A Cypriot official on Monday expressed discontent over the decision of British Prime Minister Tony Blair's wife Cherie Blair to defend at court a British couple charged with exploiting Greek Cypriot property in the Turkish controlled areas of the divided island.

The complaint was conveyed by Cyprus Foreign Ministry's Permanent Secretary Sotos Zackheos to Britain's Charge d' Affaires to Nicosia Robert Fenn.

The Cypriot official said that Mrs Blair's action is provocative to the feelings of the Greek Cypriot refugees and the Cypriots living in Britain.

Zackheos stressed that this action "opposes recent efforts by both governments to restore and improve their bilateral relations".

Meanwhile, Government Spokesman Kypros Chrysostomides said that Cyprus President Tassos Papadopoulos will raise the issue in the framework of the Cyprus-Britain structured dialogue.

He reiterated that this action is deemed by the government as provocative towards the feelings of the Greek Cypriot displaced persons, noting that "it is not a completely personal issue, it is an issue that concerns the state, the Republic of Cyprus".

"It is not possible for Britain, a country which is one of the Cyprus Republic's guarantor powers, to deem that the actions by Mrs Blair can easily be dissociated from the political situation here," he said.

The representations came after Cypriot President Tasson Papadopoulos condemned on Sunday Cherie Blair for agreeing to defend the British couple in a land dispute. He said the prime minister's wife was behaving provocatively by agreeing to represent the pair in the high-profile case.

"It is difficult to separate her professional capacity from being the wife of the British prime minister," said Papadopoulos.

The spat erupted after it was confirmed at the weekend that Cherie Blair would be heading the defence of David and Linda Orams, the couple ordered by a Greek Cypriot court last year to demolish their home in Turkish-Cypriot dominated northern Cyprus.

In a move with possible repercussions for other UK citizens owning holiday retreats in northern Cyprus, Mr and Mrs Oram were also ordered to return the property to Meletis Apostolides, the Greek Cypriot refugee who owned the plot before war split the island in 1974.

An estimated 10,000 Europeans are thought to have invested in northern Cyprus recognized only by Turkey. Most, like the Orams, are Britons attracted to northern Cyprus by the bargain prices of properties often forcibly abandoned by Greek Cypriots in 1974.

Source: Xinhua