The denial of a legal personality

Turkey denies the Ecumenical Patriarchate a legal personality. This situation creates serious problems with regard to the Patriarchate’s property rights and access to justice: even the building which houses the seat of the Ecumenical Patriarchate is not allowed to be considered as a property of the Patriarchate. In the same vein, ownership of the Büyükada (Pringipos) Orphanage is not recognised by the Turkish courts, following a 2005 ruling and despite the 1902 ownership deed.

The Ecumenical Patriarchate applied to the European Court of Human Rights for this matter. The ECtHR decided in favour of the Ecumenical Patriarchate (8th July 2008), and  ruled –for the first time in such a case and in the corpus of its case-law (another decision followed on 15th July 2010)– that the Turkish government should register anew the Orphanage and its property in the cadastre as owned by the Ecumenical Patriarchate , a ruling which was indeed implemented. The importance of this ECtHR decision lies with the recognition of rights of the Ecumenical Patriarchate, a religious and global institution with no political intentions, protected by both treaty law and international customary law.