A foreign company with a dispute in Istanbul does not choose its courthouse. Istanbul’s courts sit in several courthouses (adliye), each serving its own group of districts, and which one hears a case follows from two sets of rules. Subject-matter jurisdiction (görev) decides the type of court: commercial cases go to the commercial courts of first instance whatever the amount (Article 5 of Turkish Commercial Code No. 6102, TTK). Venue (yetki) decides the place, starting from the defendant’s domicile on the date the action is filed (Article 6 of Code of Civil Procedure No. 6100, HMK). The courthouse is the last step, not the first.
This guide sets out those rules, then how a client abroad gives a power of attorney, how court files are run electronically and how legal fees are agreed in Türkiye.
How do the Istanbul courthouses work for a foreign company?
Istanbul’s courthouses include the İstanbul Courthouse in Çağlayan, the İstanbul Anadolu Courthouse in Kartal and the Bakırköy Courthouse, alongside courthouses that serve outer districts. A courthouse is a building and an administrative unit, not a rule of jurisdiction: a list of courthouses tells you where courts sit, not which court must hear a particular case. That answer comes from the statutes, in three steps.
Step one: which type of court?
Article 5/1 TTK gives the commercial court of first instance (asliye ticaret mahkemesi) all commercial cases and commercial non-contentious matters, whatever the value or amount in dispute, unless a statute provides otherwise. Where a place has more than one commercial court, the Council of Judges and Prosecutors may assign one or more of them exclusively to maritime trade and marine insurance cases (Article 5/2). The relationship between the commercial court and the civil court of first instance is one of subject-matter jurisdiction, so the procedural rules on subject-matter jurisdiction apply to it (Article 5/3). Filing a commercial dispute in the wrong type of court is therefore not a formality that the court can overlook. The Law allows one softening: in a judicial district with no commercial court, failing to rely on the subject-matter rule in a commercial case does not require a ruling of lack of jurisdiction, and the civil court of first instance continues with the case (Article 5/4). Istanbul has commercial courts, so this exception rarely helps there.
Step two: which place?
Venue rules in the HMK then fix the place:
- General rule. The competent court is that of the defendant’s domicile, whether an individual or a legal person, on the date the action is filed (Article 6/1); domicile is determined under the Turkish Civil Code (Article 6/2).
- Contract claims. An action arising from a contract may also be brought in the court of the place where the contract is to be performed (Article 10).
- Defendant without a domicile in Türkiye. The general court is that of the defendant’s habitual residence in Türkiye; other special venues are reserved, and an action concerning property rights may also be brought where the asset in dispute is located (Article 9).
- Agreed venue. Merchants or public legal persons may agree that one or more courts are competent for a dispute that has arisen or may arise between them; unless they agree otherwise, the action is then brought only in the court or courts they chose (Article 17).
For a foreign company, the agreed-venue rule is the one to check first. A contract between merchants that names “the Istanbul courts” or a specific courthouse will usually decide the question before the general rules are reached.
Step three: which courthouse?
Only once the competent place is identified does the courthouse question arise: the case is filed in the courthouse whose district allocation covers that place. The allocation of districts to courthouses is an administrative arrangement that has changed over time, so it should be checked against the current allocation before filing rather than taken from a list.
Does a foreign claimant have to give security for costs?
As a rule, yes. Under Article 48/1 of Law No. 5718 on International Private and Procedural Law, foreign individuals and legal persons who bring or join an action before a Turkish court, or pursue enforcement proceedings, must give the security the court sets to cover the costs of the proceedings and the other side’s losses. The second paragraph of the same article provides that the court exempts the claimant on the basis of reciprocity. Security is not one of the costs of proceedings listed in Article 323 of Code of Civil Procedure No. 6100 (HMK); once the reason for it ceases to exist, the court orders its return on the application of the party concerned (HMK Article 89). For a foreign company the practical consequence is that this security belongs in the cost plan as a separate item, and the reciprocity position between its own country and Türkiye should be examined before the case is filed.
Can a claim be secured before the case is filed?
