Turkish international arbitration law lets a party go to a Turkish court for an injunction or a precautionary attachment before or during the arbitration without breaching the clause, lets the tribunal order interim measures of its own, and gives the court a role when a party ignores them. This guide explains who can order what, the deadlines that make a court measure lapse, and how the regime applies when the seat is outside Türkiye.
A Turkish distributor has stopped paying, a joint-venture partner is moving shares out of the company, or a contractor is about to call a performance guarantee. The contract contains an arbitration clause providing for arbitration seated in Istanbul or abroad. Constituting a tribunal takes time, and the damage may be done before the first procedural order. The question every foreign party then asks is simple: can we get protection now, and from whom?
Turkish international arbitration law answers it in one provision. Article 6 of the International Arbitration Law (Milletlerarası Tahkim Kanunu, Law No. 4686) gives interim protection two sources, the Turkish courts and the arbitral tribunal, and regulates how they interact. This guide explains that provision, the deadline in Article 10(A) that makes court measures lapse, the extension to foreign-seated arbitrations in Article 1(3), and the procedural conditions of the Code of Civil Procedure (Hukuk Muhakemeleri Kanunu, HMK) and the Enforcement and Bankruptcy Law (İcra ve İflas Kanunu, İİK) that the court applies. It follows the text of the statutes as in force in September 2026.
1. When Law No. 4686 Applies (Articles 1-3)
Law No. 4686 applies to disputes that contain a foreign element and where the seat of arbitration is Türkiye, or where the parties or the tribunal have chosen the Law (Article 1(2)). Article 2 lists when a dispute has a foreign element: the parties to the arbitration agreement have their domicile, habitual residence or place of business in different states; their domicile, residence or place of business is in a state other than the seat or the place where a substantial part of the obligations is to be performed or with which the dispute is most closely connected; at least one shareholder of a party to the main contract has brought foreign capital under the foreign investment rules, or loan or security agreements with foreign funding are needed to perform the contract; or the contract or legal relationship involves a transfer of capital or goods from one country to another.
Two limits matter for interim relief. First, the Law does not apply to disputes concerning rights in rem over immovable property in Türkiye, or to disputes that are not at the parties’ free disposal (Article 1(4)). Second, where the Law assigns a task to “the court”, Article 3 designates the civil court of first instance (asliye hukuk mahkemesi) of the respondent’s domicile, habitual residence or place of business; if the respondent has none of these in Türkiye, the Istanbul civil court of first instance. Courts may intervene in international arbitration only as the Law provides (Article 3). Under Additional Article 1, added in 2018, the duties and powers the Law gives to the civil court of first instance are exercised by the civil or the commercial court of first instance (asliye ticaret mahkemesi), depending on the subject matter of the dispute.
The most important extension for foreign parties is Article 1(3): Articles 5 and 6 apply even where the seat of arbitration is outside Türkiye. A party to an arbitration seated in London, Paris, Geneva or Singapore can therefore use Article 6 to obtain Turkish court measures against assets located in Türkiye.
2. Going to a Turkish Court: Injunctions and Precautionary Attachment (Article 6; HMK 389-394; İİK 257)
The first sentence of Article 6 removes the classic objection. A party’s request to a court for an injunction (ihtiyati tedbir) or a precautionary attachment (ihtiyati haciz), before or during the arbitration, and the court’s decision granting it, do not breach the arbitration agreement. The last-but-one paragraph adds that the parties’ rights to apply under the HMK and the İİK are preserved. The court therefore applies the ordinary conditions of those laws.
Injunctions. Under HMK 389(1) an injunction may be granted where there is a concern that a change in the existing situation will make obtaining the right considerably more difficult or entirely impossible, or that delay will cause inconvenience or serious damage. The applicant must state the ground and type of measure clearly and prove its case on the merits on a balance of likelihood, described in the Code as approximate proof (yaklaşık ispat) (HMK 390(3)). In urgent cases the judge may decide without hearing the other side (HMK 390(2)). The court may order any measure that removes the inconvenience or prevents the damage, such as preserving the asset, placing it with a custodian, or ordering a party to do or refrain from doing something (HMK 391(1)).
Precautionary attachment. For money claims the İİK offers a separate tool. Under İİK 257(1) the creditor of a due money debt that is not secured by a pledge may have the debtor’s movable and immovable assets, receivables and other rights, whether held by the debtor or by third parties, attached as a precaution. For a debt that is not yet due, attachment is available only if the debtor has no fixed domicile, or is preparing to hide or remove assets or to abscond, or engages in fraudulent transactions to defeat the creditor’s rights (İİK 257(2)).
Security and objections. The applicant must provide security for the damage the other side and third parties may suffer if the measure proves unjustified, unless the court, giving express reasons, waives it because the request rests on an official document or other conclusive evidence or the circumstances require (HMK 392(1)). A measure granted without hearing the other side may be challenged within one week, counted from its implementation if the party was present or from service of the implementation record if not (HMK 394(2)); third parties whose interests are clearly infringed have one week from learning of the measure (HMK 394(3)).
3. What the Arbitral Tribunal Can and Cannot Order (Article 6)
Unless the parties agreed otherwise, the arbitral tribunal may, at a party’s request and during the arbitration, order an injunction or a precautionary attachment, and may make the order conditional on appropriate security (Article 6). That power is real but limited by design. The tribunal cannot issue a measure that must be enforced by enforcement offices or carried out by other official authorities, and it cannot issue a measure binding third parties.
