Refugees are warning that they will sell their properties in the occupied north to raise money for their children’s studies, Nikos Kettiros, chairman of the House Refugees Committee, said at a committee session. Parliament members criticised the requirement for refugees to provide four guarantors for loans, and asked how many applications had been rejected and why.
In one case, a 75-year-old grandmother told Kettiros she would sell her orchard in occupied Famagusta to pay for her granddaughter’s studies. He said she was sobbing and told him she would turn to the so-called ‘compensation commission’, or to others, to secure the money.
Kettiros, who raised the issue, said he had also received a letter from a refugee, which he forwarded to the Central Agency for Equal Distribution of Burdens. He called on the government to say whether it intended to help refugees take out loans through the agency, or leave them in limbo.
He highlighted the requirement for every refugee applicant to provide four creditworthy guarantors to secure repayment of the loan. In another case, he said, a refugee with 2 million euros on deposit at a bank had been asked to name four guarantors. “I am ashamed to ask my employees to guarantee that I will repay my loan,” the refugee told him.
State officials said many loans were non-performing, which was why four creditworthy guarantors were required, to make sure public money was not lost.
Kettiros and other parliament members said refugees should be helped to take out loans, not faced with obstacles. They also requested details of the interest-rate subsidy for refugee loans, noting that it reportedly varied in some cases.
The agency’s chairman, Akis Pouros, said it had been understaffed and that he had lived through utter humiliation for five years. When the agency asked for five staff, he said, it was given one, and it could not cope with serving refugees. He said it was a shame that the board bore the weight of decisions when the agency’s policy depended on others.
