Apostolides’ Lawyer, Constantis Kantounas will file case against 60 tourists that were accommodated in Dome Hotel Kyrenia.

This Blog on the 24th of January 2010 has already given an opinion what could have happen to the tourists that visit  the so called “North Cyprus” and stay in hotels there.

Our predictions were that the owners of hotels could take to court tourists that were accommodated in illegally occupied hotels. The case Apostolides Vs Orams opens the gates to the legal owner to take to court the users of the properties, that means the tourists.

Mr. Constandis Kantounas , the young lawyer who crashed Cherie Blair to the English and European courts, has admitted today in the most read newspaper of Cyprus that he is filing a case again 60 tourists who have been accommodated in the Hotel Dome in Kyrenia. On the post I published the 24th of Jan. 2010  I have used the Dome Hotel as an example without having in mind this fact.

Will this stop the English citizens look for cheap vacations in Cyprus using illegally hotels in the occupied part? Will this stop the hundreds of unconscious Greek Cypriots overnight in Hotels and Casinos in the occupied part of Cyprus.  I am not sure. If the Cypriot state does not take action against them then things will continue to be the same.
I am not against visiting Kyrenia or any other part of the so called “North Cyprus”.  I am against spending money there in activities that are illegal. The Turkish Cypriot workers and shopkeepers have the right to live a decent life but they cannot go against the international law. Their so called government dragged them in labyrinth of lies and fake promises for 35 years now. The only ones who took advantage of these lies are the politicians of both Turkey and occupied part of Cyprus.  I would say that it is time for the people to say something and stop this comedy. The Turkish military and their political allies here in Cyprus have used the people to gain political power and dragged them into a huge 35 year lie.

Now 35 years afterwards we see that using property of someone else illegally can cost you a fortune, sooner or later the law will come and find you. This should be a lesson also for those Greek Cypriots who only last Augusts have spent 450,000 euros in Casinos using credit card. In a country of 700,000 inhabitants we all know who is spending money in illegal casinos that keep financing the Turkish military status quo in our fathers land.

We, Greek Cypriots and Turkish Cypriots want to live together, this is a fact, and we want to build a future for our children in peace in a united Europe under the same sun. Politicians, people who use the status quo to make money, people like the Orams and more to come on the surface make things difficult for us.

Apostolides Vs Orams and Tourism in "North Cyprus"

This is what is going to be the impact of the decision of the UK Appeal court in the case Apostolides Vs Orams in tourism in Cyprus, and more concrete, in the occupied side of Cyprus, the so called "North Cyprus"

Form this blog's point of view this legal battle puts back in the right track the issues of Tourism in the occupied by Turkish troops part of Cyprus.

A bit of history: Cypriot tourism starts its development with mostly Greek Cypriot Hoteliers but also some Turkish Cypriot businessmen back in the sixties. After the Turkish invasion in the country in July 1974 the biggest engine of Cyprus Economy, tourism, suddenly stopped working. The reactivation of this engine begun again when the refugee entrepreneurs from the occupied land found the courage to start again from ashes. Hoteliers and travel agents managed to put back on the global tourist map the Cypriot Tourist product with great success. The creation of the Cyprus Tourism Organisation in 1975 was crucial.

In the meantime, the so called Turkish Cypriot authorities have been giving away hotels, land and premises to people they called "legal users".  This was an attempt to create a property status quo in order to assure political pressure. In my sincere opinion this did not serve in any good manner neither the interests of those users nor the interests of any politician in the occupied side on an international level. Giving away property that does not legally belong to you especially in European Union territory can only expose you heavily.

Apostolides Vs Orams case goes a step further. Mr. Meletis Apostolides and his lawyers using common sense managed to prove to all politicians that things cannot be the way they want them to be. Politics should stay out of things like human rights, basic freedoms and now is proven that should stay out of property and extensively tourism.

Now if we apply simple logic, if we just follow common sense, the same way the Cypriot, European and UK Appeal Courts did, we easily reach to the conclusion that all tourists, being those Cypriots or foreign, who visit the occupied by the Turkish troops land, should not use the occupied hotels since they are committing the same mistake Mr. and Mrs. Orams did.

Today, the legal owners of hotels are able to see who stays to those hotels searching the internet. We take as example the Dome Hotel in Kyrenia. The hotel belongs legally to Mr. Katsellis and his family. A simple search on Trip Advisor will give us a lot of information about who visited the hotel and when. Unfortunately those people have never been informed what it really means to be accommodated there. So as an advice, before you book a hotel in the occupied side of Cyprus, make sure your agent gives you all the information and please make a quick phone call to your lawyer of the ministry of foreign affairs of your country to make sure that what is suppose to be a relaxed holiday does not become a legal battle you will lose for sure. Once again what is right is right and no war or political interest can change it.

Thank you Meletis Apostolides

The case of Apostolides Vs Orams in the European Court of Justice is not only a human rights victory, is not only a victory of the Right over the Wrong is at the same time the most important injection if dignity and pride the Cypriots got after 1955. Meletis Apostolides has given back to all those who lost their houses and land in 1974 war (being those Greek – Cypriots or Turkish Cypriots) the hope that no foreign occupying army can create a status quo at least in the European territory.

Thank you Meletis for having the strength that nobody else did, thank you for not listening to the politicians of any party, thank you for believing in justice and proving to all the Europeans that the last thing one man has to loose is faith in what he believes .

I would also like to thank all those politicians that worried about the drop of sales in the real estate business in Cyprus. I would like to thank all those English people that have proven once again that they do not give a dam about how those houses they bought for peanuts in the so called “North” belong to people that for the last 35 years were not able to sleep in their own beds. I would also like to thank Mrs. Blair who proved once again that big law firms can actually make lots of money by trying to twist justice.

Ohh and for those who fear impact on tourism saying that this will scare the brtins away, please do not worry there are many intelligent britons, much more than the stupid ones. Good british citizens who really like Cyprus feel much better now coming to Cyprus than ever before.