The deadlines are short, the sanction for silence is coercive detention ordered by the enforcement court, and a false declaration is a criminal offence. For a foreign creditor, the declaration is one tool among several, and it does not hold up attachment.
What a declaration of assets is and why it matters to a creditor
A foreign company that has started enforcement proceedings in Türkiye against a Turkish customer, distributor or guarantor wants one thing quickly: to know what the debtor owns. Turkish enforcement law gives the creditor a direct tool for this, the declaration of assets (mal beyanı).
Article 74 of the Enforcement and Bankruptcy Law (İcra ve İflas Kanunu, İİK) defines it. The declaration is the debtor’s statement to the enforcement office, in writing or orally, of:
- the type, nature and characteristics of the assets, receivables and rights held by the debtor or by third parties, in an amount sufficient to cover the debt;
- all earnings and income;
- the debtor’s means of living according to their lifestyle; and
- how the debt can be paid.
The duty is therefore wider than a list of property. A debtor who owns nothing in their own name but lives on a regular income, or whose receivables sit with third parties, must still say so. For the creditor, the declaration has three uses: it points to assets to attach, it fixes the debtor to a statement that carries criminal consequences if false, and, where the debtor declares nothing, it starts a continuing duty to report later acquisitions.
This guide sets out when the duty arises, how long the debtor has, what happens if the debtor stays silent or lies, and how a creditor should use the declaration alongside attachment and the electronic asset search.
When the duty arises: three routes, three deadlines
The deadline depends on the type of enforcement proceeding, and the warning to declare is built into the document the debtor receives.
- Enforcement without a judgment (ilamsız takip). The payment order tells the debtor that, if they do not object to the deed or the debt, they must make a declaration of assets under Article 74 within the seven-day period (İİK Article 60).
- Judgment-based enforcement (ilamlı takip). The enforcement order contains a warning to make a declaration of assets under Article 74 within seven days (İİK Article 32).
- Enforcement based on bills of exchange (kambiyo senetleri). The payment order warns the debtor that, if they neither object nor pay, they must declare assets under Article 74 within ten days; and if they object and the objection is rejected, they must declare under Article 75 within three days (İİK Article 168(6)).
There is a fourth trigger that applies across the routes. A debtor whose objection has been annulled, or finally or provisionally lifted, by a court must make the declaration within three days of service of the decision; where the decision was given in the debtor’s presence, the period runs from its pronouncement (İİK Article 75).
These periods are short, and the creditor should diary them from the date of service, because the next step, the request for coercive detention, belongs to the creditor.
If the debtor stays silent: coercive detention, not a criminal penalty
A point that is easy to get wrong concerns the sanction for not making a declaration at all.
The payment order text in Article 60 still contains the old warning that a debtor who makes no declaration, or a false one, will also be punished with imprisonment. However, the first paragraph of Article 337, which punished the mere failure to declare, was annulled by the Constitutional Court in 2008. Today the provision only addresses failures in bankruptcy proceedings under Articles 162, 209 and 216. A creditor’s lawyer should therefore not threaten a debtor with a criminal sentence for silence alone.
What remains is coercive detention (tazyik hapsi) under Article 76. A debtor who makes no declaration is, on the creditor’s request, held in coercive detention by the enforcement court judge until the declaration is made. The measure has three built-in limits:
- it can be ordered once only (bir defaya mahsus);
- it cannot exceed three months; and
- it ends as soon as the debtor makes the declaration, because its purpose is to obtain the statement, not to punish.
Further limits come from the general provisions on disciplinary and coercive detention. These decisions are given by the enforcement court (İİK Article 346). An objection may be made against them within two weeks of service, and the decision on the objection is final (İİK Article 353(1)). And, apart from maintenance claims, disciplinary and coercive detention are not applied at all in proceedings where the claim is below the monthly highest gross minimum wage (İİK Article 354(4)).
For a foreign creditor with a modest claim, this last rule is decisive: below that threshold, the declaration cannot be enforced by detention, and the creditor’s energy is better spent on attachment.
A false declaration: the offence in Article 338
Silence and falsehood are treated differently. Under İİK Article 338(1), a person who makes a declaration required under the Enforcement and Bankruptcy Law in a manner contrary to the truth is punished, on the creditor’s complaint, with imprisonment from three months to one year.
Examples are a declaration that leaves out a bank account, a vehicle or a receivable from a customer, or one that states a much lower income than the debtor’s lifestyle suggests. Evidence can come from the electronic asset search described below, from the debtor’s commercial records or from third parties.
The complaint has tight limits. The right to complain lapses three months after the date the act was learned of, and in any case one year after the act was committed (İİK Article 347). The complaint is made by petition or orally, and if the complainant does not appear on the set day and sends no representative, the right to complain lapses (İİK Article 349). The offence is heard by the enforcement court (İİK Article 346), and the ordinary criminal-law remedies apply to judgments on these offences (İİK Article 353(2)). If the complainant withdraws the complaint or the extinguishment of the debt is established, the case and the penalty fall away with all their consequences (İİK Article 354(1)).
