Outbreak

Cypriots are alarmed at what is currently occurring in neighboring Turkey where there is confirmation of a deadly bird flu outbreak which has killed several people. The government of RoC is telling its citizens not to worry and that it is coordinating efforts with doctors in the occupied North. Iran has said that it has sealed its boarder with Turkey to protect its citizens. Three months ago, Turkey quickly responded when this same virus was reported in western Turkey but was not successful in containing it this time in eastern Turkey. News reports this morning indicate five new cases in eastern and central Turkey. The Financial Mirror this morning has reported that “The Cypriot Agriculture Ministry has been taking all necessary measures, and people should not panic, said Efthymiou.” Very well then, no cause for panic, however ... there is a strong cause for concern. This is a real threat to the entire region as the disease is continuing to spread across Turkey. I hope the government of RoC is not paying lip service when it states that the “authorities are taking all necessary measures.”

Eupro

Eupro has generated a lot of commentary in the Cypriot press recently ... specifically regarding its role in the Oram's case. Eupro is a Lobby group that has built a huge war chest to defend the rights of foreigners, mostly from Western Europe who are living in properties whose previous owners were forcibly expelled in the North of Cyprus. Eupro's website address is http://www.eupro.co.uk ... the site mostly consists of opinions that run counter to the truth. This association boasts about being in the front line of the Cypriot property dispute. Wonderful, it should also boast about being a mouthpiece for Turkish propaganda. A fact that is evident when one explores Eupro’s site ... why even its useful links section contains disinformation. The Cyprus Mail is listed in the links section but is only "Recommended for anyone interested in the brainwashed politics of Greek Cypriot Cyprus..."

Legal Fees

Mrs. Blair is back in the news. New details of Mrs. Blair’s involvement in the Oram’s case have been uncovered, please read below for more details.

We are paying Mrs. Blair gbp 200,000.
Getting her on the Turkish side...
(The Mail on Sunday Via Thomson Dialog NewsEdge)
Cherie Blair was last night at the centre of a fresh row over her business affairs after a Mail on Sunday investigation uncovered new details about her latest high profile legal case.

More from Jean Christou on this developing story below:

REPORTS in a British newspaper that the Turkish government is paying part of Cherie Blair’s £200,000 Sterling fee to defend the Orams shows that the case has political significance despite protest to the contrary by Downing Street, the government said yesterday. 

Britain’s Mail on Sunday went undercover to investigate the case of Linda and David Orams, who are attempting to justify their possession of land in the north belonging to Greek Cypriot Meletis Apostolides. 

The British Prime Minster Tony Blair’s barrister wife is taking part in the defence of the couple, who are appealing a Nicosia court decision ordering them to demolish the £160,000 villa they built on Apostolides’ property in Lapithos. 

As the Nicosia court cannot enforce its decisions in the north, the case has been accepted by the UK courts. 

Cherie Blair’s law firm Matrix, was brought in by the Orams’ Turkish Cypriot lawyer Hassan Vahib, 44, a property developer and former Labour councillor in London, who is also one of the parties paying the couple’s legal costs. 

Downing Street has insisted that Blair is acting in her professional capacity as a lawyer but a reporter from the Mail on Sunday discovered otherwise while posing as someone interested in buying property in the north. 

The paper said it spoke to the operations manager of Vahib’s property firm Troy Lake UK (Cyprus) Ltd, Firtac Ortac, who confirmed the firm was contributing to Cherie Blair's costs and that the reason for hiring her was because of her political influence. 

“At a meeting with an undercover Mail on Sunday reporter he said: 'We are paying her more than £200,000. The clients are not paying. We are. We can afford it and we have much ourselves to gain. When Mrs Blair wins, it will set a precedent and the market will rocket.' 

“Ortac also said that the hiring of the Prime Minister's wife was, for them, a political act, the paper said: “We have about 25 lawyers working for us, so there is no shortage of legal brains. But you see the North-South dispute is also very political. 

“They (the Greek Cypriots) have made it political, so now we get political too. What can be better than getting the wife of the British Prime Minister on our team? She is a noted human rights lawyer too, so simply getting her involved and on the Turkish side is fantastic,” he added.
Ortac claimed that the Turkish government was also paying Blair because they were 'playing a political game' and boasted that Vahib was in regular contact with Turkish President Ahmet Necdet Sezer, the paper said. 

Blair agreed to take the case following hush-hush meetings with Vahib and the Orams in Istanbul last May. “Cherie Blair spent three days in the city, during which she was a guest of the British consulate. However, she demanded that the reason for her trip be kept confidential,” it added. 

Another property developer, several of whom are involved in financing the case, said they were hoping she could use her political influence in the case. “What can be better than getting the wife of the British Prime Minister on our team?” said one. “When Mrs Blair wins, it will set a precedent and the market will rocket.” 

Government spokesman Kypros Chrysostomides said it was obvious from the report that those who hired Blair hired her specifically in order to exploit her politically as the wife of the British Prime Minister. 

“What is particularly important is that someone appears to admit that the Turkish Government will pay all of part of the fees of Mrs Blair,” he said. 

“Perhaps they believe by hiring her they might be able to influence the course of British justice. Is the impression not created that by accepting such a politically loaded case, Mrs Blair has given insufficient weight to her position as the wife of the British Prime Minister?” 

Chrysostomides said it should also be borne in mind that the British Foreign Ministry has on many occasions published warnings to Britons about the legal minefield of purchasing property in the north. “It seems Mrs Blair has not taken these warnings into consideration,” he said. 

The Orams told the Mail on Sunday that they had agreed with their legal team not to speak until after the conclusion of the case. 

“All I can say to you now is that we are extremely confident of winning,” Linda Orams said. 

My personal opinion: How can Mrs B-liar, sorry I mean Mrs Booth, not now withdraw from this case?

Varosha

In his column today, Mr. Simon Bahceli acknowledges that the city of Varosha is being used as a bargaining chip by Turkey and the North. Mr. Bahceli states “It (Varosha) has never been part of the self-proclaimed ‘Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus’ (‘TRNC’), and has always been seen as a bargaining chip that Turkey and the North could use as part of an overall settlement of the Cyprus problem.” This statement should not come as a surprise for those who follow the Cyprus issue. The Turks, it seems, are approaching the issue of Cyprus as if it were a poker game. The world has remained silent while a city rots for 31 years because the Turks view the city as Mr. Bahceli explained “their trump bargaining chip.” Varosha was the third largest city in Cyprus and using it as a dangling carrot for so many years is immoral. The current and previous Cypriot governments have become complacent on this issue…not enough is being done to atract outside public awareness on this matter. Behind each abandoned house in Varosha exists a refugee face that commands a certain level of attention, dignity and respect. Mr. Talat can, at the very least show some good faith by allowing refugees the ability to briefly retrieve personal belongings instead of having their possessions wasted in this most cynical way. Please view my post below titled “The Game” for more info on Varosha.