The European Court of Human Rights (Second Section), sitting on 28 January 2003 as a Chamber composed of Mr J.-P. COSTA, President, Mr A.B. BAKA, Mr GAUKUR JÖRUNDSSON, Mr R. TÜRMEN, Mr K. JUNGWIERT, Mr V. BUTKEVYCH, Mrs W. THOMASSEN, judges, and Mr T.L. EARLY, Deputy Section Registrar, Having regard to the above application lodged with the European Court of Human Rights on 5 April 1999, Having deliberated, decides as follows: THE FACTS The applicant, Efrosini Yorgiyadis, is a Turkish national of Greek origin, who was born in 1964 and lives in Istanbul. She is represented before the Court by Mr Cihan Eren and Ms Nilgün Kepoğlu, lawyers practising in Istanbul. The facts of the case, as submitted by the applicant, may be summarised as follows. 2 YORGIYADIS v. TURKEY DECISION On 18 October 1982 the applicant and Semiramis Gradlekova, a Turkish citizen of Greek origin, petitioned...
CONSEIL DE L’EUROPE COUNCIL OF EUROPE COUR EUROPÉENNE DES DROITS DE L’HOMME EUROPEAN COURT OF HUMAN RIGHTS SECOND SECTION PARTIAL DECISION AS TO THE ADMISSIBILITY OF Application no. 48057/99 by Efrosini YORGIYADIS against Turkey The European Court of Human Rights (Second Section), sitting on 28 January 2003 as a Chamber composed of Mr J.-P. COSTA, President, Mr A.B. BAKA, Mr GAUKUR JÖRUNDSSON, Mr R. TÜRMEN, Mr K. JUNGWIERT, Mr V. BUTKEVYCH, Mrs W. THOMASSEN, judges, and Mr T.L. EARLY, Deputy Section Registrar, Having regard to the above application lodged with the European Court of Human Rights on 5 April 1999, Having deliberated, decides as follows: THE FACTS The applicant, Efrosini Yorgiyadis, is a Turkish national of Greek origin, who was born in 1964 and lives in Istanbul. She is represented before the Court by Mr Cihan Eren and Ms Nilgün Kepoğlu, lawyers practising in Istanbul. The facts of the case, as submitted by the applicant, may be summarised as follows.
2 YORGIYADIS v. TURKEY DECISION On 18 October 1982 the applicant and Semiramis Gradlekova, a Turkish citizen of Greek origin, petitioned the Şişli Civil Court of General Jurisdiction (Sulh Hukuk Mahkemesi) and requested that they be given permission to conclude a contract of adoption (evlatlık mukavelesi) before the notary public. Following the court’s permission, the applicant and Semiramis Gradlekova signed the contract of adoption before the notary public in Bakırköy on 25 October 1982. Semiramis Gradlekova died on 18 November 1982, leaving the applicant the only legal heir to her property. On 17 May 1983 the Treasury (Hazine) brought an action before the Şişli First Instance Court in Civil Matters (Asliye Hukuk Mahkemesi) requesting that the contract of adoption be declared null and void. According to the Treasury, the contract was made in the absence of a witness and, therefore, did not fulfil the necessary requirements of a valid contract of adoption. Furthermore, the fact that Mrs Gradlekova died only twenty-three days after the contract was made was a clear indication of the applicant’s bad faith. For these reasons, the Treasury requested that Mrs Gradlekova’s property be transferred to the State. In the meantime, unknown persons who had alleged that Semiramis Gradlekova’s intention was to donate her property to the Turkish Army informed the authorities that the applicant and four other persons forged official documents in order to acquire her inheritance. The Bakırköy Public Prosecutor opened a criminal investigation. On 3 August 1983 the public prosecutor filed an indictment with the Bakırköy Assize Court accusing the applicant and four other persons, including S.Y. and G.A., a clerk to a notary, of fraudulent misrepresentation (yalan beyan) and forgery (evrakta sahtekarlık). On 10 October 1983 two professors and one associate professor specialising in handwriting analysis produced a report. The experts compared the signature of Semiramis Gra...