As reported on Monday, Akfinans Bank had requested a court hearing to apply for an injunction to stop the media reporting on the Kulaksiz 5 case.
The court case has been put on hold, but it would appear that the newspapers in question have agreed to a temporary media blackout.
Nothing about the Kulaksiz 5 case has been printed in any North Cyprus newspaper. This is a major blow for the Kulaksiz 5 residents who were due to have their statement printed in Kibris on Tuesday. Turkish paper Hurriyet did pick up on the story and have printed the following.
Some 17 British residents living in a small town in Karşıyaka in northern Cyprus’ eastern province of Kyrenia are facing eviction from their properties due to a loan that they say they have never received “a penny from.”
Akfinans Bank, a Turkish lender in northern Cyprus, claimed in a recent statement that it holds the deeds of the houses.
“We have suffered a great injustice,” the residents said in another press release, stating that 10 villas were bought in 2004 for 800,000 British pounds ($1.27 million) cash for the properties in the Kulasız-5 site. “We never took loans,” said the residents, adding that the constructor of the houses took out a mortgage of over 40,000 pounds ($63,907) from Akfinans Bank one year after the residents purchased the villas.
“Akfinans claims it did not know about us owning houses on the land, even though our houses were already built and paid for before they took out the mortgage,” the residents said in a written statement sent to the Hürriyet Daily News & Economic Review.
The residents said the eviction had already started last week. “Three men from Akfinans Bank broke in and entered the house of Eva McClusky, the owner, without a warrant or court order,” claimed Richard Barclay, speaking on behalf of the residents at Kulaksız-5 to the Daily News.
“At that point it was agreed between our lawyer and the police that a criminal act had taken place and we could change the locks,” Barclay said.
He claimed that some people from Akfinans broke into the property one more time on Thursday, adding that the neighbors also took photos of the break-in at McClusky’s house last week.
“The bank is trying to include the rights and houses of all the fully paid-up elderly retired people in a mortgage granted to the landowner one year after the homebuyers purchased their homes,” Barclay said.
Regarding the legal procedures, Barclay said, “The courts of northern Cyprus have until now ignored our rights and allowed the bank to auction our properties and transfer them to themselves.” Barclay said nine couples residing at the Kulaksız-5 site have already filed applications in the Kyrenia and Nicosia courts and also applied to the European Court of Human Rights. Barclay said that if all the residents were evicted, “the compensation will be massive and the cost will be paid by Turkish taxpayers.”
Noting that the outcome of the case would harm the whole of northern Cyprus’ economy, Barclay said, “Akfinans is trying to convert a 41,600-pound [$66,000] loan into the ownership of an entire site of 10 houses, worth well over 1 million pounds [$1.6 million].”
Akfinans Bank made a public statement in the Kıbrıs newspaper on Wednesday and claimed that “the houses in Karşıyaka were undergoing construction and the residents are illegally residing on the site.” The bank claimed “the foreigners broke the locks on a house and caused damage to the house,” which Barclay said gave an incorrect recounting of the situation, as the “the locks were actually broken by the bank.”
The media blackout is leaving the residents of Kulaksiz 5 petrified that the bank are planning something big for this weekend, possibly even an attempt to evict the residents. At this point, I would ask that you take a look at North Cyprus Free Press, where an article reports on the possibility of viewing a rare plant this weekend at the Kulaksiz 5 site. Please, if you are in North Cyprus and you wish to view this rare species, Akifinanas Snatchit, then use the contact form on the North Cyprus Free Press article.
Finally, I would like to ask you to bookmark not only this blog, but www.kulaksiz5.com
Thank you for your continued support during what is a very tough and uncertain time for the Kulaksiz 5 residents.
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