TURKEY Trends and Developments Contributed by: Mehmet Karlı, Selim Can Bilgin, Tolga Bayrak and Gülnur Ceylan, Kabine Law Office
Arbitrating in Türkiye: A Practical Guide to What Has Changed and Why It Matters Anyone advising on Türkiye-connected disputes over the past year will have seen two developments moving in parallel. On the policy side, the Turkish government has taken a notable institutional step by directing cer - tain public-sector and state-linked contracts towards a Türkiye-based arbitration centre, namely the Organi - sation of Islamic Cooperation Arbitration Centre. On the judicial side, the Court of Cassation and regional appellate courts have continued to narrow the space for tactical objections in enforcement and set-aside proceedings. The result is a body of case law that is more consistent, more restrained in its use of public policy, and more deferential to arbitral finality. The numbers also suggest a market gaining momen - tum. According to the 2025 figures from the Inter - national Chamber of Commerce (ICC), Türkiye was the ninth most represented nationality among parties worldwide and the most represented within Central and South-East Europe. Turkish law was chosen as the governing law in seven newly registered cases, and Turkish nationals were confirmed or appointed as arbitrators 12 times during the year. The 2025 case - load of the Istanbul Arbitration Centre (ISTAC) points in the same direction at the domestic level: 263 new applications, still predominantly domestic in character, but extending beyond traditional commercial disputes into areas such as energy and construction. Women represented close to half of all appointed arbitrators. Taken together, these point to a jurisdiction whose arbitration practice is both expanding and diversifying. A new institutional anchor: the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation Arbitration Centre circular One of the most notable arbitration-related develop - ments in Türkiye over the past year came not from the courts but from the executive branch. On 16 April 2026, the Turkish Presidency issued Presidential Cir - cular No. 2026/3 (“Circular”), directing Turkish public institutions, state-owned enterprises and public-pri - vate partnership projects to consider the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation Arbitration Centre (OIC-AC), based in Istanbul, when drafting dispute resolution clauses.
The OIC-AC itself is not new. It was established pur - suant to the Host Country Agreement signed on 27 November 2019 between the Republic of Türkiye and the Islamic Chamber of Commerce, Industry and Agri - culture (now the Islamic Chamber of Commerce and Development), an affiliate of the Organisation of Islam - ic Cooperation (OIC), representing the private sectors of its 57 member states. In recent years, the OIC-AC has developed its institutional framework, including an international panel of arbitrators and, as of Janu - ary 2026, a new set of Arbitration Rules and Media - tion Rules. The Circular is significant as it elevates the OIC-AC from an available institutional option into one actively endorsed by the Turkish state. In practical terms, the Circular is likely to have sev - eral consequences. Turkish ministries, state-owned companies and public-private partnership project companies are now expected to consider OIC-AC arbitration or mediation clauses in contracts involv - ing counterparties from OIC member states. It extends beyond these actors to special-purpose vehicles used for sovereign bond and sukuk issuances, making it relevant not only to disputes practitioners, but also to lawyers involved in international debt and Islamic finance transactions. It also reaches backwards: par - ties to disputes already underway are invited to opt into OIC-AC jurisdiction mid-stream through a simple submission agreement, and Istanbul becomes the default seat wherever a contract is silent on the point, although nothing forecloses parties from agreeing on a different seat if they actually negotiate one. A related question is not only how the Circular will be implemented, but also what it may indicate in broader terms. Since August 2024, Türkiye has also been inserting the OIC-AC into the dispute resolution provisions of its newer bilateral investment treaties. This suggests that the Circular should be read not as a standalone administrative measure, but as part of a wider strategy to position Istanbul as the forum of choice for the 57-member OIC bloc, where institutions historically seated in Europe or Asia have tended to dominate. A further practical implication is that the Circular may matter even where the Turkish public sector is not the named contractual counterparty. Although the Circular
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