CASE OF ERBEY v. TURKEY
Violation of P1-1;Just satisfaction reserved
Françoise Tulkens;Ireneu Cabral Barreto;Nona Tsotsoria;Vladimiro Zagrebelsky
5. The applicant was born in 1926 and lived in İzmir. 6. On 23 February 1998 the applicant bought a plot of land (plot no. 536 in the Ulucak village, in the Menemen district of İzmir) from the heirs of V.G. 7. On 13 July 1999 the Ministry of Agriculture (“the Ministry”) brought an action before the Menemen Civil Court, requesting the annulment of the title deed of the applicant to plot no. 536 and its registration in the Treasury's name, claiming that it had had actual possession of this land since 1966. The Ministry primarily relied on Article 38 of the Expropriation Act (Law no. 2942). The Ministry also alleged that an expropriation had been effected in relation to the said land in 1966 and that V.G. had received compensation for it. However, the land register had not been amended due to an administrative error. 8. On 20 December 2000 the Menemen Civil Court accepted the request of the Ministry of Agriculture and ordered that the land be registered in favour of the Treasury in accordance with Article 38 of Law no. 2942. In its judgment, the first-instance court noted that the Ministry had been in actual possession of this land for more than twenty years and that the applicant had been aware of this fact when he had bought the plot. 9. The applicant appealed. 10. On 17 September 2001 the Court of Cassation upheld the judgment of 20 December 2000. 11. The applicant requested rectification of the decision of 17 September 2001. 12. On 24 December 2001 the Court of Cassation dismissed the applicant's request. 13. On 4 January 2002 the Court of Cassation's decision was served on the applicant. 14. On 10 April 2003 the Constitutional Court annulled Article 38 of Law no. 2942. 15. A full description of the domestic law may be found in Börekçioğulları (Çökmez) and Others v. Turkey (no. 58650/00, §§ 23-29, 19 October 2006).