Frequently asked questions

Yes. Under the Foreign Direct Investment Law No. 4875, foreign investors are treated equally with Turkish investors and may own 100% of a Turkish company in most sectors, without a local partner. A limited number of regulated sectors — banking, insurance, energy, media and aviation — carry licensing or shareholding conditions.

Since 1 January 2024 the minimum capital is 250,000 TL for a joint stock company (A.Ş.) and 50,000 TL for a limited company (Ltd.) (TCC Arts. 332 and 580, as raised by Presidential Decision No. 7887). In a joint stock company at least 25% of the cash capital is paid before registration and the rest within 24 months after registration (TCC Art. 344).

No. A company can be formed in your absence through a notarised and apostilled power of attorney granted to a local representative. Founders do need a Turkish tax number, and a Turkish bank account is required for the company.

Yes, foreign individuals and companies can generally buy real estate in Türkiye, subject to some limits — such as restrictions near military and security zones and country-based reciprocity rules. Title and due-diligence checks before purchase are essential.

Yes. Citizenship by investment has several routes, including a real-estate purchase (currently from USD 400,000, held for three years), a fixed-capital contribution or bank deposit (from USD 500,000), or creating employment for a set number of people. The thresholds change over time, so they should be confirmed before you commit.

The court of the place where the property is located. In actions concerning rights in rem over real estate — title cancellation and registration, partition of co-ownership and the like — the court of the place where the property lies has exclusive jurisdiction (Code of Civil Procedure No. 6100, Art. 12), and the administration files an expropriation-price action before the civil court of first instance of that same place (Law No. 2942, Art. 10). An action to annul an administrative act on zoning, expropriation or permits is brought before the administrative court of the place where the property lies (Law No. 2577, Art. 34); for Istanbul's districts that is the Istanbul Administrative Courts. Where the act is a Presidential decision — as with urgent expropriation decisions — the action is filed with the Council of State as court of first instance (Law No. 2575, Art. 24).

Two separate periods run, depending on what you are objecting to. An objection to the expropriation act itself — the public-interest decision, the route, the inclusion of your parcel — is made by an annulment action before the administrative courts within thirty days of the court's notice or of the newspaper announcement; a correction action for material errors before the civil courts is subject to the same thirty days (Law No. 2942, Art. 14). An objection to the amount is raised inside the price-determination case: all defences and evidence on the property's value must be filed in writing within ten days of service of the annotated summons, objections to the expert report are heard at the hearing, and after the registration judgment the price remains open to appeal (Art. 10). At the purchase stage, the period for applying to negotiate after the administration's written offer is fifteen days (Art. 8).

Generally yes. A foreign shareholder or director who actively works in the company usually needs a work permit, and a company sponsoring a foreign work permit must meet employment and capital conditions. Owning a company can support a residence permit application, but the permit and the company are separate processes.

Trademarks are registered at TÜRKPATENT under the Industrial Property Law No. 6769. Türkiye follows the first-to-file rule, so filing early matters. A non-resident applicant must act through a registered Turkish trademark attorney; protection runs for ten years from the application date and is renewable.

A foreign court judgment is enforced through a recognition-and-enforcement (tenfiz) action under the International Private and Procedural Law No. 5718. Foreign arbitral awards are enforced under the New York Convention. Both require a Turkish court application and specific conditions to be met.

For many disputes, yes. Mandatory mediation is a precondition to filing for most commercial, employment, consumer and rent disputes. Only if mediation fails can the claim proceed to court.

Our working languages are Turkish and English: advice, correspondence and hearings are conducted in those two. Matters can be handled in another language, including Arabic, through an interpreter, whose fees are borne by the client.

Yes. Much of our work is cross-border, and we act for foreign investors, companies and individuals remotely, using powers of attorney where physical presence is not required.

It starts with a short, confidential conversation about your matter, in English or Turkish. Fees depend on the type and scope of the work and are agreed in a written engagement before anything begins, so there are no surprises. We are happy to explain the basis of our fees at the first consultation.