TURKEY Law and Practice Contributed by: Selim Can Bilgin, Tolga Bayrak, H. Orhun Atalay and Arda Ömer Kasap, Kabine Law Office
Accordingly, arbitral proceedings, including the par - ties’ submissions, evidence and the award, are gen - erally treated as confidential by the parties and the tribunal. Disclosure may be made where it is necessary in connection with court proceedings, or recognition or enforcement of the award, or to satisfy mandatory legal or regulatory obligations. For example, Article 61 of the IPPL requires the applicant in exequatur ( tenfiz ) proceedings to submit the original (or a duly certi - fied copy) of both the arbitration agreement and the arbitral award. Accordingly, disclosure of the award to the competent court is necessary for the purposes of recognition and enforcement. Similarly, although the IAL or the CCP do not expressly regulate the issue, the arbitral award must likewise be submitted to the competent court in setting-aside proceedings, mak - ing disclosure necessary for the exercise of judicial review. The formal requirements of an arbitral award are set out in Article 14 (A) of the IAL. An award must state: • the names, titles and addresses of the parties and, where applicable, their representatives and coun - sel; • the legal grounds and reasons on which the award is based, including the amount of any compensa - tion awarded; • the seat of arbitration and the date of the award; • the names and signatures of the arbitrator(s), together with any dissenting opinion; and • that the award may be challenged by way of a setting-aside action. 10. The Award 10.1 Legal Requirements As regards the time for rendering the award, Article 10 (B) of the IAL provides that the final award must be rendered within one year, unless the parties have agreed otherwise. Where the tribunal consists of a sole arbitrator, the period runs from the date of the arbitrator’s appointment; where the tribunal consists of three or more arbitrators, it runs from the date on which the minutes of the tribunal’s first meeting are
drawn up. In institutional arbitrations, however, the applicable institutional rules may prescribe a different time limit, in which case that time limit will apply. 10.2 Types of Remedies The remedies available in international arbitration under the IAL are determined by the substantive law governing the dispute rather than by the relevant Turk - ish procedural law. Accordingly, an arbitral tribunal seated in Türkiye may grant any remedy that is avail - able under the applicable substantive law and falls within the scope of the parties’ claims and the arbitra - tion agreement. Certain limitations may nevertheless arise at the set- ting-aside stage. In particular, an award may be set aside if the remedy granted is considered contrary to Turkish public policy. By way of example, punitive damages are regarded as incompatible with Turkish public policy. In addition, because arbitral awards are binding only upon the parties to the arbitration, rem - edies intended to create direct legal effects vis-à-vis third parties are subject to this limitation (see 13.5 Binding of Third Parties ). Lastly, disputes that are not arbitrable under Turkish law cannot be submitted to arbitration. Accordingly, an arbitral tribunal cannot render an award in relation to such disputes (see 3.2 Arbitrability ). 10.3 Recovering Interest and Legal Costs Both the IAL and the CCP adopt the principle that, unless the parties have agreed otherwise, the costs of the arbitration are borne by the unsuccessful party. Accordingly, the default position under Turkish law, for both international and domestic arbitrations, is the “costs follow the event” approach. Under Article 16 (B) of the IAL, recoverable arbitration costs include the legal fees in accordance with the Turkish Minimum Attorney Fee Schedule. However, the Court of Cassation has taken the view that this provision is not mandatory. In a 2024 decision, it held that an arbitral tribunal’s award of legal costs denomi - nated in a foreign currency did not constitute a ground for setting aside, noting that the applicable ICC Rules conferred broad discretion on the tribunal with respect
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