The European Court of Human Rights (Second Section), sitting on 7 June 2016 as a Chamber composed of: Julia Laffranque, President, Işıl Karakaş, Nebojša Vučinić, Paul Lemmens, Valeriu Griţco, Ksenija Turković, Stéphanie Mourou-Vikström, judges, and Stanley Naismith, Section Registrar, Having regard to the above application lodged on 13 February 2006, Having deliberated, decides as follows: THE FACTS 1. The applicants, Mr Kemal Alemdar, Mr Şaban Alemdar, Ms Hafize Alemdar, Mr Nihat Alemdar, Mr Cihat Alemdar, Ms Kâniye Alemdar, Mr Cemal Alemdar, Ms Rabia Kahraman (Alemdar), Ms Saliha Gezgin (Alemdar), Ms Hatice Şirin (Alemdar), Ms Melahat Tıknaz, Mr Şakir Tıknaz, Mr Bahattin Tıknaz, Mr Fehmi Tıknaz, Mr Murat Tıknaz, Ms Aysel Örek (Tıknaz), Ms Samiye Özdemir and Ms Saniye Keskin Alemdar, are eighteen Turkish nationals. They were born in 1954, 1953, 1927, 1954, 1959, 1959, 1956,...
SECOND SECTION DECISION Application no. 9944/06 Kemal ALEMDAR and others against Turkey The European Court of Human Rights (Second Section), sitting on 7 June 2016 as a Chamber composed of: Julia Laffranque, President, Işıl Karakaş, Nebojša Vučinić, Paul Lemmens, Valeriu Griţco, Ksenija Turković, Stéphanie Mourou-Vikström, judges, and Stanley Naismith, Section Registrar, Having regard to the above application lodged on 13 February 2006, Having deliberated, decides as follows: THE FACTS 1. The applicants, Mr Kemal Alemdar, Mr Şaban Alemdar, Ms Hafize Alemdar, Mr Nihat Alemdar, Mr Cihat Alemdar, Ms Kâniye Alemdar, Mr Cemal Alemdar, Ms Rabia Kahraman (Alemdar), Ms Saliha Gezgin (Alemdar), Ms Hatice Şirin (Alemdar), Ms Melahat Tıknaz, Mr Şakir Tıknaz, Mr Bahattin Tıknaz, Mr Fehmi Tıknaz, Mr Murat Tıknaz, Ms Aysel Örek (Tıknaz), Ms Samiye Özdemir and Ms Saniye Keskin Alemdar, are eighteen Turkish nationals. They were born in 1954, 1953, 1927, 1954, 1959, 1959, 1956, 1943, 1940, 1935, 1946, 1947, 1961, 1930, 1954, 1956, 1964 and 1959 respectively. They were represented before the Court by Ms Gülseren Çanga, a lawyer practising in Sakarya.
2 ALEMDAR AND OTHERS v. TURKEY DECISION A. The circumstances of the case 2. The facts of the case, as submitted by the applicants, may be summarised as follows. 3. In 1983, Mahmut Alemdar and İsmail Alemdar, the applicants’ predecessors, purchased a plot of land in Sapanca, in the Uzunkum District of Sakarya, which had been registered in the land register as plot no. 9, parcel no. 317. 4. In 1993, the forest administration conducted a cadastral survey. On 9 April 1993, as a consequence of the survey, an annotation was made in the land register indicating that the applicants’ land could not be sold as it was classified as part of the public forest. 5. On 25 April 2001 the applicants instituted proceedings before the Sapanca Civil Court of First Instance seeking the annulment of the outcome of the cadastral survey. 6. On 26 September 2002 the Sapanca Civil Court of First Instance dismissed the applicants’ case, holding that the cadastral survey was in conformity with the law. An appeal and a request for rectification lodged by the applicants were subsequently dismissed by the Court of Cassation and the decision became final on 15 July 2005. The final decision was notified to the applicants on 17 August 2005. B. Relevant domestic law and practice 1. Designation of land as public forest area 7. Under Article 169 of the Turkish Constitution of 1982, ownership of public forests may not be transferred to others; public forests will be managed and exploited by the State in accordance with the law. Ownership of such forests cannot be acquired through adverse possession, nor may the forests be subject to any easement, unless it is considered to be in the public interest. 8. Under section 7 of Law no. 6831 of 31 August 1956, the cadastral commissions decide whether an area will be catego...