Mrs. Blair 'Agitates Greek Cypriot Emotions'

Written by Administrator

Tuesday, 20 December 2005

The decision by the wife of British Prime Minister Tony Blair, lawyer Cherie Blair, to defend the property rights of British citizen David Charles Orams and his wife Linda Elizabeth Orams has enraged Greek Cypriots. The Greek Cypriot administration Foreign Ministry staged a protest against Britain. According to Greek Cypriot media, news that Mrs. Blair will defend Orams had the effect of a bomb dropping on Southern Cyprus, and Mrs. Blair was portrayed as a “puppet” by the Greek side of the island for defending the Orams. The Greek Cypriot administration considers this act as “deliberate” and suggests that Mrs. Blair does not act beyond her husband’s cognizance. “The Foreign Ministry has protested Britain,” said Greek Cypriot leader Tasos Papadopoulos in a statement, “Mrs. Blair’s act has upset me.” South Cyprus administration sources find the intervention of Britain intolerable and provocative. The Greek Cypriot media pointed out to the dissatisfaction of the Greek Cypriot administration with the response that Cherie Blair undertakes her profession independently and without any influence from her husband’s politics. Spokesman Kypros Hrisostomidis from the Greek Cypriot administration asked Cherie Blair to withdraw her decision, citing the reason that the intervention of Mrs. Blair in this trial would negatively contribute to the diplomatic relations between Britain and Greek Cyprus. Meletiu Apostolidi, a Greek Cypriot citizen, took the British couple to court and they were ordered to demolish the two-storey villa built on his land and to pay damages for the illegal use of Apostolidi’s estate, which he owned until 1974 in the Lapta region of the Turkish Republic of North Cyprus (TRNC). A further case against the Orams by the Greek Cypriot Courts threatened to seize property owned by the couple in Britain if they did not comply with the court’s ruling. Since the ruling cannot be enforced in the northern part of Cyprus, Greek Cypriot lawyers last month took the complaint to the British High Court, and Cherie Blair took on the task of defending the Orams in this case.

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