Minorities Reclame Confiscated Properties

Expert on minority rights, lawyer Kezban Hatemi states that European Court of Human Rights' ruling regarding the restitution of properties of trusts founded by minorities in Turkey constitutes a prejudication for similar cases.

ECHR ruled that the Turkish state should pay 890 thousand euros in damages to the Fener Roman High School for Boys Foundation for a breach of right to property.

The foundation's two properties -acquired as donations- were confiscated following the Turkish Treasury's attempts to court in 1996.

A court decision founded the Treasury's assertation lawful and declared the foundation's ownership void. Both properties' land registries were on the foundation since 1952 and 1958 respectively.

The local court's decision stands on a High Court case law dating back to 1974, when Turkish-Greek relations were at its worst following the Turkish armed forces' disembarkment in Cyprus. The foundation applied to the ECHR in 1997.

80 year old problem

Hatemi depicts the 1974 ruling as an "arrogation".

"The High Court said to the trusts founded by minorities that they don't exist as legal entities. In consequence, all such foundations were declared void and their property was then annexed by the state as public assets via procedural tricks. And finally these properties were transferred or sold to third parties.

This unlawful attempt was a breach of the Lousanne Treaty which guaranteed the rights of the non-muslim minorities in the new Turkish Republic".

The 1974 ruling was based on an opinion that only the foundations which existed before 1936 were granted the rights outlined in the Lousanne Treaty. Even such an approach wouldn't be legitimate for the case in question, says Hatemi, because the property of the school dates back to 1454 and the foundation was established in 1935, before the official proclamation in 1936.

The foundation paid all the duties and taxes of the property until its wrongful seizure in 1996.

Similar cases pending

"Cases regarding Surp Pırgıc, Büyükada Roman Orphanage and the Syrian Catholic Church in Istanbul are all pending" warns Kezban Hatemi. "The government will be convicted in all those cases and we'll have to pay indemnities. So it's best to stop discriminating among citizens".

All confiscated properties belonging to such trusts should be reinstituted immediately and a compensation sheme should be established for those who were transferred to third parties.

A new law on foundations is a necessity, but Hatemi says the draft text prepared by the parliament is far from solving the problems.

Another proposal including the opinions of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs as well as representatives of the minority communities was never even debated in the parliament. (EÜ)