An arbitration lawyer in Turkey represents a party in arbitral proceedings connected to Turkey, applies to the Turkish courts for interim measures, appointment of arbitrators and annulment of awards, and enforces arbitral awards against assets located in Turkey. Turkish law has two arbitration regimes: the International Arbitration Law, which applies when the dispute has a foreign element and the seat is in Turkey, and the arbitration chapter of the Code of Civil Procedure, which applies to purely domestic disputes. Awards made abroad are enforced in Turkey under the New York Convention, to which Turkey has been a party since 1992.
- Seat in Turkey and a foreign element: the International Arbitration Law applies, and the only remedy against the award is an annulment action filed within 30 days before the regional court of appeal (Bölge Adliye Mahkemesi).
- Purely domestic dispute: the Code of Civil Procedure applies, the annulment action must be filed within one month, and filing it does not by itself stop enforcement.
- Award made in another country: an enforcement action (tenfiz davası) is filed before a Turkish first-instance court under the New York Convention or, outside its scope, under the International Private and Procedural Law Code.
Which law applies: the International Arbitration Law or the Code of Civil Procedure
The choice between the two regimes is made on objective facts, not on the label the parties give the clause. The International Arbitration Law applies to a dispute that has a foreign element and is seated in Turkey, or in which the parties or the tribunal have chosen that Law. Under the Law, a dispute has a foreign element if any one of four situations exists: the parties have their domicile, habitual residence or place of business in different states; the domicile, habitual residence or place of business of one or all parties is in a state other than the seat, the place where a substantial part of the main obligations is to be performed, or the place with which the dispute is most closely connected; a shareholder of a company that is party to the main contract brought foreign capital under the foreign investment legislation, or the contract required loan or security agreements to bring capital from abroad; or the main contract involves a transfer of capital or goods from one country to another.
A Turkish subsidiary of a foreign group, contracting with a Turkish company, may therefore still be in the international regime. Parties cannot, however, move a purely domestic dispute into that regime by choosing it, because the foreign element is a precondition. The classification matters most after the award, since the annulment deadline, the effect of filing on enforcement and the competent court all differ.
Not every dispute can be arbitrated. Disputes concerning rights in rem over immovable property located in Turkey, and disputes that are not subject to the will of the parties, are outside arbitration under both regimes. In practice this excludes family status matters, and Turkish courts have also treated consumer disputes and many individual employment claims as unsuitable for arbitration. Commercial contract, shareholder, construction, distribution, licensing and most investment disputes are arbitrable. Where a contract combines payment obligations with the transfer of title to land, the title registration before the Land Registry (Tapu Müdürlüğü) stays with the courts.
Drafting the arbitration clause and choosing an institution
The International Arbitration Law requires the arbitration agreement to be in writing. The requirement is met by a signed document, by letters, telegrams, telex, fax or electronic messages that record the agreement, by a reference in the main contract to a document that contains an arbitration clause, and where one party relies on the agreement in its statement of claim and the other party does not object in its answer. The agreement is valid if it complies with the law the parties chose for it or, if no choice was made, with Turkish law. An arbitration clause is treated as independent of the main contract, so an argument that the main contract is invalid does not by itself defeat the clause.
A workable clause states the seat, the institution or rules, the number of arbitrators, the language and the law governing the contract. In our practice the clause defects that reach a Turkish court are predictable: a clause that refers disputes both to arbitration and to the exclusive jurisdiction of the Istanbul courts; a clause that names an institution that does not exist or has changed its name; and a tiered clause that requires negotiation or mediation for an undefined period. Each is inexpensive to correct when the contract is drafted and costly to litigate once a dispute arises.
The Istanbul Arbitration Centre (ISTAC) was established by a dedicated statute in 2014, and its arbitration rules entered into force in October 2015. ISTAC rules provide for an emergency arbitrator before the tribunal is constituted and for fast-track arbitration of lower-value claims by a sole arbitrator; the value threshold and time limits are those of the rules in force on the filing date. ICC arbitration is frequently selected for high-value energy, construction and corporate disputes with Turkish parties, seated in Istanbul or abroad, and the ICC Court scrutinises draft awards before they are issued. LCIA and UNCITRAL rules are also used, the latter mainly in ad hoc and investment treaty proceedings. Where the counterparty's assets are in Turkey, the seat also decides whether the award will be enforced as a Turkish award or through a foreign award enforcement action.