The same Article 338 is used elsewhere in enforcement law. A third party who answers a garnishment notice with an untrue statement can, if the creditor proves the untruth before the enforcement court, be punished under Article 338(1) and be ordered to pay compensation (İİK Article 89). Our guide to the garnishment notice to third parties explains that route.
Declared nothing? The continuing duty to report
A debtor may declare that they have no assets. That statement does not close the matter. Under İİK Article 77, a debtor who declares that they have no assets, who does not show assets sufficient for the debt or who refuses to make a declaration must report to the enforcement office, within seven days, any assets acquired later and any increase in earnings or income, by registered letter or orally.
The sanction for breaching this duty without an acceptable excuse is disciplinary detention under İİK Article 339, again on the creditor’s complaint: ten days if the assets or earnings still exist in kind or in value, and up to one month if the debtor disposed of them without a reasonable cause. If the debtor pays in full the debt that is the subject of the enforcement proceeding, the penalty falls away.
Where the creditor has obtained a certificate of insufficiency (aciz vesikası), there is a further rule. If, on the creditor’s application, it is established that the debtor lives above the minimum wage, the enforcement court sets a monthly portion, not less than one quarter of the excess, which the debtor must pay in; failure can lead to coercive detention of up to one year, never more than one year for one debt (İİK Article 338(2)). The application must be made within five years of the certificate being issued.
The creditor’s toolbox: attachment and the UYAP asset search
The declaration is useful, but a creditor should not wait for it. Since the 2020 amendment, İİK Article 78(1) allows the creditor, once the payment-order period has passed (or the objection has been lifted), to request attachment without waiting for the declaration of assets. The creditor may also search the debtor’s assets, rights and receivables through the integrated systems connected to UYAP, the national judicial network, and request attachment through the same system. Information obtained in this way may not be shared unlawfully.
Timing matters here too: the right to request attachment lapses one year after service of the payment order, without counting the time from an objection or court case until the judgment becomes final, or, where the creditor and the debtor made an instalment agreement at the enforcement office, the time until that agreement is breached (İİK Article 78(2)).
A creditor can combine the tools. The UYAP search shows registered assets such as land, vehicles and bank relationships; garnishment notices reach receivables held by third parties; the declaration of assets fills the gaps that registries do not show, such as cash income and informal earnings; and the false-statement offence and the continuing duty under Article 77 keep pressure on the debtor afterwards. Where there is a risk that assets will be moved before enforcement begins, an interim attachment should be considered at the outset.
Silence, falsehood and later assets compared
| Situation | Legal consequence | Who starts it | Key limit | Legal basis |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| No declaration within the deadline | Coercive detention until the declaration is made | Creditor’s request; enforcement court decides | Once only, max. three months; not below the minimum-wage threshold except maintenance | İİK Art. 76, 346, 354(4) |
| Declaration contrary to the truth | Imprisonment from three months to one year | Creditor’s complaint | Complaint within three months of learning, at most one year from the act | İİK Art. 338(1), 347 |
| Later assets or income not reported within seven days | Disciplinary detention: ten days if the assets still exist, or up to one month if disposed of without reasonable cause | Creditor’s complaint | Full payment of the enforced debt ends the penalty | İİK Art. 77, 339 |
| Debtor with insufficiency certificate living above the minimum wage | Monthly payment set by the court; coercive detention up to one year if not paid | Creditor’s application within five years | Not more than one year for one debt | İİK Art. 338(2) |
| Punishment of mere failure to declare (ten days’ disciplinary imprisonment) | No longer exists | — | First paragraph annulled by the Constitutional Court (2008) | İİK Art. 337 |
Practical points for foreign creditors
- Diary the deadline from service. Seven, ten or three days run fast, and the request for coercive detention is the creditor’s step.
- Check the threshold first. If the claim is below the monthly highest gross minimum wage and is not maintenance, coercive and disciplinary detention are not available (İİK Article 354(4)).
- Do not wait for the declaration. Request attachment and run the UYAP asset search as soon as the payment-order period has passed (İİK Article 78(1)).
- Compare the declaration with the search results. A gap between what the debtor declared and what the registries show is the starting point of a false-statement complaint, and the three-month complaint period starts when you learn of it (İİK Article 347).
- Keep the debtor under the Article 77 duty. A debtor who declared nothing must report later assets and income within seven days; a breach can be pursued on complaint (İİK Article 339).
- Be accurate in correspondence. Do not threaten a criminal sentence for silence alone: that paragraph of Article 337 no longer exists.
If a payment order has been issued against your company in Türkiye and you are on the other side of these rules, our guide to receiving a payment order explains the seven-day objection.
