The European Court of Human Rights (Second Section), sitting on 29 September 2009 as a Chamber composed of: Françoise Tulkens, President, Ireneu Cabral Barreto, Danutė Jočienė, András Sajó, Nona Tsotsoria, Işıl Karakaş, Kristina Pardalos, judges, and Sally Dollé, Section Registrar, Having regard to the above application lodged on 28 May 2004, Having deliberated, decides as follows: THE FACTS The applicant, Mr İsmail Coşar, is a Turkish national who was born in 1942 and lives in Istanbul. He is represented before the Court by Mr A. Yum and Mr Y. Güneş, lawyers practising in Istanbul. 2 COŞAR v. TURKEY DECISION A. The circumstances of the case The facts of the case, as submitted by the applicant, may be summarised as follows. On 5 October 1995 the Governorship of Istanbul expropriated a 204 sq. m plot of land belonging to the applicant (block no. 19, plot no. 7793), located in the...
SECOND SECTION PARTIAL DECISION AS TO THE ADMISSIBILITY OF Application no. 32487/04 by İsmail COŞAR against Turkey The European Court of Human Rights (Second Section), sitting on 29 September 2009 as a Chamber composed of: Françoise Tulkens, President, Ireneu Cabral Barreto, Danutė Jočienė, András Sajó, Nona Tsotsoria, Işıl Karakaş, Kristina Pardalos, judges, and Sally Dollé, Section Registrar, Having regard to the above application lodged on 28 May 2004, Having deliberated, decides as follows: THE FACTS The applicant, Mr İsmail Coşar, is a Turkish national who was born in 1942 and lives in Istanbul. He is represented before the Court by Mr A. Yum and Mr Y. Güneş, lawyers practising in Istanbul.
2 COŞAR v. TURKEY DECISION A. The circumstances of the case The facts of the case, as submitted by the applicant, may be summarised as follows. On 5 October 1995 the Governorship of Istanbul expropriated a 204 sq. m plot of land belonging to the applicant (block no. 19, plot no. 7793), located in the Kocasinan Soğanlıbahçe region of Bahçelievler, Istanbul. It assessed the value of the land at 224,400,000 Turkish liras (TRL)1. On 14 February 1996 the administration sought to notify the applicant of the expropriation decision through the notary public. However, this notification did not reach the applicant as the service was made to a wrong address. On 20 December 1999 the applicant’s representative obtained the expropriation decision from the Istanbul Sixteenth Notary Public in person and the expropriation was thus finalised. On 19 January 2000, within the thirty-day prescription period stipulated in section 14 of the Expropriation Act (Law no. 2942), the applicant brought an action before the Bakırköy Civil Court for additional compensation. He requested TRL 3,855,600,0002 and reserved the right to increase his claim. On 14 February 2000 the ownership of the impugned plot of land was transferred to the administration in the title deed register. On 16 February 2000 the administration paid the applicant TRL 224,400,0003 as compensation for expropriation. On 26 December 2001 the committee of experts appointed by the first-instance court assessed the value of the land at TRL 70,000,0004. Given the considerable discrepancy between this evaluation and that of the administration, the court appointed another committee of experts. This new committee conducted an examination on 29 April 2002 and valued the land at TRL 30,498,000,0005. On 24 May 2002 the Bakırköy Civil Court accepted the applicant’s claim and awarded him TRL 3,855,600,0006 in additional compensation, plus interest at the statutory rate, running from 20 January 2000. This court stated that, although the value of the land had been assessed as much higher in the expert reports, the applicant was bound by his original claim of TRL 3,855,600,000, and thus it could not award him a higher amount. On 3 June 2003 the Court of Cassation upheld the judgment of the first- instance co...