This guide explains the creditor's side of Articles 68, 68/a, 68/b, 69 and 70 of the Enforcement and Bankruptcy Law: which documents allow a request for removal of the objection before the enforcement court, the six-month time limits, temporary removal where a signature is denied, the indemnity of not less than twenty per cent, and how the route compares with the action for annulment of the objection under Article 67.
1. The Situation: The Payment Order Came Back With an Objection
A foreign supplier, lender or service provider is owed money by a company in Türkiye. Instead of suing first, it starts enforcement without a judgment (ilamsız takip) at a Turkish enforcement office, and a payment order is served on the debtor. Within the period, the debtor files an objection, and the file stops.
The Enforcement and Bankruptcy Law (EBL, İcra ve İflas Kanunu, Law No. 2004) does not end the claim at that point: it gives the creditor routes to set the objection aside, including the removal of the objection (itirazın kaldırılması) (Articles 67, 68 and 68/a). Under Article 62(1), the debtor must notify the objection to the enforcement office within seven days of service of the payment order, in writing or orally. Under Article 62(2), the objection is notified to the creditor within three days by a memorandum, paid from the advance the creditor deposited.
Under Article 66(1), an objection made within the time limit stops the proceedings. If the debtor objected to only part of the debt, the proceedings continue for the amount the debtor accepted, and Article 62 requires a debtor who objects to part of the debt to state that part and its amount clearly; otherwise the debt is deemed not objected to.
From that point, the next step is the creditor’s. This guide covers, in order:
- the two routes the Code offers and how they differ, set side by side (EBL Articles 67, 68 and 68/a);
- definitive removal under Article 68 and the documents it requires;
- what the enforcement court examines (Articles 18, 63, 68 and 70);
- temporary removal where the debtor denied the signature, and the debtor’s action for release from debt (Articles 68/a and 69);
- statements of account for credit relationships (Article 68/b);
- the indemnity on both sides (Articles 67, 68, 68/a and 69);
- the time limits as the Code writes them;
- what follows removal, including attachment and interim attachment (Articles 78 and 264);
- points for choosing the route.
The debtor’s side of the same stage, the seven-day objection and the negative declaratory action, is covered in our guide to receiving a payment order in Türkiye.
2. Two Routes, Two Courts: Removal or Annulment of the Objection
The Code groups the creditor’s answers to an objection under one heading, which it calls setting the objection aside (itirazın hükümden düşürülmesi). Its three lettered sub-headings are (a) the action for annulment of the objection (Article 67), (b) definitive removal of the objection (Article 68) and (c) temporary removal of the objection (Article 68/a). The table compares them using only what the provisions say.
| Point | Action for annulment (EBL 67) | Definitive removal (EBL 68) | Temporary removal (EBL 68/a) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Where the creditor applies | The court, by an action (Article 67(1)) | The enforcement court, which invites both sides and decides under Article 18 (Article 70(1)) | The enforcement court, which hears explanations from both sides (Article 68/a(1)) |
| What the file must rest on | No specific document; the creditor proves the existence of the claim under the general provisions (Article 67(1)) | A document containing an acknowledgment of debt whose signature is admitted or certified by a notary, or a receipt or document issued by official offices or competent authorities within their powers and in due form (Article 68(1)) | A private document whose signature the debtor denied in the objection (Article 68/a(1)) |
| Time limit | One year from notification of the objection (Article 67(1)) | Six months from notification of the objection to the creditor (Article 68(1)) | Six months from notification of the objection to the creditor (Article 68/a(1)) |
| Indemnity | Not less than twenty per cent of the amount rejected or awarded, against the debtor whose objection is found unjustified, or the creditor found unjustified and in bad faith in the enforcement, on the other side's request (Article 67(2)) | Not less than twenty per cent, against the losing side where the decision rests on grounds relating to the merits, on the other side's request (Article 68(7)) | Not less than twenty per cent, against the debtor if the request is accepted and the creditor if it is rejected, on the other side's request (Article 68/a(8)) |
| Next step for the debtor | Not addressed in Article 67 | Negative declaratory or restitution action; the indemnity is deferred (Article 68(7)) | Action for release from debt within seven days of the decision being pronounced or notified, with the deposit or security in Article 69(2) |
The choice therefore turns first on the documents in the file. A creditor who holds one of the documents listed in Article 68(1) may use the enforcement court. A creditor whose file holds none of those documents has the action for annulment under Article 67, in which the claim is proved under the general rules. For commercial cases on a sum of money, TCC Article 5/A(1) makes applying to a mediator before filing a condition of the action for, among others, the action for annulment of the objection (itirazın iptali). Article 5/A(1) lists actions; the request for removal of the objection before the enforcement court is not named in that list.
