THE CHAIRMAN of the House Commerce Committee yesterday called on the state to take all necessary measures to secure the property rights of Cypriot residents in the British Sovereign Base areas.

“Four years ago, in 2004, we submitted to the House Commerce Committee, which I preside, a subject for discussion over the necessity of equal treatment and full rights in developing the properties belonging to residents in the British Bases areas,” Lefteris Christoforou of DISY said yesterday.

Bases’ spokesmen, he added, were repeatedly requested to offer residents in the Bases’ boundaries the same rights to their properties as the rest of the Cypriot public enjoys.

“Many Commerce Committee sessions were taken up and many discussions took place, during which we sent the British the message that we would exhaust all powers offered to us through the European Union as well as the European Council, to lift the unacceptable regime that deprives European citizens of their property rights and to make the Bases stop intervening in the residents’ rights to their properties,” said Christoforou.

Last year, he continued, the Bases submitted their proposals to the Foreign Ministry.

“I would like to point out that up until recently, the Bases rejected all discussions on the subject invoking the Foundation Agreement,” the DISY deputy added.

Now all that remains is for the government to respond to the British proposals, which were submitted around a year ago.

“We believe it is the State’s duty finally to express its views on the especially serious issue of the rights of Cypriot citizens who live in the Bases and who feel abandoned and as though they are being treated like second class citizens with severed rights,” said Christoforou.

“We will immediately bring the issue back for discussion, demanding its swift resolution and the total restoration of the Bases’ residents’ rights,” he concluded.