How we represent a party once the arbitration starts
The first weeks after a request for arbitration is filed or received decide the procedural course of the case: whether to object to jurisdiction, whether to apply to a Turkish court or an emergency arbitrator for urgent relief, which arbitrator to nominate, and whether the contract's pre-arbitration steps (notice, negotiation, mediation) have been completed. Under the International Arbitration Law, an objection to the tribunal's jurisdiction must be raised at the latest in the first statement of defence, and taking part in the appointment of arbitrators does not waive it; an objection that the tribunal is exceeding its authority must be raised as soon as the issue arises. A challenge to an arbitrator must be made within 30 days of learning of the grounds.
Where a jurisdictional objection is strong, we assess whether to ask the tribunal to decide it in a separate first phase or together with the merits. On the merits, we prepare the case from the documents outward: we index the documents available to the client, identify the documents that prove each element of the claim or defence, plan the document production requests, and identify the gaps that witness or expert evidence must fill.
Expert evidence on quantum, technical matters or foreign law is often decisive. We draft the expert's instructions and review the draft report for consistency with the record and the legal theory of the case before it is filed. When the same dispute is also before a Turkish or foreign court, we coordinate the positions taken in each forum with foreign co-counsel. Each mandate starts with a written assessment of the seat, the governing law, the evidence, the counterparty's assets and the procedural calendar.
Interim measures and support from the Turkish courts
Applying to a court for an interim injunction (ihtiyati tedbir) or a precautionary attachment (ihtiyati haciz), before or during the arbitration, is compatible with the arbitration agreement under the International Arbitration Law. Unless the parties agreed otherwise, the tribunal may also order interim measures and may make them conditional on security, but it cannot order measures that require enforcement by official authorities or that bind third parties. An attachment of bank accounts held by a third-party bank is therefore a matter for the court. If a party does not comply with a measure ordered by the tribunal, the other party may ask the court for assistance. These provisions on interim measures and on the arbitration objection apply even when the seat of arbitration is outside Turkey.
Court-ordered measures lapse automatically when the award becomes enforceable or the tribunal dismisses the claim. Where the seat is in Turkey and the measure was obtained before the arbitration began, the applicant must commence the arbitration within 30 days, or the measure lapses automatically. In filings we handle before the commercial courts, the application is supported by the arbitration agreement, documents showing the claim, and specific evidence of the risk to assets or evidence, because a general statement of urgency is rarely enough.
If a party fails to appoint its arbitrator within 30 days of a request, or the two party-appointed arbitrators cannot agree on the chair within 30 days, the court appoints on request, and its decision is final. The tribunal may ask the court for help in taking evidence. If one party sues in court despite the arbitration agreement, the other party raises the arbitration objection as a preliminary objection under the Code of Civil Procedure, and if it is accepted the court dismisses the case on procedural grounds. These tasks belong to the civil or commercial court of first instance at the respondent's domicile, habitual residence or place of business in Turkey, or to the Istanbul courts if there is none.
Setting aside an award made in Turkey
For an international award seated in Turkey, the annulment action is the only remedy. It is filed before the regional court of appeal that supervises the competent first-instance court within 30 days of notification of the award or of a decision on correction, interpretation or an additional award. Filing the action automatically stops enforcement of the award. The applicant must prove one of the grounds listed in the International Arbitration Law: incapacity of a party or invalidity of the arbitration agreement; irregular appointment of the arbitrators; an award rendered after the arbitration period expired; a wrong decision on jurisdiction, a decision beyond the scope of the agreement or a failure to decide the whole claim; or a procedural irregularity that affected the merits, including a failure to treat the parties equally. The court examines of its own motion whether the dispute was arbitrable under Turkish law and whether the award violates public policy. The judgment may be appealed to the Court of Cassation (Yargıtay). When the deadline passes without an action, the parties waive the action, or the dismissal becomes final, the court annotates the award as enforceable.
For a domestic award under the Code of Civil Procedure, the annulment action must be filed within one month of notification of the award or of a correction, interpretation or completion decision, on an exhaustive list of grounds that also includes non-arbitrability and public policy. Filing does not stop enforcement; the court may stay enforcement on request if security equal to the amount awarded is provided. The Code assigns the action to the regional court of appeal at the seat, but at least one Court of Cassation decision sent a commercial case to the first-instance commercial court, so the forum is checked for each file before filing. Practice may vary by authority and year.
Neither regime allows the court to review the merits. The Court of Cassation has held that applying the wrong law is not in itself a ground for annulment. A party defending an award therefore shows that the objection was not raised during the arbitration, that the irregularity had no effect on the outcome, or that the ground advanced is a merits complaint presented as a procedural one.
