Abstract:

Non-Muslım foundations - also called minority foundations- are quite different from the foundations mentioned in the Turkish Civil Law. In the Ottoman Empire period the foundations which raised by sultan’s imperial edict has not got foundation settlement deed as the other foundations make diffucult to enter an estate at the register of deeds Office. These foundations, which were not recognized as legal entities until 1912, gained importance in signing the Treaty of Lausanne in the Republican period and pledging that Turkey would expand minority rights. Under the Foundations Law of 1935, it was ensured that the realproperty’s of non-Muslim foundations could be registered in the land register. Several amendments have been made to the Foundation Law in the process of harmonization to the European Union, but a new Law on Foundations was enacted in 2008 in view of the insufficiency of the amendments. Even though the regulation included the recording of the registered properties that have been at their disposal on the specified dates and under certain circumstances, it has found a wide response to the public.

Keywords: