Criminal Law & Defence in Türkiye

Criminal proceedings put a person’s liberty and a company’s future directly at stake. We represent suspects, defendants, complainants and victims across every phase of a Turkish criminal matter, and we act for both Turkish and foreign clients. Whether you have received a summons, learned of an investigation, or are already facing charges, involving counsel early helps ensure that your procedural rights — to counsel, to silence, and to challenge decisions within the statutory deadlines — are protected from the first step.

The legal framework

Criminal law in Türkiye rests on two core statutes:

• The Turkish Penal Code (TCK No. 5237) defines what conduct is a crime and sets the applicable penalties and security measures.
• The Code of Criminal Procedure (CMK No. 5271) governs the process: how investigations are opened, how statements are taken, when detention and arrest are permitted, and how a case moves through trial and appeal.

Understanding how these two work together is what separates an effective defence from a procedural misstep. Many outcomes are decided not at trial but in the early investigation phase, where deadlines are short and rights are easy to waive. Alongside these two codes, specialist offences carry their own rules — capital-markets crimes, banking offences, tax and customs violations each sit in separate legislation that layers onto the general framework.

How a criminal matter unfolds

For a client, the process usually moves through recognisable stages, and knowing what comes next removes much of the fear:

• Investigation (soruşturma). The public prosecutor gathers evidence. You may be called to give a statement or, in more serious cases, taken into short-term detention (gözaltı). This is the stage where the direction of the whole case is often set.
• Charging decision. The prosecutor either files an indictment (iddianame) and sends the case to court, or issues a decision of non-prosecution if the evidence does not support a charge.
• Trial (kovuşturma). The case is heard before the competent criminal court. Evidence is examined, witnesses are heard, and the defence is presented.
• Judgment and appeal. After the verdict, an unfavourable decision can be taken to the regional court of appeal (istinaf) and, where the law allows, to the Court of Cassation (Yargıtay).

Each transition has its own deadlines and its own openings for the defence. Missing a filing window can close a door that cannot be reopened, which is why representation from an early point matters so much.

Why representation matters early

The most important decisions in a criminal case are often made in the first hours. You have the right to counsel when giving a statement to the police (ifade) or the prosecutor, and to remain silent. A statement given without advice can be difficult to undo later — and in practice, an ill-considered first account is one of the most common reasons a defence becomes harder than it needed to be.

The single most damaging step in a Turkish criminal case is often giving a statement without a lawyer. What you say in the first hour can bind you for years — silence until counsel arrives is a right, not an admission.

We step in at that first stage to:

• Attend police and prosecutor statements with you and protect your right to silence.
• Explain the accusation and the evidence in plain terms, in English or Turkish.
• Ensure the official record reflects what you actually said, not an approximation.
• Move quickly on detention: arguing for release or for judicial control instead of arrest.

The three measures that restrict liberty during a case are easy to confuse, but the differences matter enormously in practice:

Measure	What it is	Who orders it
Detention (gözaltı)	Short-term police custody during the investigation, subject to strict time caps	Prosecutor’s instruction
Arrest (tutuklama)	Pre-trial imprisonment when specific legal grounds exist	A judge
Judicial control (adli kontrol)	Restrictions such as a travel ban, signature obligation or bail, imposed instead of arrest	A judge

Much of early defence work is aimed at moving a client down this table — from custody to freedom, or at worst from arrest to judicial control — because a defendant who remains free can participate in their own defence far more effectively.

What we do

Our criminal practice covers the full life of a case before the High Criminal Courts (Ağır Ceza Mahkemeleri), the Criminal Courts of First Instance (Asliye Ceza Mahkemeleri) and the Criminal Judgeships of Peace (Sulh Ceza Hâkimlikleri):

• Complaint petitions. Preparing criminal complaints and their evidentiary annexes for clients acting as complainants or victims.
• Statements and defence. Attending statements during investigation and prosecution, and acting as defence counsel throughout the trial.
• Objections and appeals. Challenging decisions of non-prosecution, contesting arrest (tutuklama) orders, and preparing appeals to the regional courts of appeal and the Court of Cassation.
• Detention matters. Seeking release, judicial control (adli kontrol) as an alternative to arrest, and visiting clients held in custody or serving sentence.
• Internal investigations. Advising companies conducting inquiries into suspected misconduct within their organisation, before the matter reaches the authorities.
• Case reporting. Keeping clients updated on developments and next steps in clear language as a file progresses.

What this means for you

For an individual, this translates into having someone at the table from the first statement who can stop a small problem becoming a large one. For a company, it means being able to respond to an allegation involving an employee, a director or the entity itself without improvising — with a defence strategy, an internal fact-finding process and a communications line that all point the same way.

---

Economic and white-collar crime

A significant part of our work involves financial and corporate offences, where the facts are technical and the exposure — for individuals and businesses — is high. We regularly handle:

• Fraud and fraudulent bankruptcy;
• Embezzlement, including in a banking context;
• Offences under capital-markets legislation;
• Tender rigging and bribery;
• Money laundering and tax-related offences.

In white-collar cases, rhetoric is rarely what matters. What is decisive is getting into the numbers earlier and more thoroughly than the prosecution — which is why we bring in forensic experts from the outset, not the eve of trial.

These cases are decided on detail. We work alongside forensic accountants and academic consultants in criminal law to test the evidence, challenge the methodology behind the prosecution’s figures, and build a defence that holds up under scrutiny. Because the paper trail is usually vast, disciplined early analysis often reveals the weak point that reshapes the whole file.

For companies, exposure often begins long before an indictment: a whistleblower report, a tax inspection or a counterparty’s complaint can quietly evolve into a criminal file. Treating that first signal seriously — preserving documents, interviewing the right people under privilege, and deciding early whether and how to engage with the authorities — is usually what separates a contained incident from a multi-year proceeding.

Working with us

We act for clients in Türkiye and abroad. With a power of attorney, we can review the case file, file petitions and objections, and appear before prosecutors and courts on your behalf, so distance is rarely an obstacle. Every matter is handled in strict confidence, with clear communication in English or Turkish at each stage, and without legalese that leaves you guessing about your own position.

If you or your company faces an investigation, a summons, or a charge in Türkiye, contact us for a confidential consultation — ideally before you give any statement.