SECOND SECTION
DECISION
Application no. 78671/14
Durmuş GÖKNAR against Turkey
and 5 other applications
(see list appended)
The European Court of Human Rights (Second Section), sitting on 11 June 2019 as a Committee composed of:
Julia Laffranque, President,
Ivana Jelić,
Arnfinn Bårdsen, judges,
and Hasan Bakırcı, Deputy Section Registrar,
Having regard to the above applications lodged on the various dates indicated in the appended table,
Having regard to the declarations submitted by the respondent Government on 14 January 2019 requesting the Court to strike the applications out of the list of cases and the applicants’ reply to that declarations,
Having deliberated, decides as follows:
FACTS AND PROCEDURE
1. The list of the applicants is set out in the appendix.
2. The applicants were represented by Mr A. Aktay and Mr U.Ç. Aktay, lawyers practising in Mersin.
3. The Turkish Government (“the Government”) were represented by their Agent.
4. The applicants complained, in particular, of the financial loss they had suffered as a result of late payment of the expropriation compensations awarded to them by the domestic courts.
5. On 19 October 2017 the complaint concerning Article 1 of the Protocol No. 1 to the Convention was communicated to the Government and the remainder of the applications was declared inadmissible pursuant to Rule 54 § 3 of the Rules of Court.
6. After unsuccessful friendly-settlement negotiations, by letter dated 14 January 2019 the Government informed the Court that they proposed to make declarations with a view to resolving the issue raised by the applications.
7. The Government acknowledged that the failure of the domestic courts to apply any default interest to the respective compensation amounts constituted an excessive burden on the applicants and breached their right to peaceful enjoyment of their possessions in the light of the Court’s case-law in Dökmeci v. Turkey (no. 74155/14, 6 December 2016). They undertook to pay the applicants the amounts detailed in the appended table to cover any pecuniary and non-pecuniary damage as well as costs and expenses, which will be converted into the currency of the respondent State at the rate applicable on the date of payment, and will be free of any taxes that may be applicable. These sums will be payable within three months from the date of notification of the decision taken by the Court. In the event of failure to pay these sums within the said three-month period, the Government undertook to pay simple interest on them, from expiry of that period until settlement, at a rate equal to the marginal lending rate of the European Central Bank during the default period plus three percentage points. The payment will constitute the final resolution of the cases.
The Government further requested the Court to strike out the applications.
8. On 12 March 2019 the Court received letters from the applicants informing the Court that they had agreed to the terms of the Government’s declarations.
THE LAW
9. Having regard to the similar subject matter of the applications, the Court finds it appropriate to examine them jointly in a single decision.
10. The Court finds that following the applicants’ express agreement to the terms of the declarations made by the Government the cases should be treated as a friendly settlement between the parties.
11. It therefore takes note of the friendly settlement reached between the parties. It is satisfied that the settlement is based on respect for human rights as defined in the Convention and its Protocols and finds no reasons to justify a continued examination of the applications.
12. In view of the above, it is appropriate to strike the cases out of the list.
For these reasons, the Court, unanimously,
Decides to join the applications;
Decides to strike the applications out of its list of cases pursuant to Article 39 of the Convention.
Done in English and notified in writing on 4 July 2019.
Hasan BakırcıJulia Laffranque
Deputy RegistrarPresident
APPENDIX
No.
Application no.
Date of introduction
Applicant’s name
Date of birth
Amount awarded for pecuniary and non-pecuniary damage and costs and expenses per application
(in euros)[1]
78671/14
05/12/2014
Durmuş GÖKNAR
01/03/1959
1,453
20789/15
22/04/2015
Dürüye ERSOY
26/01/1951
473
21024/15
25/04/2015
Mustafa TOPAK
02/12/1960
399
34924/15
11/07/2015
Necip DAĞAŞAN
10/05/1969
Sultan ÖZMEN
10/10/1974
Orhan DAĞAŞAN
28/07/1977
Antalya
Hüseyin DAĞAŞAN
10/10/1971
Musa DAĞAŞAN
01/10/1941
1,173
36844/15
14/07/2015
Sultan BİLGİN
17/12/1958
8,496
40477/15
01/08/2015
Hüseyin KAVLAK
15/04/1946
495
[1]. Plus any tax that may be chargeable to the applicants.
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