Recording the properties in the Turkish-occupied fenced city of Famagusta will take six months to a year, Evkaf director Ibrahim Fatih Benter was quoted as telling Turkish daily Yeni Safak.
He said that the Efkaf has already decided which land it owns, and was now checking the buildings and their condition. Greek Cypriots who have invested in this land could rent it, he added.
The paper claims a group of experts has studied all the title deeds of Evkaf from 1571 to 1974 in 2009. A total of 2,433 document protocols, 13,00 files and 8 million documents were studied.
According to Benter, a huge part of Varosha belongs to Evkaf and as he said they have evidence and title deeds to prove it.
As he claimed, the area belonged to three large foundations of Evkaf: Of Lala Mustafa Pasa, of Abdullah Pasa and of Bilal Aga. He also claimed that Greek Cypriots tried to steal documents related to the issue and they failed.
The city is protected by a 1984 U.N. Security Council resolution, stating that the the empty town can only be resettled by its original inhabitants.
Varosha has been abandoned since 1974 and is currently occupied by the Turkish army. Entry to the public is forbidden.
Before 1974, Varosha was one of the most important tourism centres of Cyprus and had a significant contribution to the island’s economy.
