Criminal Law & Defence in Türkiye

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, certain corporate offences carry their own rules: banking offences, tax violations, customs investigations, and IP infringement crimes each sit in separate legislation that layers onto the general framework.

• 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 (KYOK) 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) within 2-week statutory windows running from service of the reasoned judgment (see our guide on CMK appellate procedure).

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.

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 stay on the file for years; not making a statement until counsel arrives is a legal right.

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.
• On detention, argue 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:

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.

• 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.

In white-collar cases, rhetoric is rarely what matters. What is decisive is getting into the numbers early and thoroughly, which is why expert input is considered from the outset rather than on the eve of trial.

These cases are decided on detail. Where the file requires it, we obtain independent expert opinion 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.

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