TÜRKIYE Law and Practice Contributed by: Faruk Aktay, Ayşe Müge Aktay and İrina Gül Coşkun, Aktay Law Firm
Act. The court issues an enforcement order unless one of the limited refusal grounds applies. Arbitral awards may also be challenged by an annulment action only on the statutory grounds provided in the relevant leg- islation. 13.2 Subject Matters Not Referred to Arbitration Under Turkish law, only disputes involving rights that the parties may freely dispose of can be submitted to arbitration. Accordingly, criminal matters; family law issues concerning personal status, bankruptcy and insolvency proceedings; and administrative disputes involving the exercise of public authority are non-arbi- trable. Civil and commercial disputes of a disposable nature remain generally arbitrable. 13.3 Circumstances to Challenge an Arbitral Award Arbitral awards in Türkiye may only be challenged through an annulment action on limited statutory grounds. These include invalidity of the arbitration agreement, improper constitution of the tribunal, the tribunal exceeding its authority, violations of due- process rights such as lack of notice or inability to present a defence, and situations where the dispute is non-arbitrable or the award is contrary to public order. Annulment applications are filed with the competent civil court of first instance at the seat of arbitration. 13.4 Procedure for Enforcing Domestic and Foreign Arbitration Domestic arbitral awards are enforced by applying to the competent civil court of first instance for an enforcement order. The court conducts only a lim- ited review, examining whether the award meets the statutory formal requirements and whether any public- order objections arise. Once the enforcement order is granted, the award is executed in the same manner as a court judgment.
Foreign arbitral awards are recognised and enforced under the New York Convention and Articles 60–63 of the Private International Law Act. The applicant must submit the authenticated award, the arbitration agreement and certified translations. The court issues an enforcement order unless one of the Convention’s refusal grounds – such as invalidity of the arbitration agreement, lack of due process, excess of author- ity, or conflict with Turkish public order – is estab- lished. Upon recognition and enforcement, the award becomes enforceable through the Turkish execution system. 14. Outlook 14.1 Proposals for Dispute Resolution Reform Türkiye continues to consider reforms aimed at accel- erating court proceedings and expanding the use of ADR. Recent legislative discussions have focused on further digitalisation of court processes, strengthen- ing mandatory mediation, and enhancing institutional arbitration frameworks. While several proposals are under evaluation by the Ministry of Justice, no spe- cific draft has yet been finalised or given a definitive implementation timeline. 14.2 Growth Areas Significant growth in commercial disputes in Türkiye is seen in cross-border trade; construction and infra- structure projects; banking and finance; and technol- ogy and intellectual property matters. E-commerce and consumer disputes have also increased with the expansion of digital markets and regulatory oversight. International contracts and multi-jurisdictional trans- actions continue to generate complex conflicts, lead- ing to greater reliance on arbitration and other ADR mechanisms for resolution.
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