentioned, in the year 2012, requests were submitted for the sale of the property of the above Turkish Cypriots. It was the property of the deceased, with their daughter and granddaughter as heirs. Specifically, three sales documents were submitted to the Paphos District Cadastral Officer for the sale of a large area and value of Turkish Cypriot property in the Paphos District, located in the villages of Timi, Mandria, Paphos city, Agios Theodoros parish and in Episkopi of the Limassol District.
Specifically, an application was submitted for the purchase of 125 pieces of land, with a total sale price of €11,800,000 and a market value, as estimated by the Department of Lands and Surveys of €58,631,600. The buyer in all three sales documents refers to a Greek Cypriot company, with the first applicant as an authorized representative.
As stated in the decision, the requests for the purchase and sale of the properties in question were put before the Minister of Interior, as Guardian of Turkish Cypriot Properties, with two official notes, dated 30/9/2013 and 4/7/2016, respectively, who, on the basis of the information put before him, decided that his consent could not be given to accept the transfer declarations and the sales documents for deposit, nor was it possible to consult the heirs for an amicable settlement regarding the Turkish Cypriot properties that had been used for public utility projects. In this regard, as stated in the objection of the Republic, a large part of the Turkish Cypriot property in question is affected by self-housing settlements in the community of Timi, as well as by other public utility projects, such as the creation of an irrigation canal, roads, Paphos airport and the "Andreas Papandreou" air base.
In fact, in the answer of the then Guardian of the Turkish Cypriot Properties d. 19/7/2016, from an investigation that had been carried out, it was found that the deceased lived from 1974 until the date of their death in the occupied areas, where they had been granted Greek Cypriot properties, and their daughter and her husband, immediately after 1974 had settled in the occupied areas, where they were also granted large Greek Cypriot properties.
The negative decision of the Guardian was challenged by an appeal which was rejected. They filed an appeal with the Administrative Court of Appeal pointing out that although no cross-appeal was filed by the Republic in relation to the rejection by the Court of First Instance of the first preliminary objection raised in relation to the admissibility of the appeal (i.e. that it had the right to examine it), the Administrative Court of Appeal considered it right and appropriate to examine the issue, whether the case falls within the (exclusive) jurisdiction of the District Courts and not the jurisdiction of the Administrative Court, in application of the provisions of the aforementioned Article 6A (1), (2) of the Law and/or case law.
They lack jurisdiction
The Administrative Court of Appeal, after analyzing the case law, held that both the Court of First Instance and the Court of First Instance itself lack jurisdiction to examine the present case, for which the correct jurisdiction belongs exclusively to the territorially competent District Courts by registering a lawsuit. In this light, both the appeal and the present appeal are considered inadmissible, due to the lack of jurisdiction of both the Administrative Court and the Administrative Court of Appeal on the matter.
