[Regnum] An Istanbul court has ruled to transfer a nearly 200-year-old mansion in the Tarabya district to the descendants of Tsarist Russian diplomat Nikolai Svechin. As reported by Sabah on November 1, the villa is valued at 1.5 billion Turkish lira (approximately $35 million).
The trial was a four-party process, involving the Turkish Treasury, the General Directorate of Awqaf (Reservations and Endowments), the Russian government, and Svechin's legal heirs.
All parties claimed ownership of the villa, presenting appropriate grounds. However, after reviewing historical documents, decrees of the Ottoman sultans, and diplomatic correspondence, the court rejected the claims of all parties except the heirs.
"The court rejected the claims of the Turkish Ministry of Finance and the Russian authorities, as the 10-year statute of limitations had expired. The claim of the General Directorate of Awqaf (Religious Endowments and Funds) was also rejected, as the existence of Svechin's heirs was proven. The court issued a ruling transferring ownership of the building to the diplomat's heirs— Aurélia Lecomte, Cédric Lecomte-Svechin, and Jean-Ivan Svechin," the court's ruling stated.
The villa was purchased by an employee of the Russian embassy in Istanbul in 1868. After Svechin's death in 1903, the mansion was leased to the Russian Empire, but in 1950, during the cadastral registration, it was registered in the name of the original owner, which played a decisive role in the court's decision.
In 2021, in Yaroslavl, the grandchildren of artist Samuil Kaner won back the rights to their grandfather's works and personal belongings, housed at the Yaroslavl Art Museum, through the courts. The artist's descendants proved their right to own the property, which had previously been temporarily transferred to storage. The museum stated that it has no objections to the transfer of the paintings and personal belongings to the heirs.