Right of way (easement of passage)

The right of way allows the owner of a property with no adequate access to a public road to demand passage over neighbouring land in return for full compensation. Turkish law treats it as a compulsory easement.

The claim is pursued first by agreement and, failing that, through an action before the court where the property lies. The court establishes the passage over the neighbour from whom it can most reasonably be expected in light of prior ownership and road conditions, along the route least damaging to the burdened land. The right is registered as a servitude and passes with the property.

Advance payment of the compensation, measured by the loss in value of the burdened land, is a condition of creation. Where zoning later opens a road, removal of the easement may be sought on the ground that the need for passage has ceased.