7.  The applicant was born in 1942 and lives in Nicosia. 8.  The applicant used to live with his family in Trypimeni, a village in the District of Famagusta. During the 1974 military intervention Turkish military troops evicted the applicant and his family from their home and forced them to leave Famagusta and flee to the south. Since 1974 both Famagusta and Trypimeni have been under Turkish military control. 9.  The applicant claimed to be the owner of a garden with twenty fruit‑bearing apricot trees in Trypimeni village. The property, registered on 25 January 1967 in the name of the applicant under the number 472, had an area of 920 sq. m. According to the researches conducted by an expert appointed by the applicant in the Famagusta land register, the property at issue bore the plot number 185 on sheet/plan 13/32. In support of his claim of ownership, the applicant submitted a cadastral plan on which his property was marked in yellow. 10.  On 9 December 1990 the applicant made an attempt to return to his home and property in Famagusta and Trypimeni by participating in a convoy of cars of fellow refugees wishing to return home during a peaceful march towards their villages. 11.  The applicant and his fellow refugees, who had informed the Commander of the United Nations (UN) forces in Cyprus of their intention, stopped at the checkpoint in the "buffer zone" on the main road linking Nicosia and Famagusta. There, they asked the UN officer on duty to be allowed to return to their homes, properties and villages. They requested him to transmit their demand to the Turkish military authorities. The officer announced that the Turkish military authorities had refused the refugees’ request to drive through the checkpoint and enter the Turkish-controlled part of Cyprus.