SECOND SECTION
DECISION
Application no. 68103/11
Refik ÖZTURAN against Turkey
and 35 other applications
(see list appended)
The European Court of Human Rights (Second Section), sitting on 26 May 2020 as a Committee composed of:
Valeriu Griţco, President,
Arnfinn Bårdsen,
Peeter Roosma, judges,
and Hasan Bakırcı, Deputy Section Registrar,
Having regard to the above applications lodged on the various dates indicated in the appended table,
Having deliberated, decides as follows:
THE FACTS
1. The details of the applicants as well the names of their respective representatives are set out in the appendix.
2. The Turkish Government (“the Government”) were represented by their Agent.The circumstances of the case
3. The facts of the case, as submitted by the parties, may be summarised as follows.
4. The applicants’ lands were expropriated by the administration according to the Expropriation Act (Law no. 2942).
5. The Civil Courts decided to register the lands in question in the administration’s name in the land register and determined the amounts of compensation for expropriation. The domestic courts also ordered the parties to pay each other’s legal fees (avukatlık vekalet ücreti).Relevant domestic law and practice
6. The domestic legislation regarding the expropriation procedure and the costs and expenses may be found in Musa Tarhan v. Turkey (no. 12055/17, §§ 31-40, 23 October 2018).
7. Following the Court’s judgment in Musa Tarhan (cited above) the Turkish Constitutional Court reviewed its practice and followed the Court’s approach with regard to the legal fees (see the Turkish Constitutional Court’s judgment in the case of Sadettin Ekiz, no. 2016/9364, 9 May 2019).
8. Meanwhile, the Court of Cassation’s General Assembly of Civil Divisions (Yargıtay Hukuk Genel Kurulu) adopted a similar approach (no. 2019/241E., 2019/560K., 14 May 2019).
9. As regards the depreciation of the compensation due to the inflation, in its Ali Şimşek and others (2014/2073, 6 July 2017) and Cevat Aydın (no. 2014/13886, 4 October 2017) judgments, the Turkish Constitutional Court reviewed its practice by following the Court’s approach in the case of Dökmeci v. Turkey (no. 74155/14, 6 December 2016).
COMPLAINTS
10. The applicants complained under Article 6 of the Convention and Article 1 of Protocol No. 1 to the Convention about the domestic courts’ decisions, obliging them to pay a lump sum to the opposing party in respect of lawyer’s fees and/or about the fact that no interest had been applied to the amount awarded by the domestic courts.
THE LAW
11. Having regard to the similar subject matter of the applications, the Court finds it appropriate to examine them jointly in a single decision.
12. The applicants complained about the judicial practice, in the context of expropriation proceedings, to order both parties to pay a lump sum to the opposing party in respect of lawyer fees and/or about the depreciation of the expropriation compensation due to the high inflation rates.
13. The Court notes that it has already examined similar complaints in the case of Şahiner v. Turkey ((dec.), no. 42166/15, 11 February 2020) and declared the application inadmissible. The Court reiterates that a total loss below 5% does not constitute an excessive burden upsetting the fair balance to be struck between the general interest of the community and the fundamental rights of the individual (ibid, § 23). The Court sees no reason to adopt a different approach in the present cases.
In view of the above, the Court concludes that these complaints are manifestly ill-founded and must be rejected in accordance with Article 35 §§ 3 and 4 of the Convention.
For these reasons, the Court, unanimously,
Decides to join the applications;
Declares the applications inadmissible.
Done in English and notified in writing on 25 June 2020.
Hasan BakırcıValeriu Griţco
Deputy RegistrarPresident
Appendix
No.
Application no.
