A machine builder in Baden-Württemberg delivers a production line to a buyer in Bursa. Two invoices are paid; the last three are not, and a supplier mentions that the buyer is selling equipment and moving it to a related company. A German engineering firm gave a bank guarantee for its performance on a project in Istanbul, and the Turkish employer asks the bank to pay it out over a dispute about delays. A GmbH in Bavaria receives a thick envelope from a Turkish court with a statement of claim in Turkish. A German distributor’s Turkish subsidiary receives a payment order from an enforcement office.
In each case the problem is time. Turkish law gives the creditor or the defendant a step that works only if taken quickly, and the deadlines that follow are short and fixed in the statute. This guide sets out four of them for German companies: interim attachment against a Turkish debtor, interim injunctions, notably against the drawing of a guarantee, the answer to a Turkish lawsuit, and the objection to a payment order. The substance of debt recovery from Germany is covered in a separate guide in this series; the detailed rules on interim attachment for foreign creditors and on bank guarantee letters have their own guides.
Interim attachment: freezing the debtor’s assets
Interim attachment (ihtiyati haciz) is the tool for a creditor whose debtor may remove assets before a judgment or enforcement.
When it is available. A creditor of a matured money debt not secured by a pledge may have the debtor’s movable and immovable property, and its receivables and other rights, whether held by the debtor or by third parties, attached as an interim measure (İİK Article 257(1)). For a debt not yet due, attachment is available only where the debtor has no fixed domicile, or prepares to conceal or remove assets or to flee in order to escape its obligations, or flees, or carries out fraudulent transactions harming the creditor’s rights for that purpose (Article 257(2)). Where attachment is ordered on that basis, the debt falls due as against the debtor only (Article 257(3)).
The application. The decision is given by the court competent under Article 50 (İİK Article 258(1)). The creditor must produce evidence that satisfies the court about the claim and, where needed, the grounds for attachment (Article 258(1)), and the court is free to hear both sides or not (Article 258(2)).
Security. The creditor is liable for all the damage the debtor and third parties suffer if the attachment proves unjustified, and must give security; no security is required where the claim rests on a court judgment, and where it rests on a document having the nature of a judgment, the court decides whether security is needed (İİK Article 259).
Deadlines after the decision. The creditor must ask the enforcement office in the court’s district to execute the decision within ten days of the date of the decision, or it lapses (İİK Article 261(1)). A creditor who obtained attachment before suing or starting enforcement must, within seven days of the attachment, or of service of the attachment record if it was carried out in the creditor’s absence, either file a request for enforcement or sue (Article 264(1)). If the debtor objects to the payment order, the creditor has seven days from service of the objection to ask the enforcement court to set it aside or to sue (Article 264(2)).
Interim injunctions: stopping a change of position, including a guarantee payout
The interim injunction (ihtiyati tedbir) under the Code of Civil Procedure (HMK) covers rights other than money claims secured by attachment, and it is the tool considered when a counterparty moves to draw on a bank guarantee.
The test. An interim injunction may be granted on the subject of the dispute where there is concern that a change in the current situation would make obtaining the right substantially harder or entirely impossible, or that delay would cause harm or serious damage (HMK Article 389(1)).
The application. Before a lawsuit, the injunction is requested from the court competent for the merits; after a lawsuit has been filed, only from the court hearing the main action (HMK Article 390(1)). Where the applicant’s rights need protection at once, the judge may grant the injunction without hearing the other side (Article 390(2)). The applicant must state clearly the ground and type of measure sought and approximately prove that it is right on the merits (Article 390(3)).
Security. The applicant must provide security for the damage the other side and third parties may suffer if the applicant proves wrong; the court may, giving reasons, decide that no security is required where the request rests on an official document or other conclusive evidence, or the circumstances require it (HMK Article 392(1)).
Deadlines after the decision. Execution of the injunction must be requested within one week of its announcement or service to the applicant; otherwise it lapses automatically, even if the action was filed in time (HMK Article 393(1)). An injunction granted before the lawsuit lapses unless the applicant files the main action within two weeks of the date it requested execution and lodges proof with the officer who executed it (Article 397(1)).
