Heirs file first lawsuit over Ottoman-era land on Torun Sokak, Beykoz

Around 1980, heirs of people who held land under Ottoman-era title deeds filed the first lawsuit over a plot on Torun Sokak, a street in Beykoz, on the Asian side of Istanbul. At the time the land was recorded as municipal property, meaning it was held by the local authority.

The heirs argued that their ancestors' old deeds, issued before the Republic was founded in 1923, still proved their ownership and that the later municipal registration was not valid. The case challenged the modern land registry (the tapu system) by setting it against older Ottoman records.

The lawsuit mattered because it opened a dispute that would continue for decades. Homes were built and sold on the land in the following years, with buyers relying on the official registry. The 1980 filing is now seen as the starting point of the claims that later put the ownership of many Beykoz properties in doubt.

The exact filing date is given here only approximately, and the outcome of this first case is not covered in this entry.