Top court rules ‘rights violation’ in historical Armenian building

ISTANBUL

The Constitutional Court has ruled that there was a violation of rights for Sansaryan Inn, which was built to meet the educational needs of poor Armenian children and used as the Istanbul Police Department since the state’s seizure in 1930.

According to the decision published in the Official Gazette, the foundation’s charter states that “whoever is the patriarch of the Armenian nation will be the director of the foundation.”

Everyone has property and inheritance rights in Article 35 of the Constitution, these rights can only be limited by law for the purpose of public interest and the use of these rights cannot be contrary to the public interest, the decision stressed.

The building, which was commissioned by architect Hovsep Aznavur and Ağa Mıgırdiç Sanasaryan in 1895, was registered by the Sansaryan Foundation in 1929.

The inn was seized by the Istanbul Special Provincial Administration in 1930. Representing the foundation, Türkiye’s Armenian Patriarchate filed a lawsuit for the cancellation of the title deed and registration in Istanbul in 2011.

The local court rejected the decision on the grounds that the patriarchate “doesn’t have the authority to represent the foundation in the case.”

When the decision became final, the foundation applied to the Constitutional Court on Feb. 21, 2019, alleging that “the right to property was violated due to the non-return of the immovable property of the community foundation.”

The Constitutional Court unanimously decided that the property right was violated and that a retrial should be held.

It was the events that took place during the period when it was used as the building of the Istanbul Police Department that made the inn remembered for its small rooms called “coffins,” where various tortures took place.

The iconic figures of both Türkiye’s left and right-wing such as Nâzım Hikmet, Ahmed Arif, Ruhi Su, Aziz Nesin, Mihri Belli, Alparslan Türkeş, Nihal Atsız and Deniz Gezmiş were arrested and interrogated in this inn.