CEDH · PRESS;GENERAL;ENG — 12 février 2004

.s800EAC49 { font-size:12pt } .s5FFF0A77 { margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt; font-size:1pt } .sBB9EE52A { font-family:Arial } .sFE10DC93 { margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt; text-align:center } .s29100277 { font-family:Arial; font-weight:bold } .s40F41F73 { margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt; text-align:right } .s32563E28 { margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt } .s4DDA3AA3 { font-family:Arial; font-weight:bold; font-style:italic } .sCB9E0544 { margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt; text-align:left } .s7ED160F0 { text-decoration:none } .s33165EBA { font-family:Arial; font-size:8pt; vertical-align:super; color:#0069d6 } .s61E420C2 { font-family:Arial; font-variant:small-caps } .s69BE285C { margin-top:0pt; margin-left:85.05pt; margin-bottom:0pt; text-indent:-85.05pt } .s9A223E1B { width:11.03pt; text-indent:0pt; display:inline-block } .s3CED24E9 { width:27.05pt; text-indent:0pt; display:inline-block } .s9F8EB0C0 { width:18.63pt; display:inline-block } .s9E97F54A { width:85.05pt; display:inline-block } .sA36B60A1 { font-family:Arial; font-style:italic } .sF6A12959 { width:33%; height:1px; text-align:left } .s2EB42ED2 { margin-top:0pt; margin-bottom:0pt; font-size:10pt } .s653E6C45 { font-family:Arial; font-size:6.67pt; vertical-align:super; color:#0069d6 }   EUROPEAN COURT OF HUMAN RIGHTS   068 12.2.2004   Press release issued by the Registrar   HEARING DOĞAN AND OTHERS v. TURKEY   The European Court of Human Rights is holding a Chamber hearing today, Thursday 12 February 2004 at 9.30 a.m., on the admissibility and the merits in the case of: Doğan and Others v. Turkey (application   nos. 8803/02 to 8811/02, 8813/02 and 8815/02 to 8819/02).   The applicants   The case concerns applications brought by 15 Turkish nationals – including Abdullah Doğan – who lived in Boydaş, a village in the district of Hozat (province of Tunceli) in south-east Turkey, where they or their fathers owned land and, in some cases, houses.   Summary of the facts   The applicants allege that in October 1994 the State security forces forcibly evicted them from their village, given the disturbances in the region at that time, and also destroyed their property. The applicants moved with their families to Istanbul – or, in the case of Doğan (no.   8803/02), to the village of Muratçık (province of Elazığ) – where they currently live.   Between 1999 and 2001 the applicants filed petitions with the Turkish administrative authorities requesting permission to return to their village and to regain the use of their property. In response to petitions from five of the applicants, submitted in 1999 and 2000, the relevant authorities informed them that their requests would be considered under the “Return to Village and Rehabilitation Project”, a scheme to resettle villagers evicted in the context of clashes between the security forces and suspected terrorists.   In 2001 the applicants filed petitions with the Prime Minister’s office, the State of Emergency Regional Governor’s office and the Tunceli provincial governor’s office, repeating their initial request. In response to their petitions of 2001, three of the applicants received letters from the authorities informing them that any eventual return to Boydaş was prohibited for security reasons. The other applicants received no response. Under section 10(2) of the Administrative Proceedings Act, a petition was deemed to have been rejected in the absence of a reply by the administrative authority within 60 days.   Approximately 1,500 similar applications (in which applicants from south-east Turkey complain about their inability to return to their villages) are currently registered with the European Court of Human Rights. This figure represents 25% of the total number of applications against Turkey.         Complaints   The applicants allege that the Turkish authorities refused to allow them to return to their village, in breach of Articles 1 (obligation to respect human rights), 6 (right to a fair hearing), 7 (no punishment without law), 8 (right to respect for private and family life), 13 (right to an effective remedy), 14 (prohibition of discrimination) and 18 (limitation on use of restrictions on rights) of the European Convention on Human Rights and Article 1 of Protocol No. 1 (protection of property) to the Convention.   Procedure   The applications were lodged with the European Court of Human Rights on 3 December 2001.   Composition of the Court   The case will be heard by a Chamber composed as follows:   Georg Ress (German), President , Ireneu Cabral Barreto (Portuguese), Lucius Caflisch (Swiss) [1] , Pranas Kūris (Lithuanian), Riza Türmen (Turkish), John Hedigan (Irish), Hanne Sophie Greve (Norwegian), judges , Margarita Tsatsa-Nikolovska (Macedonian) , Kristaq Traja (Albanian) , Boštjan Zupančič (Slovenian) , Alvina Gyulumyan (Armenian) , substitute judges , and also Vincent Berger , Section Registrar .   Representatives of the parties   Government :   Şükrü Alpaslan , co-Agent , Burçe Arı , Işık Batmaz Keremoğlu , Jale Kalay , Bekir Sıtkı Dağ , Keziban Kolbaşı Muratçavuşoğlu , Şahin Özyurt , Advisers ;   Applicant :   Mehmet Ali Kırdök , Özcan Kılıç , Hasan Kemal Elban , Counsel , Ebru Kanık , Interpreter .     After the hearing the Court will begin its deliberations, which are held in private. A decision on admissibility, followed if appropriate by a judgment, will be delivered at a later date.   ***   Registry of the European Court of Human Rights F – 67075 Strasbourg Cedex Press contacts:   Roderick Liddell (telephone: +00 33 (0)3 88 41 24 92)   Emma Hellyer (telephone: +00 33 (0)3 90 21 42 15)   Stéphanie Klein (telephone: +00 33 (0)3 88 41 21 54) Fax: +00 33 (0)3 88 41 27 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. Since 1 November 1998 it has sat as a full-time Court composed of an equal number of judges to that of the States party to the Convention. The Court examines the admissibility and merits of applications submitted to it. It sits in Chambers of 7 judges or, in exceptional cases, as a Grand Chamber of 17 judges. The Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe supervises the execution of the Court’s judgments. More detailed information about the Court and its activities can be found on its Internet site. [1] Judge elected in respect of Liechtenstein.