Ottoman title deed upends 50 years of homes in Istanbul's Beykoz: what to do

About 50 families in 11 buildings on Torun Sokak in Istanbul's Beykoz district have lived there since the 1970s. They built their homes themselves and waited for years for title deeds from the municipality. Now they may lose them. Here is the story, and the legal routes that exist.

1. A lawsuit that started in 1980

The land was once recorded as municipal property. Heirs of Ottoman-era title holders filed their first lawsuit in 1980. The dispute went back to court in 2009.

2. The ruling became final in 2018

The court relied on Ottoman land records and the family tree, and registered the land to the original owners' grandchildren. Residents only found out when they applied for a building registration certificate under the 2018 imar barışı (zoning amnesty).

3. Residents went to the Constitutional Court

After local courts, they filed an individual application with the Constitutional Court (Turkey's top court for rights cases). They argue that decades of actual use were ignored. The Beykoz municipality has tried to mediate, but there is no concrete result yet.

4. Where an Ottoman deed can be checked

If you hold an Ottoman-era deed, start with the Kuyûd-ı Kadîme Archive, run by the land registry directorate, or the Presidential State Archives. Both hold the old records.

5. Old boundaries must be matched to today's maps

Ottoman deeds describe borders in terms like "stream to the north, hill to the west". To use them today, they must be overlaid on current cadastral maps. Licensed surveyors and property law experts prepare the technical expert report.

6. Heirs must prove an unbroken family line

An heir needs an inheritance certificate from a civil court or a notary. The family line must be documented back to the Ottoman-era owner. Then they can file a title cancellation and registration lawsuit at the competent civil court.

7. What residents can still do

Under the Civil Code, 20 years of uninterrupted, undisputed use of land without a deed can create ownership. But this is hard if the land is public property or privately registered. Even if the land goes to the heirs, good-faith builders can claim the current value of their buildings and trees as compensation. The most practical way to avoid eviction is a settlement. Residents can buy their plots from the family, or the municipality can use land swaps or expropriation.

For the families on Torun Sokak, the next word may come from the Constitutional Court.