Eti Mah. Toros Sok. No: 15/5, Hikmet Ünal Business Centre, 06570 Çankaya / Ankara, Türkiye
Practice area
Debt recovery for creditors and protection for debtors in enforcement and insolvency proceedings.
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Türkiye’s Enforcement and Bankruptcy Law allows a creditor to start enforcement without first obtaining a judgment. Proceedings are fast but formal: a missed seven-day objection period or a wrongly chosen procedure can decide the outcome.
We act for banks, companies and foreign creditors in debt recovery, and for debtors facing unlawful enforcement, attachment or sale.
At a glance
A creditor may start enforcement without judgment by filing with the enforcement office. The debtor may object within seven days, which stops the proceedings; the creditor must then either sue to annul the objection within one year or, if it holds a qualifying document, request removal of the objection within six months.
Court judgments are enforced through an execution order giving the debtor seven days to pay. Foreign judgments must first be recognised and enforced (exequatur) by a Turkish court.
Cheques, promissory notes and bills of exchange benefit from a special fast-track procedure. The debtor’s objections — including forgery of the signature — must be raised before the enforcement court within five days.
Whether you are the creditor or the debtor, the objection stage is where most cases are won or lost. Creditors who win an action to annul an objection may be awarded enforcement compensation of at least twenty per cent of the amount.
Bank accounts, receivables, vehicles, real estate and wages can be attached. Some assets and a portion of wages are exempt. Auctions are conducted electronically; an auction may be annulled for procedural defects within seven days of learning of it and in any case within one year.
A debtor facing a claim it does not owe may file a negative declaratory action; after paying under duress, it may sue for restitution within one year of payment.
Transactions by which a debtor hides or transfers assets to defeat creditors — gifts, undervalue sales, sales to relatives — may be set aside in an action by a creditor holding a certificate of insufficiency of assets.
Companies in financial difficulty may apply for concordat (court-supervised restructuring) to obtain a moratorium and agree a payment plan with creditors. Creditors need to file and defend their claims and monitor the commissioner’s reports.
Related articles
Yes. With an invoice, contract or other evidence, enforcement can be started without judgment. Mediation is mandatory before filing a commercial money claim in court.
The creditor advances the fees, which are later added to the debt and recovered from the debtor along with statutory attorney fees.
Discuss your enforcement and bankruptcy law matter
Tell us briefly what happened and whether any deadline is running; we will explain the options and next steps. We work in English, French and Turkish.
Guides
Enforcement and Bankruptcy Law3 min read
Recovering unpaid invoices and loans from Turkish debtors: enforcement without judgment, objections, mediation, cheques and promissory notes, asset attachment and insolvency.
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