SECOND SECTION
DECISION
Application no. 77527/14
Salim TEKER and Others against Turkey
and 4 other applications
(see appended table)
The European Court of Human Rights (Second Section), sitting on 14 May 2020 as a Committee composed of:
Ivana Jelić, President,
Arnfinn Bårdsen,
Darian Pavli, judges,
and Liv Tigerstedt, Acting Deputy Section Registrar,
Having regard to the above applications lodged on the various dates indicated in the appended table,
Having regard to the formal declarations accepting a friendly settlement of the cases,
Having deliberated, decides as follows:
FACTS AND PROCEDURE
The list of applicants is set out in the appended table.
The applicants were represented by Mr A. Aktay, a lawyer practising in Mersin.
The applicants’ complaints under Article 1 of Protocol No. 1 to the Convention and Article 6 of the Convention, concerning a judicial practice of the civil courts, in the context of expropriation proceedings, to order the parties to pay a lump sum to the opposing party in respect of legal fees and the failure to apply interest to the compensation amounts which they award, were communicated to the Turkish Government (“the Government”).
In their observations, the Government informed the Court that Abdullah Teker, one of the applicants in the application no.77527/14, had died on 2 May 2016 and requested the Court to strike out his application. On 17 July 2019 the Court received a letter from the said applicant’s representative informing the Court that he had not been able to reach the applicant’s heirs so as to provide a certificate of inheritance and an authority form.
As for the remainder of the applications, the Court received friendly-settlement declarations signed by the parties under which the applicants agreed to waive any further claims against Turkey in respect of the facts giving rise to these applications, subject to an undertaking by the Government to pay them the amounts detailed in the appended table to cover any pecuniary and non-pecuniary damage as well as costs and expenses, plus any taxes that may be applicable. For the amounts indicated in Turkish liras (“TRY”), statutory interest shall run from the calculation date (1 June 2019) until the payment date. These amounts 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 this sum within the said three-month period, the Government undertook to pay simple interest on it, from the 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 LAW
Having regard to the similar subject matter of the applications, the Court finds it appropriate to examine them jointly in a single decision.
As concerns the complaints lodged by Mr Abdullah Teker, the Court notes that he died on 2 May 2016 and that no heirs have presented themselves to pursue his complaints. In view of this, and in the absence of any special circumstances regarding respect for the rights guaranteed by the Convention and the Protocols thereto, the Court, in accordance with Article 37 § 1 (a) of the Convention, considers that it is no longer justified to continue the examination of the part of application no. 77527/14 lodged by Mr Abdullah Teker.
As for the remainder of the applications, the Court 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 the Protocols thereto and finds no reasons to justify a continued examination of the applications.
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 part of application no. 77527/14 introduced by Mr Abdullah Teker out of its list of cases in accordance with Article 37 § 1 (a) of the Convention;
Decides to strike the remainder applications out of its list of cases in accordance with Article 39 of the Convention.
Done in English and notified in writing on 4 June 2020.
Liv TigerstedtIvana Jelić
Acting Deputy RegistrarPresident
APPENDIX
List of applications raising complaints under Article 1 of Protocol No.1 to the Convention and Article 6 of the Convention
No.
Application no.
Date of introduction
Applicant’s name
Date of birth
Date of receipt of Government’s declaration
Date of receipt of Applicant’s declaration
Amount awarded for pecuniary and non-pecuniary damage and costs and expenses per applicant unless
indicated “jointly”
(in TRY)[1]
77527/14
09/12/2014
(7 applicants)
Salim TEKER
01/02/1965
Asiye DEVECİ
01/02/1965
Havva ÖZÇELİK
02/12/1952
Fadime ÇOĞALAN
10/01/1951
Hatice ÜNAL
10/02/1978
Mehmet TEKER
05/01/1955
-----------------------------------
Abdullah TEKER
10/01/1967
(deceased on 02/05/2016 – no heirs)
14/01/2020
11/02/2020
3,723 jointly
(except for the deceased applicant)
25839/15
20/05/2015
(6 applicants)
Necati ALTUNAY
22/10/1957
Emine ALTUNAY
16/09/1933
Fatma DÜZENLİ
26/11/1958
Ummahan BAŞCI
15/05/1963
Hüseyin ALTUNAY
14/10/1970
Ali ALTUNAY
15/05/1954
14/01/2020
11/02/2020
2,819 jointly
26309/15
20/05/2015
Mehmet BAYINDIR
15/02/1944
12/11/2019
11/02/2020
3,669
27716/15
01/06/2015
Mehmet AKTEPE
15/07/1938
12/11/2019
11/02/2020
12,596
61382/15
02/12/2015
(3 applicants)
Ayşe BAŞCI
12/02/1931
Ayşe GÜLEÇ
01/05/1949
Fadime OSMA
10/05/1952
12/11/2019
11/02/2020
2,402 jointly
[1] Plus any tax that may be chargeable to the applicants.
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