European court orders Turkey to pay damages for Cyprus invasion

The European court of human rights (ECHR) has ordered Turkey to pay €90m (£73m) in compensation for its 1974 invasion of Cyprus in a judgment that has huge potential legal implications for Ukraine and Crimea.

The court's largest-ever damages award is based on earlier ECHR judgments ruling that the invasion and subsequent occupation of the northern third of the island was illegal. The breakaway Turkish Cypriot state created by the invasion is only recognised by Turkey. But the size of the award by the Strasbourg-based court – comprising €30m compensation to relatives of those still missing from the conflict and €60m for Greek Cypriots who ended up on the Turkish side of the lines as an enclave on the Karpas peninsula – breaks new ground.

"After all, there is punishment for unjust war and its tragic consequences in Europe," the judgment states. "That was the case here. The respondent state is responsible for the protracted search for the missing persons and the prolonged suffering and humiliation of Greek Cypriots ever since the invasion of northern Cyprus, and has been deaf to the committee of ministers' repeated calls for full implementation of the court's judgment concerning those violations."

Philippe Sands, an international law professor at University College London, said the judgment could eventually set a precedent for Georgian and Ukrainian claims against Russia for occupation of their territory.

"It's a strong signal that the passage of time will not diminish the consequences or costs of illegal occupation. It has obvious relevance to the situation in Abkhazia and South Ossetia, which are occupied parts of Georgia, and Crimea, which is occupied Ukraine.

"I would imagine it opens the door to claims arising from that kind of occupation. It signals that the court will not back off on issues like this over time," Sands said.

The Turkish invasion 40 years ago followed an Athens-orchestrated coup in Nicosia aimed at uniting Cyprus with Greece.

Sixteen years ago, the ECHR awarded €1.2m in damages to an individual Greek Cypriot who sued Turkey for the loss of her property in the seaside city of Kyrenia. In that case, Ankara paid the award, but has insisted it is not bound by Monday's judgment. Legal experts said the country could theoretically have non-sovereign, commercial assets abroad seized to pay the damages.

The judgment comes amid a renewed push for a peaceful resolution of the frozen conflict. The Cypriot government announced that the US vice-president, Joe Biden, would visit this month in an attempt to help promote confidence-building measures by both sides. The US has said it wants to see "historic progress" in the negotiations.