TURKEY Law and Practice Contributed by: Selim Can Bilgin, Tolga Bayrak, H. Orhun Atalay and Arda Ömer Kasap, Kabine Law Office
Kabine Law Office Büyükdere Cad. No. 195, D:6 34394, Levent,
Istanbul, TÜRKİYE
Tel: +90 212 278 64 13 Fax: +90 212 324 78 25 Email: info@kabinelaw.com Web: www.kabinelaw.com
1. General 1.1 Prevalence of Arbitration
for the recognition and enforcement of foreign arbitral awards. 1.2 Key Industries While the major international arbitral institutions do not publish sector-specific statistics limited to arbitra - tions seated in Türkiye or including Turkish parties, our experience suggests that construction, energy and manufacturing are among the sectors most frequently referred to international arbitration. These industries are characterised by high-value, technically complex and cross-border projects, making arbitration a pre - ferred dispute resolution mechanism. In particular, Turkish contractors have a significant international presence and consistently rank among the world’s leading international contractors. As a result, they are highly familiar with international arbitration and rou - tinely include arbitration clauses in their cross-border contracts. Parties in these sectors commonly opt for established international arbitral institutions for the resolution of disputes. On the other hand, according to ISTAC’s 2025 sta - tistics, domain name disputes account for the larg - est share of cases (17%), followed by vehicle leasing disputes (14%), manufacturing and services disputes (12%), and construction disputes (9%). The relatively high proportion of domain name disputes in ISTAC’s caseload is presumably attributable to ISTAC’s role as an authorised dispute resolution service provider for “.tr” domain name disputes.
Arbitration is becoming increasingly popular in both cross-border disputes and among domestic parties in high-value, complex commercial disputes. Several factors are involved in this trend. The signifi - cant caseload of the Turkish courts affects both the duration of proceedings and the level of attention that can be devoted to technically complex disputes. In addition, parties to commercial contracts are increas - ingly choosing foreign substantive laws to govern their contractual relationships. In such cases, arbitration is often preferred over litigation before the national courts, as it enables the parties to appoint arbitrators with expertise in the applicable law and the relevant sector. The increase in the selection of the Istanbul Arbitra - tion Centre (ISTAC) as the arbitration centre has also contributed to the selection of Türkiye as the seat of arbitration. With the steady increase in ISTAC’s case - load in recent years, an increasing number of inter - national arbitrations are being conducted with their seat in Türkiye. In addition, international arbitration is prevalent in the context of the recognition and enforcement of foreign arbitral awards. Turkish parties frequently engage in cross-border commercial transactions and often agree on a neutral seat of arbitration, such as Switzerland, England or other established arbitration jurisdictions. As a result, Turkish courts regularly hear applications
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