The Problem of property rights infringement through annulment decisions in forest areas

Abstract

Both in the world and in Turkey the boundaries and possessions of forestlands and all other premises are conducted through land surveying and the premises land surveyed are secured through recording to land register. However, land surveying and property identifying of all forestlands and premises have not been completed and recorded to land register in Turkey yet. In this study, whether opening land actions for annulment against the registered lands which remains within the forest boundaries, and the cancellation of those title deeds without any compensation is a violation of right to property or not was examined, evaluated, and discussed in the framework of Turkish Legal System, the European Convention on Human Rights and the European Court of Human Rights decisions, and some results have been obtained in this regard. It was found out in the high court decisions given in recent years that a certain amount of compensation should be given for the title deeds canceled on the grounds that they remained within the forest boundaries. Moreover, it can be seen that the citizens' seeking compensation from the state or applying to the ECHR has been minimized through not cancelling the title deeds with the recent legislative changes.