PROCEDURE

The case originated in an application (no. 41721/04) against the Republic of Turkey lodged with the Court under Article 34 of the Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms (“the Convention”) by a Greek national, Mr Armen Deryan (“the applicant”), on 18 June 2004.

The applicant was represented by Mr Diran Bakar, a lawyer practising in Istanbul. The Turkish Government (“the Government”) were represented by their Agent.

The applicant alleged, in particular, that a set of civil proceedings brought against him for the recovery of goods inherited by him from his predecessor had been unfair and had thus deprived him of his property.

On 28 March 2008 the President of the Second Section decided to give notice of the application to the Government.

The applicant and the Government each filed further written observations (Rule 59 § 1). In addition, third-party comments were received from the Greek Government, who had exercised their right to intervene (Article 36 § 1 of the Convention and Rule 44 § 1 (b) of the Rules of Court). The respondent Government replied to those comments (Rule 44 § 6).

THE FACTS

I. THE CIRCUMSTANCES OF THE CASE

The applicant was born in 1948 and lives in Kallithea-Attaki, Greece.

The applicant is one of the heirs of Mr Serkis Gövderelioğlu, who used to live in Istanbul. On 7 July 1988 Mr Gövderelioğlu purchased movable and immovable goods from the bankrupt estate of a company by way of a public tender.

On 5 February 1996 the sale in question was annulled by a court order on the ground that the instalments had not been paid in time. The decision annulling the sale became final on 3 October 1997 and on 14 November 1997 Mr Gövderelioğlu was requested by the Istanbul Bankruptcy Office to return the purchased goods within seven days. He did not comply with that request.

On 10 August 2000 Mr Gövderelioğlu died.

Due to his non-compliance with the Bankruptcy Office’s order to return the goods, on 5 June 2001 the bankrupt estate of the aforementioned company filed an action against Mr Gövderelioğlu’s heirs, including the applicant, before the Şişli Court of First Instance (hereinafter “the Şişli Court”) for the recovery of the goods or their equivalent value.

A lawyer acting on behalf of the applicant and the other heirs of Mr Gövderelioğlu submitted a petition to the Şişli Court on 3 December 2001, arguing, inter alia, that the case had been lodged outside the statutory time-limit and thus had to be rejected. The lawyer submitted that the statutory one-year time-limit had started to run on 14 November 1997 but that the plaintiffs had not lodged their action until 2001.

On 15 April 2002 three experts appointed by the Şişli Court submitted their opinion on the value of the goods. Two of the experts considered the value to be approximately 245,000 euros (EUR), whereas the third expert considered it to be in the region of EUR 45,000.

On 11 June 2002 the Şişli Court issued an interim decision, rejecting a request to hear two witnesses who, according to the applicant, would have provided pertinent information about the value of the goods in question. The Şişli Court considered that the existence of the expert reports made it unnecessary to hear the applicant’s witnesses.

In its decision of 13 December 2002 the Şişli Court ordered Mr Gövderelioğlu’s heirs to return the goods which were still in their possession and to pay a certain sum of money corresponding to the value of the goods which had been disposed of in the meantime. The amount of money ordered was based on the calculations made by the two experts. The Şişli Court further awarded statutory interest on this amount accruing from 21 November 1997, the original due date for the return of the goods. No response was given by the Şişli Court in its decision to the applicant’s objection concerning the issue of the time-limit.

The applicant appealed against the judgment and argued, inter alia, that the action for recovery should have been dismissed by the Şişli Court as it had been instituted outside the statutory time-limit. He also submitted that the Şişli Court had acted unlawfully by ordering the payment of interest on the amount due, given that no request for interest had been made by the plaintiff. He also added that the Şişli Court had failed to hear the witnesses he had proposed. The applicant asked the Court of Cassation to hold a hearing before rendering its decision.

On 10 July 2003 the Court of Cassation upheld the judgment of the Şişli Court without holding a hearing and without providing any answers to the applicant’s objections.

On 22 December 2003 the Court of Cassation rejected a request by the applicant for rectification of its previous decision.