For money claims, yes, on conditions. Article 257 of Enforcement and Bankruptcy Law No. 2004 allows a precautionary attachment over the debtor’s assets, receivables and other rights for a money debt that is due and not secured by pledge, and the attachment can reach assets held by third parties as well as by the debtor. For a debt not yet due the route is narrow: the debtor must have no fixed domicile, or, in order to escape its obligations, be preparing to hide or remove assets or to flee, or have fled, or for that purpose be making fraudulent transactions that harm the creditor’s rights. An attachment made for a debt not yet due on either of these grounds makes the debt due only as against that debtor (İİK Article 257). Any security the court requires is not a cost of the proceedings under HMK Article 323; it should be budgeted as a separate item from fees and costs.
How does a foreign client give a power of attorney?
A Turkish lawyer acts for a client in court and in enforcement proceedings on the basis of a written power of attorney (vekaletname). A client abroad usually has three routes:
- Turkish consulate abroad. The power of attorney is drawn up in Turkish at a Turkish embassy or consulate, and the client signs it there.
- Local notary with an apostille. The client signs before a notary in their own country, the notarisation is certified with an apostille under the 1961 Hague Convention, and the document is translated into Turkish by a sworn translator in Türkiye.
- Notary in Istanbul. A client who is in Istanbul can sign before a Turkish notary, with a sworn translator where the client does not speak Turkish.
The scope matters as much as the form. If the lawyer may need to settle, waive, accept a claim, receive payment or start enforcement, those powers should be written into the document expressly, so that the file does not stall when the moment comes.
How are court files run electronically?
Turkish court and enforcement files are kept in the National Judicial Informatics System (UYAP). Through it a lawyer files petitions, follows the file and sees what the court or the enforcement office has done, without visiting the courthouse for each step. For a client abroad this mainly means that the case can be followed closely through counsel and that documents move faster than paper. Hearings, expert examinations and witness evidence are still court events held on dates the court sets, and the client should plan for them.
How are legal fees agreed in Türkiye?
Article 164 of Attorneys Law No. 1136 sets the frame for every fee agreement:
- Sum or percentage. The fee may be agreed as a sum, or as a percentage of the value of the case or of the amount awarded, up to 25%.
- No transfer in kind. A percentage agreement cannot provide that part of property other than money in dispute will belong to the lawyer in kind.
- Floor. No fee may be agreed below the minimum fee tariff (avukatlık asgari ücret tarifesi).
- No written agreement. Where the fee was not agreed, there is no written fee agreement, or the agreement is unclear or disputed, the fee in a case with a money value is set at between 10% and 20% of the amount won, but not below the tariff.
- Costs award. The fee that the court orders the losing side to pay under the tariff belongs to the lawyer and cannot be set off against, or attached for, the client’s debts.
Court fees and expert fees are costs of the proceedings under HMK Article 323 and are separate from the lawyer’s fee. Security the court orders, for example for a precautionary attachment, is not on that list; it is budgeted as a separate guarantee.
A pre-filing checklist for a foreign company
- Read the contract first. Check the venue clause and the governing-law clause; between merchants, an agreed court usually settles where the case is heard.
- Locate the defendant. Confirm the defendant’s registered seat or domicile in Türkiye and, for a contract claim, the place of performance.
- Prepare the power of attorney early. Choose the consular or apostille route and write in every power the file may need.
- Assemble the documents. Contract, correspondence, invoices and payment records, with Turkish translations of anything in another language.
- Diary the next dates. Once the case is filed, follow it through counsel and plan for hearings on the dates the court sets.
What does Lex Lata advise foreign clients on?
Lex Lata advises foreign companies and individuals in English, Turkish and Arabic. Matters that bring foreign clients to Istanbul courts commonly include:
- Commercial Debt Collection & Asset Recovery: trade receivables, precautionary attachment under İİK Article 257 and enforcement proceedings.
- Enforcement of Foreign Judgments & Arbitral Awards: recognition and enforcement under Law No. 5718 and the 1958 New York Convention.
- Commercial Fraud, Asset Tracing & White-Collar Crime: criminal complaints and the protection of assets in fraud cases.
- Medical Treatment Claims of Foreign Patients: claims arising from treatment received in Türkiye.
- Shareholder Disputes & Joint Ventures: disputes between shareholders and over company decisions.
A foreign creditor facing a Turkish counterparty’s insolvency will also find the claim-filing steps in registering a claim in a Turkish bankruptcy.
