DETERMINATION OF THE SAME PERSON

People occasionally experience hardship due to discrepancies in official records. In some cases, Civil Registry Offices are inadequate and lack the authority to resolve this issue. In such cases, individuals must apply to the courts for a determination of the grievance.

Determination of the same person occurs in two ways in our legal system.
1. There is a discrepancy in the population or land registry records,
2. If the person is a citizen of a different country, it may be necessary to determine that they are the same person.
According to the first paragraph of Article 36 of the Turkish Civil Code No. 4721, personal status is determined by the official register kept for this purpose. According to Article 39 of the same code and the first paragraph of Article 35 of the Civil Services Law No. 5490, no record in the civil registry may be corrected without a final court decision, and no annotations may be added that would alter the meaning or information contained in the records. However, any material errors made during the registration of events in the family registry are corrected by the civil registry office in accordance with the supporting document. Record correction is the correction or amendment of a portion of the record already recorded in the family registry. A court order is required to correct inaccurate records in the civil registry.
A. WHO CAN FILE THIS LAWSUIT?
A person may file a lawsuit to establish the identity of the same person for themselves, or they may file a lawsuit against another person if they have an interest in doing so. For example, if a person is deprived of their right to inherit due to a discrepancy in civil registry records, a lawsuit may be filed to establish that the deceased is the same person.
 It cannot be enforced before it is finalized.

B. IS THIS LAWSUIT SUBJECT TO THE STATUTE OF LIMITATIONS AND LIMITATIONS OF LIMITATIONS?
Civil record correction or population determination lawsuits are not subject to any statute of limitations or liminations of rights.
• Jurisdiction: The Civil Court of First Instance.
• Competent Court: The court of the plaintiff's place of residence.
• Defendant: The Civil Registry Office.
• Case Type: Correction of other population records.
• Special Power of Attorney: To file a lawsuit for age correction, name correction, or correction of population records, or to have a determination made (…)
• A lawsuit is filed requesting the determination that the person is the same, name correction, mother and father's name correction, or age correction.

Y. 8. HD. 2017/2322 E. 2017/7775K. May 25, 2017, T.
“The petition requested a ruling that there were discrepancies between the civil registry records of the plaintiffs, who are both citizens of .... and under their custody, and that the children registered in both countries were the same person. Following the court's review of the case, the court dismissed the case on procedural grounds on the grounds that the plaintiffs lacked legal standing to file a lawsuit. The plaintiffs' attorney appealed the ruling.

Acknowledging that if the records of the Republic of Turkey and Libya differ and if the rights granted by dual citizenship are impossible or restricted due to the differing records, the court should have investigated the merits of the matter, investigated whether the individuals in the civil registry records of both countries were the same person, and rendered a decision based on the results, the dismissal of the case on procedural grounds was deemed inappropriate due to incomplete and insufficient investigation. Consequently, the plaintiffs' attorney's appeals were accepted.

Y. 8. HD. 2018/11926 E. 2021/2400 K. March 17, 2021 T.
“According to the statement of claim, the case concerns the determination that the person listed in the civil registry of the Syrian Arab Republic, where almost all of the procedures related to civil registry events (marriage, registration of children born from marriage, etc.) took place, is the same person as the person who only has a civil registry record but no civil registry event in the Republic of Turkey. Because cases concerning the correction of civil registry records and the establishment of civil registry records are closely related to public order, courts are obligated to create accurate records without any doubt or hesitation.

In this regard, the judge has the authority to collect evidence on his own initiative, as a result of the principle of ex officio investigation. The purpose of the lawsuit is clearly to ensure that the plaintiff, a citizen of the Republic of Turkey, can exercise the rights of his children, based on the civil registry records in Syria, through the court's decision. He will also have the right to register his civil registry events (marriage, children, spouse, etc.) in the civil registry. Furthermore, two The determination that the applicant is the same person due to differences in the country's population records will contribute to resolving obstacles to both property rights and social life in both countries.

In this case, the Regional Court of Justice should rule in accordance with the principles accepted for correcting the population records and for establishing population record cases, taking into account the plaintiff's legal interest in filing a lawsuit, in accordance with the above-mentioned qualification of the case.

STJ. ATTORNEY ECENUR ÖZALP
U&T Law - U&T Law and Consulting