Published on 6 April 2021

SECOND SECTION

Application no. 38901/19 Hasan YÃœCEL against Turkey and 3 other applications (see list appended) communicated on 19 March 2021

SUBJECT MATTER OF THE CASE

The applications mainly concern the State authorities ’ disbursement of the applicants ’ retirement bonuses for their terms of service exceeding thirty years in affiliation to the Retirement Fund ( Emekli Sandığı ) and the loss in value of those amounts due to monetary depreciation.

The applicants were retired following their employments of more than thirty years in affiliation to the Retirement Fund. They were paid retirement bonuses in accordance with Article 89 of Law no. 5434 in force at the time, according to which the period after the completion of thirty years of service would not be considered in the calculation of the retirement bonus. In 2014 that provision was repealed by the Turkish Constitutional Court. Subsequently, the applicants filed requests with the Social Security Institution ( Sosyal Sigortalar Kurumu ) for the payment of their retirement bonuses.

Following the rejection of their requests, the applicants lodged actions before the Ankara Administrative Court against the Social Security Institution, requesting the annulment of the administrative decisions and claiming their retirement bonuses for their terms of service exceeding thirty years.

The domestic courts accepted their cases and annulled the administrative decisions. The applicants were paid retirement bonuses calculated on the basis of the coefficients ( katsayı ) in effect on their retirement dates.

The applicants complained before the Turkish Constitutional Court about the loss in value of their retirement bonuses due to the high inflation rates during the periods concerned and the domestic courts ’ failure to adjust the amount on the basis of the consumer price index or the inflation rates.

In 2019 the Turkish Constitutional Court rejected the applicants ’ individual applications for being manifestly ill-founded, without stating anything about the loss in value caused by inflation.

Relying on Article 1 of Protocol No. 1 to the Convention, the applicants complain of the loss in value of their retirement bonuses due to the inflation rates between their retirement dates and the payment dates.

QUESTION TO THE PARTIES

Has there been a violation of the applicants ’ right to peaceful enjoyment of possessions within the meaning of Article 1 of Protocol No. 1 to the Convention, on account of the insufficiency of the interest rate applied to their retirement bonuses vis-à-vis the inflation rates, in the light of the conclusions of the Turkish Constitutional Court in the case of Ferda Yesiltepe , No: 2014/7621, 25 July 2017 (see, mutatis mutandis , Aka v. Turkey , 23 September 1998, Reports of Judgments and Decisions 1998 ‑ VI )?

APPENDIX

No.

Application no.

Case name

Lodged on

Applicant Date of Birth Place of Residence Nationality

Represented by

1.

38901/19

Yücel v. Turkey

24/06/2019

Hasan YÃœCEL 10/10/1952 Ä°zmir Turkish

Abdülaziz D İ KE

2.

41241/19

Düzenli v. Turkey

23/07/2019

Ataman DÃœZENL Ä° 10/08/1951 Ankara Turkish

Önder PERÇ İ N

3.

41418/19

Güngör v. Turkey

10/06/2019

Yusuf GÜNGÖR 08/09/1949 Osmaniye Turkish

4.

41451/19

BozoÄŸlu v. Turkey

23/07/2019

Süleyman BOZOĞLU 13/11/1952 Samsun Turkish

Önder PERÇ İ N