3. Definitive Removal Under Article 68: The Documents That Open the Route
Article 68(1) applies where the enforcement rests on one of two kinds of document:
- a document containing an acknowledgment of debt (borç ikrarını içeren bir senet) whose signature is admitted or certified by a notary; or
- a receipt or document issued by official offices or competent authorities within their powers and in due form.
If the file fits, the creditor may ask for removal of the objection within six months of notification of the objection to it. The same paragraph adds the consequence of inaction: if removal is not requested within that period, enforcement without a judgment cannot be started again.
Article 68/b adds documents from credit relationships. For a current account with a debit balance, or short, medium or long-term credits, the lender must send a statement of account through a notary, to the address stated in the credit contract, within fifteen days following the periods stated in the current account contract or the interest accrual periods written in the credit contract. A borrower who does not object to the content of a statement sent in time within one month of receipt may bring an action claiming that it is inaccurate only after paying the debt. Credit contracts, statements of account and notices not objected to in time, and other documents and receipts duly issued by the lender, count as documents listed in Article 68(1).
Whether a particular document fits these words is a question of its wording and form, and the enforcement court assesses it. Unpaid invoices, purchase orders and e-mail correspondence are not named in Article 68(1). A foreign creditor should therefore check, before filing, whether the file holds an acknowledgment of debt with an admitted or notarised signature, or an official document of the kind described.
4. What the Enforcement Court Examines, and What It Does Not
Procedure. Under Article 70(1), on a request for removal of the objection, the enforcement court invites both sides and decides under Article 18. Article 18(1) treats matters before the enforcement court as urgent and applies the simple procedure (basit yargılama usulü); under Article 18(2), requests and replies may be made by petition or by statement recorded by the court. Article 18(3) also provides that hearings may be postponed only where necessary and for no more than thirty days.
The debtor’s objection is fixed. Under Article 63, a debtor who objected cannot change or extend the grounds of objection at the hearing for removal, except for what appears from the text of the document the creditor relies on. Under Article 62, a debtor who denies the signature on the document underlying the enforcement must state this separately and expressly in the objection; otherwise the signature is deemed accepted for the purposes of the enforcement.
The test. Under Article 68(2), if the debtor cannot produce any document that makes the objection valid, the enforcement court decides to remove the objection. Under Article 68(3), if the objection itself rests on a document of the kind listed in the first paragraph, the request for removal is rejected. The examination is document against document.
No preliminary issue. Under Article 68(4), if the debtor is pursued for a debt of a deceased person and claims that the estate is insolvent, the debtor is given a suitable period to bring a judgment on that point. Apart from that case, the claims and defences raised cannot be made a preliminary issue (bekletici mesele) for accepting or rejecting the request.
When the creditor’s own signature is denied. Under Article 68(5), if the debtor produces a document and the creditor denies the signature on it, the judge examines it under the procedure in Article 68/a. If the judge concludes that the signature is the creditor’s, the request for removal is rejected and the creditor is ordered to pay a fine of ten per cent of the value or amount to which that document relates. If the creditor sues before the general court, enforcement of that fine is deferred until the end of the case, and the fine falls away if the creditor proves the claim and that the signature is not its own. Under Article 68(6), where a creditor who is not personally present has the signature denied through its lawyer, the lawyer must have the client present at the next session for signature comparison or pay for a summons; a creditor who does not attend without an acceptable excuse is deemed to have withdrawn the request for removal concerning the amount in the debtor’s document. A creditor based abroad should plan for this paragraph before denying a signature on the debtor’s document.
