White smoke over Metochi land transfer dispute

There is white smoke over the Metochi land transfer dispute between Kykkos and the Greek government, following a bitter battle that even brought the foreign minister to Nicosia to testify in court.

Kykkos and the Metropolitan bishop Nikiforos, according to reports from Athens, have moved forward with renewing their consent for their land in Nicosia’s Metochi to be used for the construction of the Greek Embassy and an ambassadorial residence.

The Greek foreign ministry had expressed Greece’s gratitude and appreciation over the decision but also the willingness of the Metropolitan to personally see through the completion of the project.

Kykkos and the Greek government had been locked in a legal dispute over a plot of land at Metochi Kykkou in Nicosia’s Engomi area, which had been sold to the Greek government in 1999 for €500,000.

But when Greece was drafting a list of state-owned land for sale and included the plot in Nicosia, the Monastery protested saying it had offered the land only on the condition it would be used for the Greek Embassy.

But the contract reportedly also had a non-written part calling for the embassy to be built within 10 years.

This did not materialize and soon the Greek Ambassador in Nicosia got wind of another sale in the works, where the land was being readied to be sold to a company of Russian interests.

In order for the sale to go forward, the Greek government would have been owed compensation to the tune of €2.3 million, according to the sales agreement between Metochi and Greece.