Confiscation and right to property within the decisions of the European Court Of Human Rights and the Constitutional Court of Turkey

The processes carried out by states, such as expropriation, nationalization, confiscation, seizure, and taxation, for the purpose of the public interest, are actions taken concerning the right to property. Due to the implementation of these processes, individual applications are made to the European Court of Human Rights and the Constitutional Court on the grounds that the right to property is violated. In our study, we examined the impact of the confiscation penalty, which is a criminal law sanction, on the fundamental right to property, with a focus on the decisions of the European Court of Human Rights and the Constitutional Court. We attempted to determine under what circumstances the confiscation penalty is disproportionate based on evaluations made by the Courts as a result of individual applications claiming a violation of the right to property due to interventions in property rights. Additionally, we aimed to identify the situations in which confiscation or seizure sanctions are applied in the public interest, proportionate, and feasible. In line with the objectives of our study, in the first section, we initially addressed the right to property, examining how it has been regulated and safeguarded in legal texts from ancient times to the present. We emphasized that this right, which grants its holder the broadest powers, cannot be exercised without limitations or arbitrarily, and can be restricted by states, provided that the conditions specified in the laws are met when necessary. In the second section, we discussed the confiscation sanction established as a security measure in the Turkish Penal Code. We focused on the purpose of this sanction, the various forms of confiscation, including property and profit confiscation, the conditions for its application, the decision-making authorities, the confiscation proceedings, and compared this institution with similar ones. In the third and final section, we examined individual applications made to the European Court of Human Rights and the Constitutional Court concerning violations of the right to property. We explored the methods they followed in assessing these applications, considering interventions in terms of legality, legitimate purpose, and proportionality principles. Finally, we provided examples of court decisions in cases where applications were made claiming a violation of the right to property due to the sanctions imposed.