Between 1963 and 1974, thousands of Turkish Cypriots were killed by Greek Cypriots and many of them were forced to leave their homes in 103 villages. They lived in enclaves for 11 years until Turkey intervened in 1974 after a coup was carried out by the Greeks with the intention to kill the Greek Cypriot President Archbishop Makarios on 15 July 1974. Turkey intervened to protect the Turkish Cypriots from further bloodshed. A border, the Green Line, which lies east-west across Cyprus, was formed separating the two communities. From this point on, the communities remained in their part of the island with the exception of once or twice during the year when Greek Cypriots and Turkish Cypriots cross the border to attend the occasional festival.

In 1975 there was a voluntary population exchange and the Turkish Cypriots and most Greek Cypriots settled in different parts of the island, both communities choosing to abandon their homes in the interests of safety. All those who left their homes left behind properties and livelihoods. Mrs Titina Loizidou, one of many Greek Cypriots who moved, claimed that she was prevented from crossing the UN Buffer Zone and was thus deprived of having access to her real estate in the TRNC.

Mrs Loizidou resorted first to the European Commission of Human Rights, which rejected her claim, and then to the Court of Human Rights of the Council of Europe, which accepted her claim in 1998.

She is one of many Greek Cypriots and Turkish Cypriots who lost property as a result of the Cyprus conflict, yet hers is the only case which has reached a verdict. It was not just the Greek Cypriots who lost possessions. Turkish Cypriots also had properties to which they had attributed a great deal. There are thousands of Loizidou cases of property claims on both sides in Cyprus and this is a question which forms an inseparable part of a 35-year old complex political problem. This claim and others will be solved within the context of an overall solution to the Cyprus problem.