COMPANY TO THE STATE - 'PAY THE BILL IN CHLORAKAS NOW'

 Filenews 27 August 2023 - by Marios Demetriou

The report apparently captures for the last time the dystopian, nightmarish environment of the apartment complex "Agios Nikolaos" in Chloraka, Paphos, as it has been shaped over the last year and a half, with its hundreds of Syrian and African residents wandering desperately, without water and electricity, literally drowned in piles of garbage, after the community authority stopped collecting them long ago.

Our visit to the site took place on Saturday, August 19, 2023, two days before it was decided at the well-known meeting at the Presidential Palace, on Monday 21 this year, "the immediate execution and implementation of the decree of the Pafos District Officer dated November 17, 2021 prohibiting the use and habitation of the complex, for safety and health reasons", as announced by the government spokesman.

It is known that last Tuesday, 22 August, with the participation of dozens of police officers who cordoned off and guarded the area, an operation to register the tenants by the Aliens and Immigration Service of the Police and the Asylum Service of the Ministry of Interior, in the presence of officials of the Deputy Ministry of Social Welfare, with the aim of transferring them to the accommodation center in Kofinou "for immediate examination of their applications", or 'finding legal alternative accommodation', or 'immediately arresting and deporting them', as the case may be. This development marks the effort to deal with an unstable situation that negatively affects the daily life of both the residents of Chloraka and the foreigners living in the complex. This is an effort that was received differently by the president of the community of Chlorakas, Nikolas Liasidis, and the general manager of the owner company Alpha Panareti Public Ltd, Andreas Ioannou, the two main protagonists of a long and long-standing dispute that continues in court. We met them both in Chloraka and Paphos respectively, during this journalistic mission.

Speaking to "F", N. Liasidis welcomed in advance the initiative of the President of the Republic to convene Monday's meeting at the Presidential Palace, as well as the measures announced after it.

Andreas Ioannou was sceptical about government decisions and measures. As he characteristically told us, "the company is not responsible for the condition of the complex, which has been under the responsibility of the state since November 2021 with the decree prohibiting a license. The state, with all its previous mishandling and decisions, has created the situation that exists now, victimizing our company. He must now foot the bill for the destruction of the project, which was a gem for the entire region and had been awarded by foreign firms for the architecture and facilities it provided."

Little history and the right of housing

As Andreas Ioannou informed us, his company "built the Agios Nikolaos Chlorakas complex and holds the title deeds for 193 of the 257 total apartments and residences that make up the complex".

He added that "due to disputes with Alpha Bank Cyprus Ltd, which financed the project, the ownership status of these apartments is disputed, for which lawsuits are pending before District Courts. The title deeds – he continued – are in the name of the company, which owned and managed the apartments it rented, at low rents, to asylum seekers and migrants, initially in consultation with the Social Welfare Services. That is, what we as a family and company have done primarily is to serve the interests of the Republic of Cyprus by taking a principled stance and offering accommodation and the same services to all people, respecting the right of everyone, regardless of colour and nationality, to enjoy these services, as provided for in the law prohibiting discrimination. especially in relation to one of the most basic social rights, that of housing."

The persecution of directors and the Nouri decree

According to the general manager of Alpha Panareti Public Ltd, "the problem started with the interruption of the water supply to the complex by the Community Council of Chlorakas, due to disputes regarding alleged amounts owed by the company to the Council, which are also pending before the Court, as a result of which the company was forced to supply water to the complex in alternative ways, always with suitable drinking water, which was controlled by a chemical laboratory and with the knowledge of the Medical and Health Services of the Ministry of Health.

Under pressure from the president of the Chlorakas community, the services decided to prohibit the supply of water in an alternative way, due to its alleged unsuitability. We have appealed against the decision and the Administrative Court has annulled the ban. The state has appealed against the repeal of the ban, which is pending."

We note that the conflict between the two sides seems to have been exacerbated by the decree of former Interior Minister Nikos Nouris in December 2020 prohibiting the stay of other asylum seekers in Chloraka, from those already resident. As stated in a letter from the company to the President of the Republic dated 18 August 2023, "the Pafos Police Department has initiated an unprecedented prosecution of the company's directors, repeatedly issuing arrest warrants for violation of the decree or other similar offences and/or registration of criminal prosecutions for violation of the said decree. All arrest warrants against the directors of the company were annulled by the Supreme Court as illegal by issuing Certiorari decrees, while the criminal cases registered against them were eventually withdrawn by the Attorney General of the Republic. It is our position that the above is not compatible with the rule of law."

