PROCEDURE

The case originated in an application (no 70516/01) 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 five Turkish nationals, Mr Ahmet Dağtekin, Mr Mahmut Dağtekin, Mr Bozan Dağtekin, Mr Abdo Demir and Mr Abdulkadir Fırat (“the applicants”), on 15 May 2001.

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

On 12 December 2005 the Court decided to give notice of the application to the Government. Under the provisions of Article 29 § 3 of the Convention, it decided to examine the merits of the application at the same time as its admissibility.

THE FACTS

I. THE CIRCUMSTANCES OF THE CASE

The applicants were born in 1960, 1955, 1948, 1942 and 1958 respectively and live in Şanlıurfa.

On 22 November 1984 Law no. 3083 came into force. Article 5 of this law provided the possibility of leasing State land to farmers who were in need and who fulfilled certain eligibility criteria (“right holders”). In particular, Article 24 § 1 of Law no. 3083 provided that those who had been convicted of certain offences were not entitled to benefit from this law (see paragraph 16 below).

Following the promulgation of Law no. 3083, the applicants applied to the Commission that was responsible for the determination of farmers who were eligible to be right holders under the Law in question and requested to be provided with land in Ceylanpınar in the south-east of Turkey. They were subsequently identified as right holders and leased land from the Directorate General for Agricultural Reform (Tarım Reformu Genel Müdürlüğü) (“the Directorate General”) for an indefinite period on payment of a rent. The applicants earned their living by cultivating these fields.

On 25 March 1997, after conducting a “security investigation”, the Directorate General annulled the right holder status of the applicants.

On 2 May 1997 the applicants lodged separate cases with the Gaziantep Administrative Court and requested that the decision of 25 March 1997 be annulled. They maintained that they had paid their rent periodically until 1997. They also contended that there was no valid reason to terminate their lease contract. They maintained in this connection that although criminal proceedings had been initiated against them in the eighties for being members of an illegal organisation, namely the PKK (the Kurdistan Workers' Party), they had all been acquitted of the charges against them.

On 29 May 1997 the Gaziantep Administrative Court requested the Directorate General to submit the documents in respect of the decision dated 25 March 1997.

On 5 September 1997 the Gaziantep Administrative Court ordered the Directorate General once again to submit further information and the documents in relation to the security considerations of the administration.

On 4 November 1997 the Directorate General replied that the Minister of Agriculture had refrained from submitting these documents as they concerned the security of the State. In this respect, they relied on Article 20 § 3 of the Law on Administrative Procedure. The observations of the Directorate General were communicated to the applicants on 13 October 1997, 10 December 1997, 15 December 1997 and 19 December 1997 respectively. According to the Government, the applicants did not submit any observations in reply.

On 24 February 1998 the Gaziantep Administrative Court dismissed the applicants' cases. The court held that the decision dated 25 March 1997 which annulled the applicants' right holder status and the refusal of the Directorate General to submit the relevant documents had been in accordance with the domestic legislation. A member of the Gaziantep Administrative Court dissented from the judgments of the court, arguing that the administrative authorities had failed to demonstrate the reason for the annulment of the right holder status of the applicants.

The applicants appealed.

On 10 November 2000, 14 September 2000, 26 October 2000, 10 November 2000 and 16 November 2000 respectively the Supreme Administrative Court upheld the judgments of the Gaziantep Administrative Court.

The first applicant was notified of the decision of the Supreme Administrative Court on 25 January 2001, the second applicant on 1 November 2000, and the remaining applicants on 22 December 2000.