Case name
Lodged on
Applicant
Year of Birth
Place of Residence
Nationality
Represented by
1
68103/11
Özturan
v. Turkey
25/08/2011
Refik ÖZTURAN
1946
Antalya
Turkish
Ahmet GÜREL
2
73774/14
Koraş
v. Turkey
13/11/2014
Murat KORAŞ
1954
Karaman
Turkish
Adil AKTAY
3
73793/14
Özçelik
v. Turkey
13/11/2014
Ayse ÖZÇELİK
1940
Karaman
Turkish
Adil AKTAY
4
74076/14
Topak
v. Turkey
20/11/2014
Mustafa TOPAK
1960
Antalya
Turkish
Adil AKTAY
5
74194/14
Keskin
v. Turkey
20/11/2014
Mehmet KESKİN
1956
Karaman
Turkish
Adil AKTAY
6
74281/14
Göker
v. Turkey
20/11/2014
Durdane GÖKER
1973
Karaman
Turkish
Adil AKTAY
7
74304/14
Çetiner and Others v. Turkey
13/11/2014
Gülşen ÇETİNER
1962
Karaman
Turkish
Hüseyin GÖKSU
1960
Mersin
Turkish
Mümün GÖKSU
1964
Mersin
Turkish
Havva GÖKSU
1935
Karaman
Turkish
Sıttıka BOZCU
1954
Karaman
Turkish
Mehmet GÖKSU
1969
Karaman
Turkish
Hikmet GÖKSU
1969
Mersin
Turkish
Adil AKTAY
8
75561/14
Sözen
v. Turkey
29/11/2014
Salim SÖZEN
1968
Konya
Turkish
Adil AKTAY
9
77066/14
Yiğit
v. Turkey
05/12/2014
Kezziban YIĞIT
1955
Karaman
Turkish
Adil AKTAY
10
77437/14
Davranan v. Turkey
09/12/2014
Ali DAVRANAN
1962
Karaman
Turkish
Adil AKTAY
11
78570/14
Toprak
v. Turkey
11/12/2014
Mustafa TOPRAK
1960
Antalya
Turkish
Adil AKTAY
12
945/15
Koraş
v. Turkey
31/12/2014
Sultan KORAŞ
1959
Karaman
Turkish
Adil AKTAY
13
12878/15
Gürbüz
v. Turkey
09/03/2015
Şerife GÜRBÜZ
1934
Karaman
Turkish
Adil AKTAY
14
13124/15
Yıldırım
v. Turkey
09/03/2015
Adil YILDIRIM
1955
Karaman
Turkish
Adil AKTAY
15
18641/15
Aktepe
v. Turkey
15/04/2015
Fatma AKTEPE
1945
Karaman
Turkish
Adil AKTAY
16
18745/15
Sözen
v. Turkey
15/04/2015
Muhsin SÖZEN
1958
Karaman
Turkish
Adil AKTAY
17
20948/15
Karpuz
v. Turkey
25/04/2015
Huseyin KARPUZ
1954
Konya
Turkish
Adil AKTAY
18
21017/15
Göksu
v. Turkey
25/04/2015
Mehmet GÖKSU
1931
Karaman
Turkish
Adil AKTAY
19
22949/15
Kul
v. Turkey
04/05/2015
Mustafa KUL
1953
Karaman
Turkish
Adil AKTAY
20
26258/15
Bozcu
v. Turkey
20/05/2015
Mitat BOZCU
1956
Karaman
Turkish
Adil AKTAY
21
26401/15
Doğan
v. Turkey
20/05/2015
Ali DOĞAN
1958
Karaman
Turkish
Adil AKTAY
22
26732/15
Bozdemir and Ayan v. Turkey
20/05/2015
İlyas BOZDEMİR
1984
Karaman
Turkish
Şerife BOZDEMİR
1965
Karaman
Turkish
Ramazan BOZDEMİR
1985
Karaman
Turkish
Zeliha AYAN
1993
Konya
Turkish
Adil AKTAY
23
26781/15
Toksoy
v. Turkey
20/05/2015
Erkan TOKSOY
1970
Karaman
Turkish
Adil AKTAY
24
27217/15
Asar
v. Turkey
01/06/2015
Mehmet ASAR
1944
Karaman
Turkish
Adil AKTAY
25
27249/15
Bardak
v. Turkey
01/06/2015
Ahmet BARDAK
1934
Karaman
Turkish
Adil AKTAY
26
27254/15
Ay
v. Turkey
01/06/2015
Ali AY
1984
Karaman
Turkish
Adil AKTAY
27
27818/15
Yıldırım
v. Turkey
01/06/2015
Adil YILDIRIM
1955
Karaman
Turkish
Adil AKTAY
28
30764/15
Özçelik
v. Turkey
10/06/2015
Birol ÖZÇELİK
1973
Karaman
Turkish
Adil AKTAY
29
30765/15
Seyrandibi v. Turkey
10/06/2015
Hasan SEYRANDİBİ
1977
Karaman
Turkish
Adil AKTAY
30
31628/15
Sözen
v. Turkey
17/06/2015
Havva SÖZEN
1929
Karaman
Turkish
Adil AKTAY
31
32250/15
Aktepe
v. Turkey
17/06/2015
Nuray AKTEPE
1960
Karaman
Turkish
Adil AKTAY
32
32254/15
Varlı
v. Turkey
17/06/2015
Ali Rıza VARLI
1932
Karaman
Turkish
Adil AKTAY
33
34921/15
Varlı
v. Turkey
11/07/2015
Hamit VARLI
1937
Karaman
Turkish
Adil AKTAY
34
40529/15
Koçaş
v. Turkey
03/08/2015
Sevim KOÇAŞ
1952
Karaman
Turkish
Utku Çağrı AKTAY
35
48489/15
Oflaz
v. Turkey
17/09/2015
Fatma OFLAZ
1950
Karaman
Turkish
Adil AKTAY
36
62670/15
Albayrak and Others v. Turkey
15/12/2015
Nurettin ALBAYRAK
1964
Karaman
Turkish
Gülbahar DEMİREL
1976
Karaman
Turkish
Gülüzar TOPTAŞ
1966
Karaman
Turkish
Cengiz ALBAYRAK
1973
Karaman
Turkish
Ali ALBAYRAK
1979
Karaman
Turkish
Eşşe ALBAYRAK
Karaman
Turkish
Utku Çağrı AKTAY
Full & Egal Universal Law Academy