The practical consequence is a division of labour. Orders addressed to the other party itself, for example to refrain from transferring shares, to preserve documents or to maintain a contractual status quo, are within the tribunal’s reach. Measures that need the state’s machinery or a third party’s co-operation, such as freezing a bank account, attaching receivables held by customers or recording a restriction at a land or trade registry, belong to the courts.
If a party ignores the tribunal. Where a party does not comply with the tribunal’s interim order, the other party may ask the competent court for assistance by requesting an injunction or precautionary attachment from it; the court may, if necessary, delegate the task to another court (Article 6). The request is decided by the court under the conditions described above.
Evidence is treated in a similar spirit. The tribunal may ask the civil court of first instance for assistance in taking evidence, in which case the court applies the HMK (Article 12(B)).
4. Deadlines That Make a Court Measure Lapse (Articles 6 and 10(A))
A court measure obtained in support of arbitration is temporary by nature, and the Law ties its life to the arbitration.
The thirty-day rule. A party that has obtained an injunction or precautionary attachment from a court must commence the arbitration within thirty days; otherwise the measure lapses automatically (Article 10(A), second paragraph). The request for arbitration should therefore be drafted before, not after, the court application.
When the arbitration counts as commenced. Unless the parties agreed otherwise, Article 10(A) fixes the moment: when the court or the person or institution that is to appoint the arbitrators is applied to; where the parties appoint the arbitrators, when the claimant appoints its arbitrator and notifies the other side to appoint its own; and where the arbitration agreement names the arbitrators, when the other side receives the request for arbitration.
End of the measure. A court measure granted before or during the arbitration lapses automatically when the award becomes enforceable or when the tribunal dismisses the claim (Article 6, last paragraph).
Domestic arbitration is different. For arbitrations governed by the HMK rather than Law No. 4686, the period to start the arbitration after a court measure is two weeks (HMK 426(2)), and the court may, at a party’s request, declare the tribunal’s measures enforceable (HMK 414(2)). Foreign parties should confirm which regime governs before relying on the longer thirty-day period.
5. Court or Tribunal: A Comparison
| Question | Turkish court (Article 6, HMK, İİK) | Arbitral tribunal (Article 6) |
|---|---|---|
| Available before the tribunal exists | Yes, before or during the arbitration | No, only during the arbitration |
| Measures against bank accounts, registries, third parties | Yes, under HMK 391 and İİK 257 | No: no measures requiring enforcement offices or official authorities, none binding third parties |
| Standard | HMK 389-390: risk of change or serious damage, approximate proof; İİK 257 for money claims | Tribunal’s assessment, unless the parties agreed otherwise |
| Security | Rule under HMK 392, waiver only with reasons | Tribunal may require appropriate security |
| If the other side does not comply | Enforced through state organs | Court assistance on request (Article 6) |
| Lapse | Arbitration not started within thirty days (Article 10(A)); award enforceable or claim dismissed (Article 6) | Follows the arbitration |
| Foreign seat | Available: Article 1(3) extends Article 6 | Governed by the seat’s rules and the parties’ agreement |
6. Foreign-Seated Arbitrations and Assets in Türkiye
Where a contract with a Turkish counterparty provides for arbitration abroad, Article 1(3) makes Articles 5 and 6 applicable. A party to a foreign-seated arbitration may therefore apply to the competent Turkish court for an injunction or a precautionary attachment against assets in Türkiye, and doing so does not breach the arbitration agreement.
Two points deserve attention. First, Article 1(3) extends Articles 5 and 6 only. Article 10(A), with its thirty-day rule, is not among them, so in a foreign-seated case the period within which proceedings must be started after a Turkish court measure should be checked against the procedural rules the court applies under the HMK and the İİK, and the safest course is to have the request for arbitration filed promptly. Second, the court applies Turkish procedural conditions: approximate proof of the claim, a concrete risk, security, and a clearly defined measure. Evidence prepared for a foreign tribunal usually needs to be organised, translated and focused on those conditions before it is filed in Türkiye.
7. Practical Sequence for a Foreign Party
- Confirm the regime: foreign element and seat (Law No. 4686, Articles 1 and 2) or domestic arbitration under the HMK.
- Map the assets: bank accounts, receivables from Turkish customers, goods in ports or warehouses, shares, registered rights. Measures against them normally require a court.
- Choose the tool: an injunction under HMK 389-391 to preserve a situation, or a precautionary attachment under İİK 257 for a money claim.
- Prepare the evidence for approximate proof and the security, or the reasons for waiving it (HMK 390(3), 392).
- Have the request for arbitration ready so that the arbitration can be started within the thirty-day period of Article 10(A).
- Once the tribunal is constituted, consider asking it for measures addressed to the other party, and use court assistance under Article 6 if they are ignored.
- Monitor the objection periods (HMK 394) and the events on which the measure lapses (Article 6).
Interim measures do not decide the dispute, but they can determine whether the award will be worth anything when it arrives. Planned early and coordinated with the arbitration, the Turkish courts and the tribunal together offer a foreign party considerably more protection than either offers alone.
