JULY is often the cruellest month for middle-aged Greek Cypriots such as Meletis Apostolides. For the British-trained architect, its heat recalls the 1974 Turkish invasion, the deaths of friends in his National Guard unit and his parents’ heartbreak over the loss of a family home and lemon orchards near the graveyards where their ancestors lie.

But Apostolides will not be in Cyprus this week on the 32nd anniversary of the Turkish landings. He will be in the High Court in London, listening to Cherie Blair QC plead for the right of a British couple, David and Linda Orams, to remain in the house they have built on the land the Apostolides family owned and cultivated until they were driven out by Turkish troops.

Apostolides already has a judgment in his favour in the Nicosia district court, which has ordered the Oramses to demolish the substantial house and swimming pool they have built, return the land and pay rent for the time they have occupied it. But the property is near Kyrenia in the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus, a state recognised only by Turkey. Judgments made by a court on the Greek side of the United Nations-patrolled ceasefire line dividing the island cannot be enforced there.

Blair plans to oppose an attempt by the Greek Cypriot’s lawyer to have the Nicosia judgment registered in the High Court. If this succeeds and the Oramses refuse to comply, Apostolides could be compensated by having the couple’s house near Brighton seized.

If Blair succeeds she will have won a test case that will ensure millions of pounds worth of Greek Cypriot property in northern Cyprus can be sold to expatriate bargain-hunters with impunity.

“It’s unbelievable,” said Apostolides before his departure for London. “I’m going to be sitting in court listening to the wife of the British prime minister explaining why someone has the right to remain on my land.”

President Tassos Papadopoulos, rarely slow to pick a fight with the former colonial power, has rejected Downing Street’s insistence that Blair is merely doing her job. “It is difficult to separate her from being the wife of the British prime minister,” he declared when the news of her involvement in the case was first announced.

Later the British chargé d’affaires was called to the foreign ministry to hear the Cypriot complaints. “Blair’s involvement was a bit too much. It could have been avoided,” said the ministry’s spokesman.

Headlines in the Greek Cypriot press refer to Blair as “Caesar’s wife”. Last week a cartoon showed her bewigged and robed on the steps of the High Court, telling a judge: “My lord, as a specialist in human rights I support the claims of these poor people.” Behind her are the Oramses and people chanting: “We demand to enjoy stolen Greek Cypriot properties.”

Both the Greek and Turkish media insist she will earn £50,000 for handling the case. Exaggerated though these claims might be, there has been considerable speculation that her fees come from a consortium of British and Turkish Cypriot property speculators.

“Don’t dream it — buy it!” command the billboards of one of the estate agents in northern Cyprus. Many of these companies not only have English names, but staff to go with them. “I can do you a nice little flat for £25,000,” said a tanned young man called Dave from Romford, Essex. “Sea and mountain views and a shared pool.”

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