PROCEDURE

The case originated in an application (no. 45712/99) 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 three Turkish nationals, Mr Adem Dost, Mr Şeker Dost and Mr Osman Cinel (“the applicants”) on 12 November 1998.

The applicants were represented by Mr İbrahim Gemici, a lawyer practising in Istanbul. The Turkish Government (“the Government”) did not designate an Agent for the purposes of the proceedings before the Court.

On 17 June 2004 the Court decided to communicate the application to the Government. In a letter of 22 June 2004, the Court informed the parties that in accordance with Article 29 §§ 1 and 3 of the Convention it would decide on both the admissibility and merits of the application.

THE FACTS

I. THE CIRCUMSTANCES OF THE CASE

The applicants were born in 1956, 1954 and 1955 respectively and live in Munich, Germany.

In 1995 the Sakarya Governor’s office expropriated a plot of land belonging to the applicants. A committee of experts assessed the value of the plot of land and the relevant amount was paid to them when the expropriation took place.

Following the applicants’ request for increased compensation, on 11 September 1997 the Sakarya Civil Court of First-instance awarded them an additional compensation of 865,267,950 Turkish liras (TRL)1 plus interest at the statutory rate running from 12 December 1995, the date on which the title-deed to the land had been transferred to the Sakarya Governor’s Office. In the course of the proceedings, the court conducted on-site visits and requested three expert reports which concluded that the land in question was development land (arsa). In view of a judgment rendered by the Joint Civil Chambers of the Court of Cassation which ruled that the lands within the vicinity of the Sakarya organised industrial zone should be considered as agricultural lands, the court decided that it would not take the three expert reports into account. It therefore relied on a fourth expert report which served as a conciliation report for a calculation of the amount due to the applicants.

The applicants appealed against the judgment of the Sakarya Civil Court of First-instance. In their submissions, the applicants contested the court’s decision to take solely the last expert report into consideration.

On 12 February 1998 the Court of Cassation upheld the judgment of the Sakarya Civil Court of First-instance.

On 1 April 1998 the Sakarya Governor’s Office paid the amount of TRL 1,513,641,0332 to the applicants.

On 26 May 1998 the Court of Cassation rejected the applicants’ request for rectification.