The Turkish Cypriot lawyer arrested in Italy on is expected to answer on Tuesday whether he consents to his extradition to the Republic of Cyprus.
Akan Kursat, a legal counsel, was apprehended based on a European arrest warrant concerning articles of the criminal code of the Republic of Cyprus for the exploitation and sale of Greek Cypriot property in the north.
The Republic’s authorities were notified on New Years Eve that Akan Kursat was arrested at the hotel in Rome where he was staying with his wife, the north’s ‘deputy prime minister’ and CTP ‘MP’ Fazilet Ozdenefe.
The Turkish newspaper Dialog reported on Monday that “all eyes are focused” on Kursat’s answer.
According to the publication, documents are expected to be presented by the Turkish Cypriot’s defence lawyer, alleging that the central prisons of the Republic are unsafe, particularly for their client. A report on the killing of Turkish Cypriot convict Tansu Cidan in October 2022 is to be used as a case in point.
On Monday the north’s HP party leader Kudret Ozersay had said that mafia on both sides of Cyprus are cooperating in selling off Greek Cypriot properties in the north to foreigners.
Speaking to daily Politis about skyrocketing property sales, Ozersay said a loophole in the ‘law’ of northern Cyprus allows Turkish Cypriot lawyers to act as middlemen for foreigners buying property.
The party leader also questioned practices in the Republic where Turkish Cypriots are denied access to their properties under the law of custodianship in force following the Turkish invasion.
He said that at least the north has tabled and created the immovable property commission (IPC), which is recognised by the European Court of Human Rights as an effective domestic remedy.
On Friday, it emerged that the Cyprus bar association has begun investigating some members and a company, believed to be involved in buying and selling of property in the north.
Sources told the Cyprus Mail the company being examined seems to be run by Berk Gokhan and Rikkos Mappourides, both subjects of the investigation.
The bar will also examine whether Mappourides has any connection to Kursat in this case, as he also appears to be Kursat’s legal counsel regarding the arrest in Italy.
Kursat is linked to British con man and drug dealer Gary Robb, who had swindled millions of pounds out of prospective Brits wanting to buy property in the north. The properties were never completed.
Robb had been convicted in the Republic and sentenced to ten months in prison by a Cypriot court, after he was extradited for selling Greek Cypriot land to Britons.
The British police estimate that some 400 Britons lost a total of over €40 million in deals made with AGA Development.
It is alleged that Robb received between £5,000 and £10,000 a week from the drug trade in England and then sent this money to the north.
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