Turkish Constitutional Court Rules On Difference In Value Between Calculation And Payment Of Expropriation Amounts

The Constitutional Court recently considered a claim alleging violation of property rights under Article 35 of the Turkish Constitution (decision number 2013/4523, dated 16 September 2015). The court held that failing to consider a decrease in value which arises due to inflation between the motion and payment dates is a violation of Constitutional property rights. The court awarded indemnification amounting to the difference in the expropriated property's value between the calculation and payment dates.

In the case at hand, the municipal authority initiated an action on 28 April 2009 to determine and register the expropriation price. The Applicant objected to the unit prices determined by the first instance court. The court did not take these objection into account, ultimately giving a decision regarding payment of the expropriation price to the applicant and cancellation of the registry on 18 January 2012 – around 33 months after the expropriation price was