Contracts on Hiring Agricultural 
lands in Turkish Law

Türk Hukukunda Tarım Topraklarının 
Kiralanmasına Dair Sözleşmeler

Mehmet ALTUNKAYA

It is also possible to set up next to the property on rental contracts of agricultural lands. This is closely related to the land law. Agricultural fields constitute the subject of the land law. What is meant by agricultural fields are agricultural fields. Agricultural lands are not only fields where production is already made but have a large scope that covers the lands that can be rendered suitable for agricultural production. These fields are operated; and there are two types of operation as direct and indirect operation. In “direct operation”, the operator is also the owner of the field he operates. The operator operates his own agricultural land. The ideal and desired type of operation is direct operation. However, a decrease occurs in production sources in case the fields are small and stable and the population rate of landless farmers is high in both developed and developing countries, and even in implementing the land reform. For this reason, small farmers need to rent lands in order to maintain their lives and earn their living. Hence, the direct operation of the land has not always been an efficacious system. It was required that the land is operated by someone else even if the operator is not the owner of the land. And this emerged in a different way and this was called indirect operation. In contrast to direct operation, there is a tenancy relationship between the enterprise and the operator rather than an ownership relationship.

Agricultural Fields, Agricultural Lands, Rental Contracts, Hiring Agricultural Lands, Direct Operation, Indirect Operation.

Tarım topraklarının üzerinde mülkiyet yanında kira sözleşmesi kurmak da mümkündür. Bu durum toprak hukukuyla yakından ilgilidir. Toprak hukukunun konusunu, tarım toprakları oluşturmaktadır. Tarım topraklarından kasıt da tarım arazileridir. Tarım arazileri, sadece hali hazırda üretim yapılan alanları değil, tarım üretimine uygun hale getirilebilecek alanları da kapsayıcı nitelikte geniş bir yapıdadır. Bu tür topraklar üzerinde işletmecilik yapılmakta olup, doğrudan ve dolaylı işletmecilik olmak üzere iki türlüdür. “Doğrudan işletmecilik” denildiğinde, işleten aynı zamanda işlettiği toprağın malikidir. İşletmeci kendi tarım arazisini işletmektedir. Arzu edilen ideal işletmecilik şekli, doğrudan işletmeciliktir. Ancak gerek kalkınmış ve gerekse kalkınmakta olan ülkelerde ve hatta toprak reformu yapan yerlerde bile toprak miktarı az ve sabit, topraksız çiftçinin nüfus oranı yüksek olması halinde, üretim kaynaklarında düşüş ortaya çıkmaktadır. Bu sebeple küçük çiftçilerin hayatlarını devam ettirebilmek, geçimlerini sağlayabilmek için toprak kiralamaya ihtiyaçları bulunmaktadır. Bu sebeple toprağın doğrudan işletilmesi her zaman amaca hizmet eden bir sistem olmamıştır. Toprağın maliki olunmasa bile bir başkası tarafından işletilmesine gerek duyulmuştur. Bu da farklı bir şekilde ortaya çıkmış ve buna da dolaylı işletmecilik adı verilmiştir. Dolaylı işletmecilikte doğrudan işletmeciliğin aksine, işletmeyle işletmeci arasında mülkiyet ilişkisi yerine kiracılık ilişkisi mevcuttur.

Tarım Toprakları, Tarım Arazileri, Kira Sözleşmeleri, Tarım Arazilerinin Kiralanması, Doğrudan İşletme, Dolaylı İşletme.

§1. INTRODUCTION

Rental contracts on agricultural lands are closely related to the land law. As is known, agricultural fields constitute the subject of the land law. What is meant by agricultural fields are agricultural fields. Agricultural land is defined as follows in article 3/d of the Soil Protection and Land Use Law No. 5403: “Agricultural land means lands of which soil, topography and climatic conditions are suitable for agricultural production, where agricultural production is already made or that is suitable for making, or the lands which can be made suitable for agricultural production through reconstruction, recovery and improvement.” As is also understood from its definition, agricultural lands are not only fields where production is already made but have a large scope that covers the lands that can be rendered suitable for agricultural production. These fields are operated; and there are two types of operation as direct and indirect operation¹. In “direct operation”, the operator is also the owner of the field he operates². The operator operates his own agricultural land. The ideal and desired type of operation is direct operation. For it is important that everyone operates his own lands, directly contributes to the national economy and that the society has a large producing population. Furthermore, everyone wants to be the owner of the object he dominates. In this sense, the right of ownership is a natural right. However, a decrease occurs in production sources in case the fields are small and stable and the population rate of landless farmers is high in both developed and developing countries, and even in implementing the land reform. For this reason, small farmers need to rent lands in order to maintain their lives and earn their living. Hence, the direct operation of the land has not always been an efficacious system. It was required that the land is operated by someone else even if the operator is not the owner of the land. And this emerged in a different way and this was called indirect operation. In contrast to direct operation, there is a tenancy relationship between the enterprise and the operator rather than an ownership relationship³. The non-owner dominates the agricultural land for the purpose of using and exploiting it. The individual does not claim ownership on the land. The right he has on the land is based on personal right.

Indirect operation exists in two ways, being “tenancy” and “sharecropping”. In “tenancy”, the rental fee is generally paid as money, and sometimes as goods or money or only as goods. As for “sharecropping”, the fee to be paid in return for use or exploiting always consists of a certain share from the product. While the rental fee is predetermined, precise and unchangeable, in “sharecropping”, the product share to be taken by the land owner and responsibilities to be undertaken by the sharecropper are shares and burdens that are always uncertain, variable, unstable, unpredictable and depending on the coincidence⁴.