Appeals to the Administrative Court

Andreas Ioannou told "F" that the company appealed to the Administrative Court against the decision of the District Officer of Pafos of November 2021 to prohibit a license to use the complex "due to alleged unsuitability of the water", but the Court on March 23, 2023 upheld the decision of the District Officer.

The company appealed, which is still pending.  In the context of the appeal, the Administrative Court recognized the title deeds and the legitimate interest of the company, which since 17 November 2021 has not exercised any control over the complex that has come under the responsibility of the District Officer of Pafos and by extension of the state, due to the decree prohibiting use that is in force until today. The company has nothing to do with illegal electricity connections or illegal water supply, but on the contrary has suffered irreparable damage from the inability of the state to control our property, which it has placed under its control by decree, while movable and immovable property of the complex has been destroyed and/or stolen."

The rebuttal by the President of the Community "Occupation", theft of water and electricity, "jihadists " and insecurity

Of course, the president of the community of Chlorakas – since 2017 – Nikolas Liasidis, otherwise describes the events in "F". He told us, among other things, that "in January 2020 the company started bringing immigrants from "Pournara", mainly Syrians, into the complex. In March 2020 there were around 600, when the first big reactions from the residents began, because there were already 800 Syrians in the community. Ghetto conditions were created in the complex, crime, drug dealing, fights between them, driving cars without driving licenses increased. Their stance was generally provocative, culminating in the murder of a young Syrian by a compatriot in April 2020 on the beach of Chloraka, for reasons of honour. At that time, as the Council, we decided to bring the matter out, whereas until then we had been discreetly trying to solve problems. We sent letters of protest to the then Minister of the Interior and the then President of the Republic.

In December 2020, Nouris issued the decree prohibiting other asylum seekers from staying in Chloraka, while the company continued to bring in foreigners and by summer 2021 refilled the complex. In November 2021, the decree of the District Officer was issued that the complex is unsuitable for human living, due to the fact that the water was polluted, so EAC disconnected all electricity supplies. In February 2022, all residents left and moved to another large complex of the company, on the border of Tremithousa and Emba.

In March-April 2022, some migrants began to enter the empty complex of Chloraka, while there was neither electricity nor water. They basically occupied and are there until now. Let me make it clear here, to be fair to the company, that for the last 16 months it does not take rents, since the space is occupied. The squatters initially numbered around 300-250 Africans and 50 Syrians. They were constantly stealing electricity from the substation inside the building and in summer 2022 EAC permanently cut it off. They also started looting, removing aluminium, air conditioners and tanks from the roofs of apartments in the complex, which they sold.

We reached May 2023 when there was a relocation of young Syrians inside the complex – mainly jihadists based on the information we have – and so their number now in summer 2023, is 300 Syrians and 300 Africans (mainly from Nigeria, Congo and Somalia). They revolted because while EAC and the police cut off their electricity and we cut off their water, they found ways and stole again, so it was decided to guard EAC stations on a permanent basis. In mid-August 2023, about 70 Syrians and 5 Africans rose up to demonstrate. Before the demonstration they tried 2-3 times to occupy the EAC substation, throwing stones and sticks, so the police used tear gas, without making any arrests."

Asked to comment on reports against him, which attribute to him a "racist and xenophobic" handling of the case, Nikolas Liasidis spoke of "an attempt to partisan and politicize the problem by some who seek political or even economic gains. We believe that in Chloraka, with its 6,500 inhabitants, we can manage a situation with 500-600 migrants and we have no problem with them, but we cannot have a large ghetto in a specific area, which is a source of illegality and delinquency."

Fellow villagers agree with the words of the president of the community, such as Pambos Antoniadis, whose house is next to the complex in question, at the eastern entrance of the community. "The bad thing," he told us, "is that the vast majority of the occupants are single men in their 20s and 30s who go around all night and are dangerous, enter our yards at night and steal water... No, I'm not a racist, on the contrary... Let me tell you something that even my wife doesn't know... One day a black man came by and asked me for money, because as he told me, he had been fasting for two days. I gave him €20... Is that racism? I feel sorry for them, but it doesn't go any further, we feel very insecure."