5. A Denied Signature: Temporary Removal and the Debtor’s Action (Articles 68/a and 69)
The request. Under Article 68/a(1), if the document underlying the enforcement is private and the debtor denied the signature in the objection, the creditor may ask for temporary removal of the objection within six months of notification of the objection. Under Article 66(2), where the debtor denied the signature, the creditor may at once ask the enforcement office to obtain signatures available for comparison.
The hearing. Under Article 68/a(2), a debtor within the area of the enforcement office must attend the hearing in person unless an excuse has been notified and documented beforehand; a debtor served outside that area is under the same duty if the court orders the debtor’s questioning by letter of request. Under Article 68/a(3), the court compares the denied signature with available signatures, or with writing and a signature the debtor is asked to produce, or relies on other evidence and indications; if it concludes that the signature belongs to the debtor, it orders temporary removal of the objection. The judge may obtain an examination by a court-appointed examiner (bilirkişi), in a way that does not cause the session to be postponed more than once.
Absence and fines. Under Article 68/a(5), if the debtor does not attend without the excuse described, the court orders temporary removal without examining any other point and fines the debtor ten per cent of the claim based on the document, provided that this consequence was written in the summons. Under Article 68/a(6), if the court decides the signature belongs to the debtor, it imposes the same ten per cent fine; enforcement of the fine is deferred if the debtor brings an action for release from debt, a negative declaratory action or a restitution action, and it falls away if the debtor wins. Under Article 68/a(7), a debtor who accepts the denied signature at the hearing, and at the latest at the session where the creditor produces the original document, is not fined and is not charged the costs of the proceedings, but a debtor who caused the enforcement in bad faith bears those costs. That paragraph does not apply where the original document was deposited with the enforcement office at the time of the request for enforcement and the payment order was served on the debtor within that office’s area.
After temporary removal. Under Article 69(1), if temporary removal is ordered and the period in the payment order has passed, a provisional attachment is placed on the debtor’s assets at the creditor’s request. Under Article 69(2), within seven days of the decision being pronounced or notified, the debtor may bring an action for release from debt (borçtan kurtulma davası) at the court of the place of enforcement or of the creditor’s domicile. The action is heard only if the debtor deposits fifteen per cent of the disputed claim in cash with the court by the first hearing date, or provides securities or a bank letter of guarantee of the same value accepted by the court; otherwise it is dismissed. Under Article 69(3), if the debtor does not sue within that period, or the action is dismissed, the removal decision and any provisional attachment become final. Under Article 69(4), a debtor who appeals the dismissal to the regional court of appeal may ask the enforcement office for time, subject to Article 36. Under Article 69(5), the side that loses the action for release from debt is ordered to pay a suitable indemnity of not less than twenty per cent of the claim or of the amount awarded.
6. The Indemnity: Who Pays and When It Is Deferred
The removal routes carry an indemnity in both directions, so a creditor’s request has a cost if it fails on the merits.
Definitive removal. Under Article 68(7), if the request for removal is accepted on grounds relating to the merits (esasa ilişkin nedenlerle), the debtor, and if it is rejected on the same grounds, the creditor, is ordered, on the other side’s request, to pay an indemnity of not less than twenty per cent. If the debtor brings a negative declaratory or restitution action, or the creditor sues before the general court, collection of the indemnity is deferred until the end of the case, and the indemnity previously awarded falls away for the side that wins that case. The Law No. 6352 amendment of 2012 replaced the earlier figure of forty per cent with twenty per cent in this paragraph.
Temporary removal. Article 68/a(8) applies the same structure: the debtor if the request is accepted, the creditor if it is rejected, on the other side’s request, not less than twenty per cent, with the same deferral where the debtor brings an action for release from debt, a negative declaratory or a restitution action, or the creditor sues before the general court.
Annulment of the objection. Under Article 67(2), in the action for annulment, the debtor is ordered to pay the indemnity if its objection is found unjustified, and the creditor if it is found unjustified and in bad faith in its enforcement, on the other side’s request, at not less than twenty per cent of the amount rejected or awarded, having regard to the circumstances of both sides, the case and what is awarded. Under Article 67(3), where the objecting party is a parent, guardian or heir, the indemnity against the debtor requires proof of bad faith.
