7.  The applicant inherited a piece of land along with three other persons in Seydişehir. He holds a title deed to the land as a joint owner. 8.  In 1976 the authorities conducted a land registry survey in Seydişehir and revised the local plans. Following this revision, the land in question was registered in the Land Registry with the title of six other persons (Zehra Özden and five others: 'the defendants') along with the applicant's and the three other persons' title ('the plaintiffs') as the heirs of Mr Kara Beşe Ahmet Bin-i Ali Efendi (A.E.). 9.  On 3 August 1977 the applicant and the three other plaintiffs brought an action in the Seydişehir Civil Court of General Jurisdiction (Asliye Hukuk Mahkemesi) against Zehra Özden and five defendants. The applicant and his co-plaintiffs stated that the land in question had belonged to their and the defendants' testator (muris), A.E. They alleged, however, that A.E. was not the owner of the land before his death since he had transferred the land to their mother in 1953. In support of this allegation they submitted a title deed dated 21 December 1953 bearing their mother's name as well as invoices indicating that their mother used to pay taxes in respect of the land. 10.  The applicant and his co-plaintiffs requested the court to order the revision of the Land Registry and to determine that Zehra Özden and her five co-defendants had no rights to the land since they were not the heirs of their mother. They further asked the court to order that the land in question be registered under their title alone. 11.  In the proceedings before the court, three of the defendants acknowledged the applicant's and his co-plaintiffs' claim and agreed that the land should be registered under their title. 12.  On 6 November 1978 an expert and a judge, Mr Orhan Gündem, from the Seydişehir Civil Court of General Jurisdiction, conducted a survey of the land. 13.  On 4 October 1984 an expert and a judge, Mrs Canan Karcı, from the same court, conducted a second survey of the land. 14.  On 12 December 1988 the Seydişehir Civil Court of General Jurisdiction issued a decision finding that it lacked jurisdiction, following the entry into force of Law no. 3402 abolishing the jurisdiction of the Civil Courts of General Jurisdiction on land registry matters. 15.  On 26 January 1994 the applicant lodged a petition with the Ministry of Justice complaining that the impugned proceedings lasted unreasonably long. 16.  On 14 September 1994 the Seydişehir Chief Public Prosecutor, with reference to the applicant's petition to the Ministry of Justice, sent a letter to the applicant explaining the reasons for the length of the proceedings. He stated that the heavy workload of the court, the change in the composition of the court on sixteen occasions, the resignation or dismissal of the parties' representatives on three occasions, the death of two of the defendants, the parties' requests for an extension of time-limits on three occasions, the parties' failure to attend the trials and other legal reasons had delayed the proceedings. He further stated that the courts had held seventy-nine hearings and had conducted two surveys of the land. 17.  On 17 May 1996 the judge of the Seydişehir Cadastre Court and an expert conducted a third survey of the land. 18.  On 20 March 1998 the Seydişehir Cadastre Court dismissed the case brought by the applicant and his co-plaintiffs. The court held that their mother did not have a title to the land since the land to which she had a title was not the same as the land in question. The court ruled that the applicant and his co-plaintiffs were the joint owners of the land in question along with Zehra Özden and her five co-defendants, being the heirs of A.E. The applicant and his co-plaintiffs appealed. 19.  On 9 October 1998 the Court of Cassation quashed the Seydişehir Cadastre Court's judgment. The court held that the Seydişehir Cadastre Court had failed to consider that three of the heirs had acknowledged the claim of the applicant and his co-plaintiffs. It ruled that their shares should have been registered with the applicant's and his co-plaintiffs' title. The Court of Cassation remitted the case to the first-instance court. 20.  On an unspecified date the Seydişehir Cadastre Court ruled that the applicant's and his co-plaintiffs' shares be registered with their title. The defendants lodged an appeal with the Court of Cassation against this decision. 21.  On 8 February 2001 the Court of Cassation upheld the decision of the Seydişehir Cadastre Court.