The Parliament of the Republic of Cyprus will consider creating a national fund for compensations to property owners in the TRNC

The "Migrants" Committee of the Parliament of the Republic of Cyprus will discuss next Tuesday a proposal to create a national fund to pay compensations to Greek Cypriots for the "loss of use" of immovable property located in the territory of the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC).

According to the newspaper Politis, the bill submitted by the Disy party (Democratic Rally) aims to limit or suspend the sales of former Greek Cypriot properties in the TRNC in favor of the Immovable Property Commission (IPC). The initiative proposes funding the Fund through national revenues: a 0.4% levy on property sales, government contributions, tax incentives, voluntary contributions, and revenues from transferring movable and immovable property to the fund. The newspaper notes that a similar mechanism has already been applied to so-called "tıraşlı mevduatlar" (certain bank deposits).

The authors of the bill — MPs Y. Karullas, O. Kullas, N. Yorgiou, K. Hatzigiannis, M. Mavridis, and Rita Superman — state that the fund should collect and effectively distribute resources for compensations for loss of use. According to the chairman of the IPC, Nevber Ferit Vehci, 8,151 applications have been submitted to the commission, of which 2,040 have been reviewed; as a result, compensation payments totaling about 535 million pounds (approximately 620 million euros) have been decided.

For residents of Northern Cyprus, this may mean a change in incentives for former owners: if the fund is established, sales through the IPC may decrease, which could affect the real estate market and legal uncertainty surrounding former Greek Cypriot properties. The final impact will depend on the details of funding and the procedures for distributing resources, which will be discussed in the parliamentary committee.