The base. Article 67(6) provides that for the enforcement denial indemnity (icra inkâr tazminatı), the bad-faith indemnity and similar indemnities provided in the Law, the request for enforcement or the claim in the action is taken as the basis.
7. The Time Limits as the Code Writes Them
The periods below run from the events the Code names. Each is quoted from the provision, and the facts of each file decide when it starts.
- Seven days from service of the payment order for the debtor’s objection (Article 62(1)).
- Three days for the enforcement office to notify the objection to the creditor by memorandum (Article 62(2)).
- Six months from notification of the objection to the creditor to request definitive removal (Article 68(1)) or temporary removal (Article 68/a(1)).
- One year from notification of the objection for the action for annulment (Article 67(1)).
- Seven days from pronouncement or notification of temporary removal for the debtor’s action for release from debt (Article 69(2)).
- Seven days from notification of the objection for a creditor who has obtained an interim attachment, to ask for removal or to sue, and a further seven days to sue if the enforcement court rejects the request for removal (Article 264(2)).
- Six weeks from the mediator’s appointment for the mediator to conclude a commercial mediation application, which the mediator may extend by no more than two weeks where necessary (TCC Article 5/A(2)).
8. After Removal: Attachment and Interim Attachment
Attachment. Under Article 78(1), once the period in the payment order has passed and, where the debtor objected, the objection has been removed, the creditor may ask for attachment without waiting for the declaration of assets. Under Article 78(2), the right to request attachment lapses one year after notification of the payment order; the time from an objection or an action until the judgment becomes final is not counted, nor, where the creditor and debtor make an instalment agreement at the enforcement office, the time until that agreement is breached.
Interim attachment already in place. A creditor that obtained an interim attachment before starting enforcement is under tighter periods. Under Article 264(2), the creditor must, within seven days of notification of the objection, ask the enforcement court for removal of the objection or sue; if the enforcement court rejects the request, the creditor must sue within seven days of the decision being pronounced or notified. Under Article 264(4), if the creditor lets these periods pass, the interim attachment becomes void. Under Article 264(5), if the objection is definitively removed by the enforcement court or annulled by the court, the interim attachment turns into an executory attachment of its own accord. Our guide to interim attachment for foreign creditors covers how that attachment is obtained.
9. Choosing the Route: Points for a Foreign Creditor
The provisions above lead to a short set of questions to settle before the six-month and one-year periods run.
- Read the documents first. Does the file hold an acknowledgment of debt with an admitted or notarised signature, an official receipt or document, or a credit document within Article 68/b? If so, Article 68 is open; if not, Article 67 is the Code’s route, and where the document is private and the debtor denied the signature in the objection, Article 68/a may also be used.
- Check what the debtor actually objected to. A partial objection lets the proceedings continue for the accepted amount (Article 66(1)); a signature denial must appear expressly in the objection (Article 62), and it opens Article 68/a.
- Weigh the indemnity. A request rejected on grounds relating to the merits exposes the creditor to an indemnity of not less than twenty per cent (Article 68(7)).
- Plan attendance. Where the creditor is not personally present at the hearing and its lawyer has denied the signature on the debtor’s document, the lawyer must bring the creditor to the next session for signature comparison, or pay the costs and have a summons served; a creditor who fails to appear without an acceptable excuse is deemed to have abandoned the request for removal as regards the amount written in the document the debtor relies on (Article 68(6)).
- Mind the consequence of delay. Without a request within six months, enforcement without a judgment cannot be started again (Article 68(1)); a creditor who misses the one-year period keeps the right to sue under the general provisions (Article 67(5)).
- Mediation for annulment. For a commercial claim on a sum of money, the mediation application comes before the action for annulment (TCC Article 5/A(1)).
- Coordinate with any interim attachment. The seven-day periods in Article 264(2) are shorter than the six months in Article 68(1).
These steps sit inside a wider collection strategy. Our overview of debt collection and enforcement in Türkiye explains how the routes connect, and our debt collection practice page describes how we act for foreign creditors.
