CEDH · PRESS;HEARINGS;ENG — 27 novembre 2007

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TURKEY   The European Court of Human Rights is holding a Chamber hearing today Tuesday, 27 November 2007 at 9 a.m . (local time), in the Human Rights building, Strasbourg, on the merits in the case of Ecumenical Patriarchate (Fener Rum Patrikliği) v. Turkey (application no. 14340/05).   The hearing will be broadcast from 2.30 p.m. on the Court’s Internet site http://www.echr.coe.int .     The applicant   The applicant, the Ecumenical Patriarchate, is a church based in Istanbul. It represents the Orthodox minority in Turkey today.   Summary of the facts   The case concerns a disputed property in respect of which the Turkish authorities annulled the applicant’s ownership rights.   In January 1902 the Ecumenical Patriarchate acquired a property for approximately the equivalent of 353,000   euros   (EUR). The property consisted of a 23,255   m² piece of land on the top of the main hill on the island of Büyükada (Istanbul), on which stood a main five-storey building and a secondary two-storey building. In 1903 a foundation of the Orthodox minority, the “Foundation of the Büyükada Greek Orphanage for Boys” (“the Orphanage”), was given the use of the property. When the Foundations Act entered into force on 13 June 1935 the legal personality of the Orphanage was officially recognised and the property concerned was mentioned in the declaration registered by it in 1936. In 1964, for safety reasons, the Turkish authorities ordered the Orphanage to vacate the premises. The Ecumenical Patriarchate maintains that it took over the ownership and management of the property again that same year.   On 22 January 1997 the Directorate General for Foundations issued a decision excluding the Orphanage from the category of State-run foundations. The decision stated that as the Orphanage had ceased its charitable activities, its governing body had been dismissed and the Directorate General for Foundations had taken over its management. The Orphanage appealed in April 1997 to have that decision set aside, but the administrative courts dismissed the appeal. Another appeal is still pending.   On 16 March 1999 the Directorate General for Foundations took proceedings to have the applicant’s title annulled and the property reregistered in the name of the Orphanage, which it has run since the decision of 22 January 1997. In December 2002 the District Court ordered the disputed property to be registered in the name of the Orphanage, noting, among other things , that the Patriarchate had carried out no maintenance work on the property, which was a historical monument of international importance. The applicant appealed against that judgment, which was set aside by the Court of Cassation in September 2003 for procedural irregularity. In February 2004, however, the District Court again annulled the applicant’s title to the property and ordered it to be registered in the name of the Orphanage.   On 21 October 2004 the Court of Cassation finally upheld the impugned judgment and rejected the Ecumenical Patriarchate’s request for a hearing on the ground that the requisite fees had not been paid. It held that since the declaration registered by the Orphanage in 1936, the property had belonged to the Orphanage and no longer to the applicant. In a judgment of 7 February 2005 the Court of Cassation rejected the application to have the judgment rectified.   Complaints   Relying on Article 14 (prohibition of discrimination) of the European Convention on Human Rights and Article 1 of Protocol No. 1 (protection of property) to the Convention, the applicant alleges that, in ordering its property to be registered in the name of the Orphanage, the Turkish courts violated its right to peaceful enjoyment of its possessions. Also, relying on Article 6 § 1 (right to a fair hearing), the applicant alleges that it was not given a fair trial by the Turkish courts as they committed mistakes of domestic law.   Procedure   The application was lodged with the European Court of Human Rights on 19 April 2005 and declared admissible on 12 June 2007.   Composition of the Court   The case will be heard by a Chamber composed as follows:   Françoise Tulkens (Belgian), President , András Baka (Hungarian), Ireneu Cabral Barreto (Portuguese), Rıza Türmen (Turkish), Mindia Ugrekhelidze (Georgian), Antonella Mularoni (San Marinese) Danutė Jočienė (Lithuanian), judges Vladimiro Zagrebelsky (Italian), Dragoljub Popović (Serbian), substitute judges , and also Françoise Elens-Passos , Deputy Section Registrar .   Representatives of the parties   Government :   Münci Özmen , Co-Agent ,   Metin Hüsrev Ünler , Özlem Gülsün Ergün , Vedia Sirmen , Yaprak Renda , Didem Akpak , Oya Ercil , Baran Avcıoğlu , Abdullah Demir , M. Akif Umay , Mehmet Zeki Adlı , Yusuf Beyazıt , Advisers ;   Applicant :   Ata Sakmar , Nicos C. Alivizatos , Ioannis Ktistakis , Counsel .   Archbishop Demetrios of America, Metropolitan Meliton of Philadelphia, Metropolitan Emmanuel of France, Advisers .     ***   After the hearing the Court will begin its deliberations, which are held in private. Judgment will be delivered at a later date [1] .   Press contacts Emma Hellyer (telephone: 00 33 (0)3 90 21 42 15) Stéphanie Klein (telephone: 00 33 (0)3 88 41 21 54) Tracey Turner-Tretz (telephone: 00 33 (0)3 88 41 35 30) Paramy Chanthalangsy (telephone: 00 33 (0)3 90 21 54 91)   The European Court of Human Rights was set up in Strasbourg by the Council of Europe Member States in 1959 to deal with alleged violations of the 1950 European Convention on Human Rights. [1] This summary by the Registry does not bind the Court.