Inheritance rights of Greek expatriates and properties of the foundations (vakıfs) of the Greek minority

The confiscation, in various ways, of hundreds of individual properties of members of the Greek minority (both those who were Turkish citizens as well as those who were Greek nationals residing in Türkiye) was the direct consequence of the events of 1955 and 1964, with severe implications that reach to the present time.

A typical example is the issue of the inheritance rights of Greek citizens, descendants of expatriates emanating from Constantinople, Imvros and Tenedos, who for several reasons have not acquired or no longer retain the Turkish citizenship. Given that Türkiye, even in the 21st century, does not recognize, in Greek citizens, the right to inheritance, the latter face harsh and unlawful restrictions of their rights to their ancestors' properties in Türkiye. Following individual appeals to the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) in Strasbourg for the recognition of their right to inheritance, as well as requests from the EU in the context of Türkiye 's EU accession negotiations, Greek citizens in question may inherit their ancestors’ properties, but are obliged to dispose of them within one year from their acquisition.

The Turkish Administration, with several arbitrary or ostensibly legal methods, appropriated and continues to appropriate the properties of the non-profit institutions of the Greek minority.

From the 1960s until recently, the Turkish General Directorate of Vakifs, with administrative acts devoid of legal basis, characterized as "occupied" (mazbut) a large number of community institutions and, by taking possession of them, took over the management of all their properties. Furthermore, the Turkish State has not recognized the property acquisition by non-Muslim foundations –by way of either donation or purchase – after 1936. This practice had been taking place through administrative acts until 1974, when a ruling by the Supreme Court of Türkiye (Yargitay) legalized it.

With reference to the case of properties acquired after 1936, the European Court of Human Rights issued a landmark judgement (2007) in favour of the Greek minority High School in Fener, Istanbul, (“Megali tou Genous Scholi / Fener Rum Erkek Lisesi Vakfı”), awarding it compensation for property that, while belonging to it, had been confiscated by the Turkish State.

In the framework of its attempt, as an EU candidate country, to align its legislation with the EU standards, Türkiye conducted, among others, certain amendments to the old 1936 Law on Foundations in 2008. In this regard, the new Law (No 5737/2008) appeared to introduce a major reform towards the settlement of the then outstanding property issues, since it was the first time that the Turkish legislation envisaged the return of confiscated properties to the vakifs from which they had been confiscated. However, the Law allowed only the return of properties that had been declared by the vakifs in 1936 and on the condition that they remained in their actual possession despite their confiscation by the Turkish state, excluding those acquired later. Additionally, it allowed non-Muslim minorities to be represented in the General Directorate of Foundations (GDF), however by only one representative for all. It also provided that the management boards of the non-profit foundations would be elected by the members of the communities, as well as that the management committees would have the right to manage (but not to own) the properties of the foundations.

Until March 2010, applications for the return of 1,410 properties had been submitted. The GDF agreed to return only 96 properties (68 properties to 11 Greek Orthodox vakifs). In this regard, Greece and its EU partners highlighted the shortcomings and the need for additional legislative or administrative measures to resolve those issues for which there was no provision.

With a further amendment of the Law in question, in August 2011, and the addition of a relevant transitional article, the possibility of returning assets or granting compensation for the confiscated assets of non-profit institutions was enhanced. The 17 occupied (mazbut) vakifs were once again excluded from the scope of the Law. However, even after the implementation of the new legal framework, around 23% of requests for property restitution were met, while 70% of requests were rejected as inadmissible.

The restrictions of the property rights of minorities in Türkiye are also noted in the latest Report (2022) of the European Commission on Türkiye, where it is stated that many claims are pending either before Turkish courts or before the European Court of Human Rights , while, at the same time, in the 2016 Progress Report the European Commission  calls on the Turkish government to continue the dialogue with the minorities with a view to finding solutions to these issues . Moreover, due to the unsatisfactory results from the implementation of the vakif law, despite its successive amendments, the European Commission calls on Türkiye to establish a new legal framework with an expanded scope of application.

The exercise of non-profit foundations’ property rights was also restricted following the arbitrary abolition of the regulation for the election of new management boards in 2013. Finally, after the approval of a new regulatory framework in 2022, elections were held, with some problems in specific cases, in most vakifs at the end of 2022. However, the approval of the electoral regulations for the selection of new administrative boards in a certain category of important non-profit institutions (hospitals) is still pending, since the path of discrimination by category of institution was arbitrarily chosen in terms of the adoption of the relevant electoral legislation and the subsequent conduct of elections.