by christos1 » Sun Mar 08, 2009 6:02 pm
ECHR finds Turkey guilty on the Greek orphanage case
Turkish Daily News newspaper (10.07.08) reported the following:
The European Court of Human Rights, or ECHR, Tuesday found Turkey at
fault in the court case the Fener Greek Patriarchate filed regarding
the ownership of an orphanage on the biggest of Istanbul's Prince's
Islands, Buyukada. The ECHR adjudicated that Turkey has violated
Article 1 of the First Protocol of European Convention of Human Rights.
The ECHR's verdict over monetary indemnities will come at a later date.
Turkey has the option to appeal the verdict and take the case to the
Grand Chamber. During the Nov. 27, 2007 hearing in the ECHR, the
Turkish government's lawyer had said, The property that has become the
subject of conflict was allocated as a Greek orphanage in 1902 and that
the ownership belonged to the Orphanage Foundation. He had added that
the view that the Patriarchate claims ownership rights to the orphanage
by its own will and for a temporary period was not correct. He had
said, The Patriarchate has never been the user or proprietor of the
property in question. The application will prove to be void and should
be refused when it is taken into consideration that properties
allocated to foundations or charitable organizations cannot be used
outside their allocation purposes or as private properties. The
Patriarchate's lawyer on the other hand, had said the issue should not
be seen solely as a property issue but that it was also a violation of
rights against minorities. He had said that the property on Buyukada
that belongs to the Greek Orphanage Foundation was in fact a property
of the Patriarchate and that the Foundations General Directorate that
has taken a decision to the contrary had been mistaken. In its
application to the court, the Patriarchate had claimed that a violation
of human rights took place by giving the property it owned to someone
else and that this violated Article 1 of the European Convention of
Human Rights' First Protocol.