PROCEDURE

The case originated in an application (no. 43647/98) against the Republic of Turkey lodged with the European Commission of Human Rights (“the Commission”) under former Article 25 of the Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms (“the Convention”) by five Turkish nationals, Fatma Ormancı, Mehmet Ormancı, Gönül Ormancı, Cengiz Ormancı and Bilgen Ormancı (“the applicants”), on 13 July 1998.

The applicants were represented by Mr Dinçer Söğütlü, a lawyer practising in Ankara. The Turkish Government (“the Government”) did not designate an Agent for the purposes of the proceedings before the Convention institutions.

The applicants complained under Article 6 § 1 of the Convention about the length of compensation proceedings.

The application was transmitted to the Court on 1 November 1998, when Protocol No. 11 to the Convention came into force (Article 5 § 2 of Protocol No. 11).

The application was allocated to the Third Section of the Court (Rule 52 § 1 of the Rules of Court). Within that Section, the Chamber that would consider the case (Article 27 § 1 of the Convention) was constituted as provided in Rule 26 § 1.

On 1 November 2001 the Court changed the composition of its Sections (Rule 25 § 1). The case was assigned to the newly composed Third Section.

By a decision of 27 November 2003 the Court declared the application admissible.

The applicants and the Government each filed observations on the merits (Rule 59 § 1).

On 1 November 2004 the case was transferred to the newly composed Second Section.

THE FACTS

I. THE CIRCUMSTANCES OF THE CASE

The applicants were born in 1952, 1979, 1981, 1983 and 1985 respectively and live in Kahramanmaraş.

On 15 April 1991 terrorists raided the applicants' village in Kahramanmaraş and killed the men of the village, including the first applicant's husband and the father of the other applicants, A. O.

On 15 April 1992 the applicants brought an action before the Ankara Administrative Court against the Ministry of Internal Affairs, (hereinafter “the defendant”), claiming a breach of the State's responsibility to protect the life and security of its citizens. They requested the court to award them compensation for pecuniary and non-pecuniary damage in respect of A.O's death.

On 29 April 1992 the case was notified to the defendant.

On 28 May 1992 the defendant submitted its observations to the court. On 16 June 1992 the observations were sent to the applicants.

On 22 June 1992 the applicants submitted their response to the observations of the defendant. On 20 August 1992 the applicants' reply was sent to the defendant.

On 15 September 1992 the defendant submitted additional observations. They were notified to the applicants on 29 September 1992.

On 21 February 1994 the Ankara Administrative Court, after examining the parties' observations, declared itself incompetent ratione loci and sent the case file to the Gaziantep Administrative Court.

On 10 August 1994 the applicants paid an advance on the court fees.

On 22 December 1994 the Gaziantep Administrative Court gave an interim decision in which it requested information from different administrative authorities. The court also appointed an expert to calculate the amount of pecuniary damage the applicants had sustained as a result of the death of A.O.

Between 20 and 28 February 1995 documents requested from the Land Registry, the Elbistan Social Aid, the security forces, the Social Security Institution and the Elbistan District Governor's Office were deposited with the court.

On 7 March 1995 documents concerning the investigations into the killing of the applicant's husband were sent to the court by the Kahramanmaraş Gendarmerie Command.

On 4 April 1995 the court requested the birth records of the Ormancı family from the Elbistan birth registry.

On 5 June 1995 the files pertaining to the birth records of the Ormancı family were submitted to the court.

On 4 September 1995 the case file was sent to an expert.

On 22 September 1995 the expert's report was submitted to the court.

On 10 November 1995 the defendant objected to the report.

On 19 June 1996 the Gaziantep Administrative Court awarded the applicants compensation for non-pecuniary and pecuniary damage together with interest from the date of the action.

On 30 July 1996 the court requested the applicants to pay the fee for the communication of the decision to the parties.

On 27 September 1996 the court was informed that the applicants had paid the necessary fee.

On 9 December 1996 the defendant appealed to the Supreme Administrative Court against the decision of the Gaziantep Administrative Court.

On 13 February 1997 the applicants submitted their observations to the Supreme Administrative Court.

On 28 March 1997 the case file was received by the Supreme Administrative Court. The case was allocated to the 10th Division.

On 10 November 1997 the public prosecutor at the Supreme Administrative Court gave his opinion.

On 10 March 1998 the Supreme Administrative Court upheld the decision of the first-instance court.

The applicants were paid the amount awarded to them on 5 November 1997 and 30 April 1998.