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THE OMBUDSMAN INSTITUTION OF THE REPUBLIC OF TÜRKİYE 2018 ANNUAL REPORT

◊ applications claiming that the public authority seizes the privately-owned immovable
without expropriation, applications concerning the fact that the immovable of citizens
within the framework of development plans are not expropriated for years since they
are allocated for public services and citizens are not able to dispose of their immovable
and

◊ applications concerning the unpaid expropriation prices despite court decisions.
The right to property provides the individual to peacefully enjoy his/her possessions, and to
dispose of them except in the public interest and subject to the conditions provided for by
law. This right is guaranteed by the Article 35 of the Turkish Constitution. The restrictions
regarding the right to property are stated in the same Article. Similar regulations are also
available in the Protocol No 1 of the European Convention on Human Rights.

According to the Article 35 on the Right to Property in the Turkish Constitution, “Everyone
has the right to own and inherit property. These rights may be limited by law only in view of
public interest. The exercise of the right to property shall not contravene public interest”.

Furthermore, according to the Article 1 on the “Protection of property” of the Protocol No 1
of the European Convention on Human Rights, “Every natural or legal person is entitled to
the peaceful enjoyment of his possessions. No one shall be deprived of his possessions except
in the public interest and subject to the conditions provided for by law and by the general
principles of international law”.

As an example, which is the most striking one among the applications filed to the Ombudsman
Institution of Türkiye regarding violation of “Right to Property”, the immovable owned by our
citizens are defined as lands allocated for public services by land use plans and renovations
made in these plans and their disposal are legally restricted. This subject is regulated in the
Article 10 of the Development Law, which states that the municipalities shall prepare their
5-year development programs within 3 months at the latest as of the entry into force date of
the development plans and the lands which are within the borders of five-year development
programs and allocated to the public authorities shall be expropriated by relevant public
authorities within the duration of this program. However, relevant public authorities do not
start any actions for long years; therefore, our citizens become suffering parties as they are not
entitled to dispose of their immovable during this period.
A case summary

The applicant stated that expropriation price which was decided to be paid for him was not
paid completely, and he was still waiting for the rest of the price to be paid. Thus, he asked for
the payment claiming that there was injustice in payments.

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