Cyprus government spokesman Christodoulos Pashiardis said on Friday that they are following closely the developments concerning four Turkish Cypriots' appeal to the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) for the restitution of their real property in the government-controlled south.

"We follow the developments with necessary seriousness and attention without any panic, as the Turkish Cypriot newspapers claim," Cyprus News Agency quoted Pashiardis as saying.

Commenting on media reports that British prime minister's wife Cherie Blair may be offering legal advice to the Turkish Cypriots, the spokesman said that if these reports were true it would be wiser for Mrs. Blair to refrain from engaging in this issue.

"Mrs. Blair as a lawyer is entitled to engage, but as the British prime minister's spouse, it would be wiser for her not to do so," Pashiardis said.

Cherie Blair was involved in another high-profile appeal case of a British couple before the British High Court against a Cyprus Court order to bring down a house the couple built on land in the Turkish Cypriot-controlled northern Cyprus that belonged to a Greek Cypriot, who escaped to the south during conflict between the two communities.

Recently, four Turkish Cypriot siblings applied to the ECHR for the restitution of their real property in the southern coastal city of Limassol, first of such case against the Cyprus government.

But the government argued it was impossible for the court to accept their application because "they have not exhausted the internal legal means of the Republic of Cyprus".

Cyprus has been divided since 1974 when Turkey militarily

intervened and occupied the north of Cyprus following a coup by a group of Greek officers.

In 1983, the Turkish Cypriot authorities declared breakaway and set up "the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus", which is recognized only by Turkey.

Source: Xinhua