Hopes for confiscated assets in Syria fails

Dinçer Gökçe ISTANBUL / Hürriyet

A total of 468 million square meters worth land, a number of ranches and agricultural vehicles that belong Turks were seized by Syria in 1958.

Some Turkish citizens, whose assets in Syria were confiscated by the Syrian government in 1958, are clearing the deck for applying to ECHR after the Turkish Finance Ministry said the civil war in the country made rendering payments impossible.

The Turkish Ombudsman’s Office had advised the ministry to pay the inheritors of the owners of a total of 468 million square meters worth land, a number of ranches and agricultural vehicles in Syria.

However, the ministry declared it could not make the payments, on account of the current troubled conditions in Syria and lack of clear information regarding the properties. The Council of State had ruled the Finance Ministry was in the wrong in a previous suit filed by one of the owners, M. Sait Reşa.

Some of the families are talking with the political parties to be able to put the issue on the Parliament’s agenda, while some say they will apply to the European court of Human Rights (ECHR). According to official records, there are around 3,800 Turkish citizens whose properties were seized. Turkish pop singer Mirkelam and Turkish author and poet Cahit Sıtkı Tarancı.