Handan Kocaer Ozer wants the Egyptian government to give her heritage, worth nearly 1 quadrillion liras, back to her. The court will make a final decision on Ozers legal case in June. 25,000 people have applied to Egypt so far to claim their rights from the Ottoman Empire. 23 of these have won their lawsuit, but only six applicants actually received payment in the amount of US$6,000. Ozer's case will be the first in the sense that it is the largest claim. If the court finds Ozers case to have merit, then assets of a quadrillion lira, including Cairo Airport field, four casinos and two Turkish baths will be given to Ozer. A special unit in the Foreign Ministry is closely following the case.
| Oh, I'll bet they are. Sounds like she'll have a mortgage on half the country... |
Ozer is cousin to Princess Zeynep Kamil, the daughter of Kavalali Mehmet Ali Pasha who was Egypt's governor during the Ottoman Era. Ozer, now 82 years old, lives in a retirement house on a retirement pension of 350 million liras. She secretly leaves food she buys at the doors of 10 poor people claiming this is a dynasty custom. Ozer plans to build a school and help to martyr families with the money she will receive from Egypt: "What belongs to the world stays in the world. We have never lived in luxury as the grandchildren of the Ottomans. We have been raised with the advice, 'if you have two pairs of shoes, donate a pair.' Mrs. Ozer said she requested support from then foreign minister and a family friend, Mesut Yilmaz, in 1988. Yilmaz brought up the issue during a visit to Egypt. Ozer explained: "Mr. Yilmaz called when he returned and said Egyptian officials told him there was nobody asking for their assets. But then, the government changed." When she later made similar initiations, Ozer said only President Ahmet Necdet Sezer, and former Prime Minister Abdullah Gul replied to her. |