The European Court of Human Rights (Second Section), sitting on 5 November 2013 as a Committee composed of: Dragoljub Popović, President, Paulo Pinto de Albuquerque, Helen Keller, judges, and Seçkin Erel, Acting Deputy Section Registrar, Having regard to the above application lodged on 28 September 2006, Having deliberated, decides as follows: THE FACTS The applicants, whose names and dates of birth appear in the appendix, are Turkish nationals who live in Batman, İzmir and Istanbul. They were represented before the Court by Mr S. Kaya, a lawyer practising in Batman. A. The circumstances of the case The facts of the case, as submitted by the applicants, may be summarised as follows. On an unspecified date the National Water Board (Devlet Su İşleri) expropriated a plot of land belonging to the applicants jointly in Batman and decided to award them 3,463,000,000 Turkish liras...
SECOND SECTION DECISION Application no. 41034/06 İhsan IŞIK and Others against Turkey The European Court of Human Rights (Second Section), sitting on 5 November 2013 as a Committee composed of: Dragoljub Popović, President, Paulo Pinto de Albuquerque, Helen Keller, judges, and Seçkin Erel, Acting Deputy Section Registrar, Having regard to the above application lodged on 28 September 2006, Having deliberated, decides as follows: THE FACTS The applicants, whose names and dates of birth appear in the appendix, are Turkish nationals who live in Batman, İzmir and Istanbul. They were represented before the Court by Mr S. Kaya, a lawyer practising in Batman. A. The circumstances of the case The facts of the case, as submitted by the applicants, may be summarised as follows. On an unspecified date the National Water Board (Devlet Su İşleri) expropriated a plot of land belonging to the applicants jointly in Batman and decided to award them 3,463,000,000 Turkish liras (TRL1) as expropriation compensation. On 2 April 2001 the applicants brought an action before the Batman Civil Court of First Instance seeking additional expropriation compensation of TRL 124,364,700,000, with interest. 1. On 1 January 2005 the Turkish lira (TRY) entered into circulation, replacing the former Turkish lira (TRL). TRY 1 = TRL 1,000,000.
2 IŞIK AND OTHERS v. TURKEY DECISION The Batman Civil Court of First Instance appointed two committees of experts during the proceedings, the first of which assessed the value of the applicants’ land at TRL 127,835,279,000, based on the market price of similar properties in the vicinity. Using the same method of valuation, the second committee opined that the applicants’ land was worth TRL 110,403,000,000. On 21 December 2001 the Batman Civil Court of First Instance partially granted the applicants’ request and awarded them TRL 73,819,083,000 as additional compensation for expropriation, plus statutory interest running from the date on which the action was brought. The court held that the experts had overvalued the land by erroneously comparing it to properties located in the heart of the city, whereas the property in question was 2-3 km outside the city centre. The administration appealed against the judgment of the Batman Civil Court of First Instance. It appears that the applicants did not lodge an appeal request. On 2 October 2003 the Court of Cassation upheld the latter court’s judgment. On 12 August 2004 the applicants’ lawyer applied to the administration for the discharge of the judgment debt. Referring to the recent amendment of Article 46 of the Constitution on 17 October 2001, the lawyer demanded interest at the highest rate as laid down for State debts, running from the date on which the said amendment came into force. On 25 August 2004 the administration paid the applicants TRL 190,892,280,000, including statutory interest running from 2 April 2001, as opposed to the highest interest rate stipulated ...