The Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe is still waiting for clear indications as regards the implementation of a European Court of Human Rights judgment relating to the case Greek Cypriot Titina Loizidou won against Ankara for viola-tion of human rights.

This was said on Thursday by Deputy Secretary General of the CoE Maud de Boer Buquicchio, adding that a relevant discussion took place two days ago as regards the decision of the ECHR in Cyprus' Fourth Interstate Appeal against Turkey, by which Turkey was deemed responsible and accountable for a series of violations of the European Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms Convention, as well as the Loizidou case.

"On the interstate case the decision was to come back to this at a later stage, on the Loizidou case there was a reference to what was happening and what Cyprus can expect, what Ms Loizidou can expect in terms of reaction to her original claim to access to her property," she said.

Responding to a question regarding Turkey's negative stance, the Deputy Secretary General of the CoE noted there were a number of very important issues which were tackled, which had to do with access to property rights, as well as other difficult issues such as the missing persons, freedom of religion and freedom of education which were also dealt with.

She noted, however, that "the execution of judgments in the first place is in the hands of the respondent government" adding that it is absolutely clear that the role of the Committee is to supervise the execution.

Buquicchio further referred to the issue of the remedies, which should be made available in order to bring breaches of human rights to an end.

She explained that the approach of the Committee of Ministers is really a step-to-step one in order to see whether progress has been made.

As regards the Loizidou case, she said "we are waiting for further clear indications on the side of the Turkish government, how they can meet the demands of Ms Loizidou, which have been identified as being in breach of article one of the first protocol to the European Convention on Human Rights."

Turkey has paid Loizidou over one million dollars in compensation for the loss of use of her property in Turkish occupied Cyprus but still denies access to her property for its peaceful enjoyment.

Cyprus has been divided since 1974, when Turkey invaded and occupied its northern third.

Source: Athens News Agency

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