For a German supplier facing the drawing of a guarantee, those two deadlines, one week and two weeks, are short and the injunction lapses automatically if either is missed. The substance, when a court may stop payment under a guarantee, is covered in our guide on bank guarantee letters.
When Turkish papers reach Germany: the answer to a lawsuit
A Turkish statement of claim served on a German company starts a fixed period. The period for filing the answer is two weeks from service of the statement of claim on the defendant. Where it is very difficult or impossible to prepare the answer in that time, the court may, on a request made within the two weeks, grant a single additional period of up to one month, running from the end of the original period (HMK Article 127(1)).
The consequence of silence is specific. A defendant who does not file an answer in time is deemed to have denied all the facts alleged in the statement of claim (HMK Article 128). That is not a judgment against the defendant, but it means the defendant has not put its own case, its defences and its evidence on the record at the stage the Code expects them. For a German company, the useful steps on receiving Turkish papers are to note the date of service, to have the papers translated, and to instruct a Turkish lawyer early enough to ask for the additional period within the two weeks if it is needed.
Whether service in Germany was validly made, through the channels of the Hague Service Convention or the 1929 Turkish-German convention on legal relations (Law No. 1622, Articles 9 to 11 and 17), is a separate question the lawyer checks on the papers.
Payment orders: seven days
In general enforcement by attachment without a judgment, the proceedings start with a payment order. The payment order tells the debtor to pay the debt and costs within seven days; to state within the same seven days, separately and clearly, if the signature on the document relied on is not its own; and to raise within the same period any objection to all or part of the debt or to the creditor’s right to enforce (İİK Article 60). The debtor who wishes to object must notify the enforcement office in writing or orally within seven days of service of the payment order (Article 62(1)), and must give an address in Türkiye for service in the proceedings (Article 62(3)). If the debt is not paid or no objection is made, enforcement continues (Article 60).
For a German company with a Turkish subsidiary or assets in Türkiye, the payment order is easy to underestimate. Seven days is short, and the objection is what moves the dispute from the enforcement office to a court.
Challenging the other side’s measures
The same tools can be used against a German company. A debtor who was not heard before an interim attachment may object to the grounds, the court’s jurisdiction and the security within seven days of the attachment, if present, or of service of the attachment record (İİK Article 265(1)). An injunction granted without hearing the other side can be challenged on its conditions, the court’s jurisdiction and the security within one week of its execution or of service of the execution record (HMK Article 394(1) and (2)).
The deadlines in one table
| Step | Provision | Time limit |
|---|---|---|
| Request execution of an interim attachment | İİK 261(1) | 10 days from the decision, or it lapses |
| Start enforcement or sue after a pre-action attachment | İİK 264(1) | 7 days from the attachment or service of the record |
| Debtor’s objection to an interim attachment it was not heard on | İİK 265(1) | 7 days from the attachment or service of the record |
| Request execution of an interim injunction | HMK 393(1) | 1 week from announcement or service, or it lapses |
| File the main action after a pre-action injunction | HMK 397(1) | 2 weeks from the request for execution, or it lapses |
| Objection to an injunction granted without a hearing | HMK 394(2) | 1 week from execution or service of the record |
| Answer to a Turkish statement of claim | HMK 127(1) | 2 weeks from service; one extension of up to 1 month if requested in time |
| Objection to a payment order | İİK 62(1) | 7 days from service |
How Lex Lata works with German companies
Lex Lata advises German companies on Turkish law and acts before Turkish courts and enforcement offices. In these files, the lawyer prepares and files the interim attachment or injunction request with the evidence and security, requests execution within the statutory period, files the main action or enforcement in time, and, for a German defendant, notes the date of service, asks for any additional answer period, and files the answer or the objection. Reports go to the client in English or Turkish. German law and German proceedings belong to a Rechtsanwalt in Germany. For the wider context of a Turkish matter run from Germany, see our overview for clients in Germany.
