PROCEDURE

The case originated in an application (no. 15614/02) 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 Turkish national, Mr Mehmet Tamar, on 2 April 2002.

The applicant was represented before the Court by Mr Y. Baysal, a lawyer practising in Istanbul. In the instant case, the Turkish Government (“the Government”) did not designate an Agent for the purposes of the proceedings before the Court.

On 13 May 2004 the Court decided to communicate the application. Applying Article 29 § 3 of the Convention, it decided to rule on the admissibility and merits of the application at the same time.

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

On 1 November 2004 the Court changed the composition of its Sections (Rule 25 § 1). This case was assigned to the newly composed Second Section (Rule 52 § 1).

THE FACTS

The applicant was born in 1944 and lives in Istanbul.

The applicant and his brother are the only successors of their mother, who died in 1983. The applicant’s mother was the co-owner of certain plots of land in Eminönü, Istanbul. Following her demise, the applicant had conflicts with his brother regarding the distribution of her estate.

On 28 December 1994 the applicant initiated civil proceedings against his brother before the Üsküdar Civil Court and claimed pecuniary damage resulting from the unjust distribution of his mother’s estate.

On 6 March 2003 Üsküdar Civil Court requested the registry records of the title deeds to the land in question from the Eminönü Land Registry.

On 17 December 2003, in order to establish the prevailing market value of the plots, the court appointed a committee of experts to conduct an evaluation study on location and submit reports to the court.

On 6 May 2004 the committee of experts conducted this study and submitted a report to the court.

On 13 May 2004 as the applicant and his brother had reached a settlement, after holding fifty-five hearings, the Üsküdar Civil Court ordered the defendant to pay 500,000,000 Turkish liras to the applicant, together with the interest accruing from 28 December 1994.