Development and management of private property rights on coastal areas

In Turkey, the coast is defined as the area between the shore line and the shore border line (SBL). The determination of the SBL is important in terms of both designating the boundary of coastal areas on the side of land and indicating the starting boundary of private property. From the perspective of property, it has been adjudged primarily in the Constitution and other related laws and regulations that the coasts are under the sovereignty and at the disposal of the state, that public welfare shall be pursued above all in benefiting from these areas and that all are free and equal to benefit from them. Nevertheless, coasts have become the subject of private property in the absence of Constitutional and legal regulations or before the determination of the SBL. The issue in question is also applicable to the Black Sea boundary of the Artvin Province. SBL detection work, which began with 36.2 km of Artvin shores in 1975, was completed only in 2012. The completion of SBL detection over approximately 40 years has led to the formation of private properties along the coast of the Artvin province. The aim of this study is to detect the property structure and the size and distribution of land use along the coast of the Artvin province using Geographic Information Systems and to provide a new approach for transferring real estate infringing on the SBL to public use. In the conducted research, 209 parcels on the coast were found to infringe on the SBL partially or completely. Furthermore, both public institutions and citizens were determined to have used coastal areas in a way that infringes on the SBL, and there has been a lack of cooperation between the cadastre and the institutions responsible for the determination of the SBL. Lastly, in the transfer process of real estate on the coast to the public, a new approach has been presented regarding the undertaking of public expenses due to the annulment of title deed registries by both the government and the owners of real estate. •Shore border line (SBL) was not taken into consideration during the cadastre work.•The total area of 209 parcels was 84.78 ha, of which 32.46 ha infringes on the SBL.•Majority of the shore infringing parcels (65.6%) are owned by private individuals.