ECHR DECISION COULD OPEN FLOOD OF PROPERTY CASES

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 ISTANBUL 000373 SIPDIS E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: PGOV PREL PHUM OSCE GR TU SUBJECT: ECHR DECISION COULD OPEN FLOOD OF PROPERTY CASES This cable is SENSITIVE BUT UNCLASSIFIED, please handle accordingly. ¶1. (U) Summary: The European Court of Human Rights has handed down a ruling against Turkey in a case of property rights for Greek citizens and inherited property in Turkey. The ECHR determined that the confiscation of the Greek citizen's property by the Treasury was illegal not only according to domestic Turkish laws, but also in light of the European Human Rights Convention. The decision is important because it may invite potentially thousands of other applications to the ECHR for cases in which the confiscation of the property of Greek Orthodox Turkish citizens by the Turkish Treasury violated the inheritance rights of Greek citizen relatives. End Summary. ¶2. (U) According to the ECHR judgment issued September 29, 2009, following the death of Greek citizen Polikseni Foka died in 2000, her Greek citizen brothers applied for the rights to her property but did not receive a favorable judgment from the Turkish courts. The brothers then applied to the ECHR in 2002 with the claim that Turkey violated the European Human Rights Convention provision on property rights. According to the ECHR judgment, the brothers further alleged that they had been discriminated against on the basis of their ethnic origins and religious convictions. ¶3. (U) The relevant property consisted of immovable and movable property, particularly three buildings in Istanbul and income from rents, deposits, and valuable documents and deeds. In July 1987, the Istanbul 3rd Civil Court decided that the total of the above-mentioned property would be transferred by way of inheritance to Polikseni Foka, who was later transported by the police to a psychiatric center (where she stayed until her death in 2000.) However, in 1997, 10 years after her entry into the center, the Turkish authorities using decrees from 1964, annulled the 1987 decision by which Foka had inherited the property.. According to these decrees, a Greek national has no right to inherit in Turkey. Additionally, Turkey required that there be reciprocity with the inheritance laws of Greece. Turkey contended the Greek Government applied similar provisions to persons of Turkish origins living in Greece and therefore Turkey could not grant greater property rights to Greek citizens. ¶4. (U) Under the 1997 decision, the property was transferred to the Turkish Treasury, depriving Foka of her income from rent after she had already paid the inheritance tax which was due to the State. The applicant brothers in the case pointed out that the 1964 decrees had been annulled in 1988 and therefore Foka's property was unlawfully confiscated by the Treasury in 1997. The brothers argued to the ECHR that "the confiscation of Foka's property had been illegal, arbitrary, and abusive even under the domestic law of Turkey." The ECHR also affirmed the Greek Government's contention in the case that in Greek law there was no provision prohibiting Turkish citizens from inheriting immovable property in any place or region of Greece, rendering moot Turkey's argument about reciprocity. The ECHR found that there had been a violation of Article 1 of Protocol Number 1 to the European Convention of Human Rights and that there was no need to examine the additional complaints of the applicants regarding discrimination. In the judgment, the court invited Turkey and the applicants to submit, within three months, their written observations on the matter and to notify the Court of any agreement that they may reach. ¶5. (SBU) Kezban Hatemi, a lawyer for the Greek Orthodox Ecumenical Patriarchate, said that there were many other Greek citizens, like the Foka brothers, whose inheritance rights were not accepted by the Turkish judiciary. "Instead of making impartial, bipartisan decisions, they brought the issue to this point because of their prejudice because these people are Greeks or Christians." According to Hatemi, Turkey may face thousands of other cases as there is no statute of limitations for inheritance cases. ¶6. (SBU) Comment: The Greek Orthodox community in Turkey - less than 2,000 by most estimates - has shrunk significantly since 1955 as families moved out of Turkey seeking a more welcoming environment. As many have returned to Greece and obtained full Greek citizenship, such cases may become more common as families battle for inheritance rights. With some exceptions where domestic legal decisions continue, the Turkish authorities generally give effect to the ECHR ISTANBUL 00000373 002 OF 002 decisions. For this reason we think the ECHR decision may cause an upsurge both in the number of similar cases brought to Turkish courts, as well as those that had already passed through the Turkish court system and are now eligible for the ECHR. End Comment. WIENER