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Turkey ordered to pay $132 million to Cyprus

Europe’s top court awards its largest damages ever against Turkey for the 1974 military intervention in Cyprus.
Greek Cypriot pilgrims gather outside St. Apostol Andreas monastery on the Karpas peninsula in northern Cyprus, November 30. More than one thousand Greek Cypriots today visited the monastery in the Turkish part of island to attend the annual pilgrimage. Nearly 500 Greek Cypriots had visited the monastery for first time in 23 years in August this year.

CYPRUS PILGRIMS - RTR964H

Two decades after the Greek-Cypriot government filed the case, the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) ordered Turkey on May 12 to pay 90 million euros ($132 million) in compensation relating to its 1974 military intervention.The court only put a price tag on a decision it took back in 2001 when it ruled on two groups, “namely 1,456 missing persons and the enclaved Greek-Cypriot residents of the Karpas Peninsula.”

Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu angrily reacted, saying the judgment is not legally binding, and that the court's decision would harm efforts at reconciliation. “We don’t legally recognize the Greek-Cypriot side,” Davutoglu said on May 14. “The court, therefore, can't impose a decision on us regarding a country that we don’t recognize.”

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