Enforcing a foreign arbitral award in Turkey
Turkey acceded to the New York Convention in 1992 with two declarations: it applies the Convention on the basis of reciprocity, only to awards made in the territory of another contracting state, and only to disputes arising from legal relationships that Turkish law treats as commercial. Awards outside that scope are enforced under the International Private and Procedural Law Code. The award creditor files an enforcement action (tenfiz davası) before the court of the place agreed in writing by the parties or, failing that, the court of the debtor's domicile in Turkey, then the place where the debtor resides, then the place where assets subject to enforcement are located. The court does not re-examine the merits. Enforcement may be refused only on limited grounds: incapacity of a party or invalidity of the agreement, lack of proper notice or of an opportunity to present the case, an award beyond the scope of the submission, a tribunal or procedure not in accordance with the agreement, an award that is not yet binding or has been set aside at the seat, non-arbitrability under Turkish law, and public policy. The procedural steps are set out in our article on enforcing foreign awards in Turkey.
The standard document set includes the original or a certified copy of the award and of the arbitration agreement, an apostille or consular legalisation depending on the issuing state, and certified Turkish translations of both. The award must be final and binding under the law of the seat, and a power of attorney signed abroad is notarised and apostilled before it is used in Turkey. A foreign applicant may be asked to provide security for costs (cautio judicatum solvi) unless a treaty or reciprocity exempts it. In the files we handle, delays come more often from documents than from the legal grounds: an incomplete translation, a certification the court does not accept, or a power of attorney that does not cover enforcement proceedings.
Once the enforcement decision is final, the award is executed through the enforcement office (İcra Dairesi) under the Enforcement and Bankruptcy Law. Bank accounts, receivables, real estate registered with the Land Registry and company shares are attached through different procedures, so we map the debtor's Turkish assets before the enforcement action is filed. The mechanics of attachment are explained in our article on enforcement proceedings in Turkey and on our enforcement and bankruptcy law page.
Construction, energy and investment arbitration
Construction disputes generate a large share of the arbitrations involving Turkish parties: extension of time and prolongation costs, disruption, variations, defective work and final account disagreements under EPC and turnkey contracts. The outcome often turns on the delay analysis method the expert chooses, such as time impact analysis, as-planned versus as-built comparison or windows analysis, and on how that method is defended under cross-examination.
Disputes between foreign investors and the Turkish State may be brought under bilateral investment treaties or the Energy Charter Treaty, usually under ICSID or UNCITRAL rules. Threshold questions come first: whether the claimant qualifies as an investor, whether the asset is a protected investment, whether cooling-off or local litigation requirements apply, and whether the complaint is a treaty claim or a contract claim. Parallel proceedings before the Turkish courts are covered in our article on commercial litigation in Turkey.
ER&GUN&ER Law Firm acts for Turkish and foreign parties as claimant or respondent in ISTAC, ICC, LCIA and UNCITRAL arbitrations, in court applications for interim measures and annulment, and in enforcement actions for foreign awards. Related commercial matters are handled by our business and commercial law team, and an overview of our practice areas is on the lawyers in Turkey page.
Frequently asked questions
- Which law governs an arbitration seated in Turkey? If the dispute has a foreign element, such as parties based in different countries or a cross-border transfer of goods or capital, the International Arbitration Law applies. A purely domestic dispute is governed by the arbitration chapter of the Code of Civil Procedure.
- Is an arbitration clause agreed by email valid in Turkey? Yes. The International Arbitration Law treats the written form as satisfied by letters, fax or electronic messages that record the agreement, as well as by a signed document or a reference to a document containing an arbitration clause.
- How long does the tribunal have to issue the award? Under the International Arbitration Law, unless the parties agreed otherwise, a sole arbitrator must decide within one year of appointment and a panel within one year of the minutes of its first meeting. The period can be extended by agreement or, failing agreement, by the court.
- What is the deadline to challenge an award made in Turkey? For an international award, 30 days from notification of the award or of a correction, interpretation or additional award. For a domestic award, one month. After the deadline the award can no longer be annulled.
- Does an annulment action stop enforcement of the award? For an international award, filing the action stops enforcement automatically. For a domestic award, it does not; enforcement is stayed only on request and against security equal to the amount awarded.
- Can a foreign arbitral award be enforced in Turkey? Yes, through an enforcement action before a Turkish court. The court does not review the merits and may refuse enforcement only on the limited grounds in the New York Convention, including invalidity of the agreement, lack of a fair hearing and public policy.
- Can a Turkish court order interim measures if the arbitration is seated abroad? Yes. The provisions of the International Arbitration Law on interim measures and on the arbitration objection apply even when the seat of arbitration is outside Turkey.
Author: Av. Mirkan Günay Topcu, Managing Partner, ER&GUN&ER Law Firm, Istanbul Bar No. 67874. His practice covers arbitration, commercial disputes and cross-border enforcement for foreign clients. He graduated from Istanbul University Faculty of Law in 2018 and completed an LL.M. at Galatasaray University in 2022. Profile · LinkedIn
