State’s Liability for any Losses Arising from the Maintenance of the Land Register Under the Turkish Civil Code and the Problem of Period of Limitations in Actions for Damages Against State

Article 1007 of the Turkish Civil Code no. 4721 provides that the State is liable for any loss arising from the maintenance of the land register. Since the State is the only responsible body for maintaining the land register, the principles of trust in and publicity of the land register require the State to have the correct entries and in good order, otherwise the State will be liable for all losses sustained by victims of incorrect entries. The State’s liability for damages in connection with the land register is characterised as strict liability under Turkish Code of Obligations (TCO), then limitations periods in article 72 of the TCO would be applicable to the victims’ right to sue. However, the start of two-year and ten-year limitation periods in the article in question does not fit well in the characteristics of the actions for damages for incorrect land registers. This gives rise to not only a difference of opinion in the literature but also conflicting decisions issued by the Court of Cassation. By considering when limitations periods in article 72 of the TCO start to run and as held by the Court of Cassation in some cases, whether it is more suited to actions for damages against State to apply the ten-year limitation period in article 146 of the TCO instead of article 72, this article makes its own recommendations.