ECHR Ruled Turkey had Violated Property Rights

ECHR ruled Tuesday that Turkey had violated the property rights of a Greek Orthodox foundation on the Aegean island of Bozcaada (Tenedos) by seizing its land and ordered the government of Turkey to pay damages.

The ECHR judgment itself is available only in French, but the Court's press release in English can be found here.

A snippet from the Court's press release below:

The Court held unanimously that there had been a violation of Article 1 of Protocol No. 1 (protection of property) of the European Convention on Human Rights, on account of the refusal of the Turkish courts to register the immovable property of the applicant foundation in the land register in its name.

Under Article 41 (just satisfaction) of the Convention, the Court awarded the applicant 100,000 euros (EUR) in respect of pecuniary damage and EUR 5,000 for costs and expenses.

Flamingo birds standing in shallow water

(Click on Image to enlarge)

Flamingos stand in a salt lake in coastal town of Larnaca, some 45 kilometers (28 miles) south of the capital Nicosia, Cyprus, Sunday, March 1, 2009. The salt lake in Larnaca is a popular stopping-point on the migration routes of more than 300 species of birds. (AP Photo/Petros Karadjias)

Deja vu ... Executing Civilians ... Old habits die hard?

(BBC) - Kurdish 'grave sites' to be dug

By Sarah Rainsford
BBC News, Istanbul

A Turkish prosecutor has ordered the digging up of several sites where it is believed the bodies of Kurds killed in the 1990s may have been dumped.

Hundreds of people disappeared at the height of the fighting in the mainly Kurdish south-east.

Human rights lawyers say many were last seen with security forces members.

The Kurdish conflict, which began in the 1980s when insurgents started fighting for a separate Kurdish state, still continues today.

Close to 40,000 people have been killed.

More than 70 families applied to a prosecutor in the town of Silopi after information emerged suggesting the location of their relatives' bodies.

The prosecutor has ordered the excavation of two old well-shafts behind an abandoned roadside restaurant.

Another site to be dug is on the grounds of a storage facility of the Botash oil company.

Human rights lawyers also want to examine parts of a municipal cemetery where they believe a mass grave of the missing could be found.

Missing politicians

Hundreds of Kurdish civilians have been missing, presumed dead, since the height of the Kurdish conflict in the region in the mid-1990s.

Lawyers began pushing for permission to dig certain sites after a former security officer, now in hiding abroad, gave information about the torture and execution of Kurdish civilians.

They were also boosted by the unprecedented arrest of military members, retired and active, in connection with an alleged plot to topple the government.

Several of the men now in custody were in command in the Kurdish conflict region in the 1990s.

The lawyers argue prosecutors should broaden the scope of that coup trial to include a full investigation of the alleged crimes against the Kurds.

Most recently two politicians disappeared in 2001 after they were called for questioning at the local headquarters of the military police.

In that case and others the European Court of Human Rights found Turkey guilty of violating the right to life, but here in Turkey itself the families of the missing have never found justice - or the bodies of their relatives.

Property Talks Drag On

(Cyprus Weekly) - President Christofias and Turkish Cypriot leader Mehmet Ali Talat are going nowhere fast on the complex property issue.

A large question still hangs over this chapter with an apparent inability by the leaders to bridge a fundamental divide on property.

Christofias himself has admitted there are “serious differences” and this week’s three-hour meeting between the two was still bogged down on the criteria to be agreed on to resolve property matters.

“They have been discussing for the last two weeks or so the criteria to define the parameters under which the discussions should continue,” said UN chief of mission Taye-Brook Zerihoun.

“After that they will make a decision whether those discussions will continue in other fora,” he added.

It is understood that Talat wants a property committee established to thrash out thorny problems.
While the Greek Cypriot side’s core argument is the restitution of property rights to refugees, Talat is said to be steering discussions into one of compensation and land swaps rather than uphold the original owner’s right to their home.

UN special envoy Alexander Downer has gathered his own team of experts to help him grasp the complexities of such negotiations.

Since fresh peace talks were launched last September the leaders have met 20 times – including three on property -- in a process turning out to be a test of endurance.

Negotiations will resume next Thursday and after that the leaders have decided to move on to discuss EU-related matters.

Viewing News dated :26/02/2009 18:41:38