Glossary

Legal Glossary

Short explanations of legal terms used across our articles. Use the link next to a definition for more detail on that term.

General Procedure

Power of Attorney: An official document, issued by a notary, by which one person authorizes a lawyer or another person to act on their behalf in specified matters.
Appeal (Regional Court of Appeal): A legal remedy allowing a first-instance court decision to be reviewed, both on questions of law and of fact, by a regional court of appeal.
Cassation Appeal: The final legal remedy, by which a regional court of appeal's decision is reviewed by the Court of Cassation for conformity with the law.
Amendment of Claim: A one-time procedural right allowing a claimant to amend their claim or the facts alleged, while proceedings are ongoing (Code of Civil Procedure Art. 176 et seq.).
Mandatory Mediation (Condition for Filing Suit): A statutory requirement, in certain dispute types (such as most employment and commercial receivable disputes), to attempt mediation before filing suit; a case filed without this step is dismissed on procedural grounds.
Precautionary Attachment: A protective measure by which a debtor's assets are provisionally seized by court order to secure the future recovery of a not-yet-final claim.
Court-Appointed Expert: A specialist appointed by the court to give an opinion on matters requiring special or technical knowledge; the report does not bind the court but is a significant basis for the decision.
Statute of Limitations: The period within which a claim must be asserted; once it lapses, the debtor gains a defence against having to pay. The claim itself does not disappear, but enforcing it through litigation becomes difficult.
Preclusive Period: Unlike a limitation period, a strict deadline that, once missed, extinguishes the right entirely and automatically; the court takes it into account of its own motion.
Court Fee: An official fee paid to the state when filing a lawsuit or performing certain legal transactions, varying by the subject matter or value of the case.
Submission of Documents to an Authority: The formal submission of a document (petition, receipt, contract, identification, etc.) to an official authority such as a bank, MASAK, a court, or a prosecutor's office. For example, submitting documents proving the source of funds to a bank or MASAK when objecting to a block directly affects the outcome of the process.

Family Law

Participation Claim: A monetary claim a spouse holds, upon dissolution of the marriage, to half of the increase in value of the other spouse's acquired property. It is a claim to money, not to the property itself.
Regime of Participation in Acquired Property: The default statutory property regime under Turkish law since 1 January 2002, applied unless spouses choose another regime by contract.
Residual Value: The value of a spouse's acquired property at liquidation, after deducting related debts. The participation claim equals half of this amount.
Value Increase Share: A separate claim arising when one spouse contributes, without compensation, to the acquisition or increased value of property belonging to the other spouse.
Contribution Share Claim: A claim available to spouses married before 1 January 2002 under separation of property, requiring proof of a concrete contribution to the other spouse's asset.
Simulation (Asset Shielding): A sham transaction that does not reflect the parties' real intent, made to mislead a third party such as a spouse or heir — for example, transferring an asset without a genuine sale during divorce proceedings.
Interim Injunction: A temporary protective court order preventing loss of a right until a case is resolved — for example, blocking the sale or transfer of an asset during litigation.
Custody: The bundle of rights and duties parents hold over a minor child's care, education, representation and property management. In divorce, the court awards custody based on the child's best interests.
Alimony / Maintenance: Court-ordered periodic payments: to a spouse who would otherwise face financial hardship after divorce, or for the needs of the couple's children.
Jewelry Claim: A claim, independent of the divorce case itself, for the return (or value) of wedding jewelry — treated as the wife's personal property — when it has not been returned or has been sold.
Mehr (Dower): A payment or item of value a husband undertakes to give his wife during or after a religious marriage ceremony. Not regulated as a distinct institution under Turkish law; where a written pledge or deed exists, courts treat it as a promise of gift (Turkish Code of Obligations Art. 286 et seq.) that can be enforced through litigation.
Uncontested / Contested Divorce: In an uncontested divorce, spouses agree in advance on the consequences (property, maintenance, custody) and can divorce in a single hearing; in a contested divorce, the parties disagree and the case proceeds through evidence-gathering and witness testimony.

Inheritance Law

Testator's Simulated Transfer: A transfer by which a testator disguises a gift as a sale in order to deprive an heir of their inheritance. Under settled case law such transfers may be annulled through a title deed cancellation action and are not subject to a limitation period.
Title Deed Cancellation and Registration Action: A lawsuit seeking cancellation of a property's title deed registration on the ground that it was created unlawfully, and re-registration in the name of the true right holder.
Certificate of Inheritance: An official document, obtainable from a civil court of peace or a notary, showing that a person is an heir and their share of the estate — used to prove heirship in banking, land registry and other official transactions.
Reserved (Forced Heirship) Share: The minimum inheritance share the law guarantees to certain heirs (descendants, parents, surviving spouse), which the testator cannot fully eliminate even by will or gift.
Abatement (Reduction) Action: A lawsuit seeking to reduce a testator's gifts or bequests to the legal limit, where they infringe upon the reserved shares of forced heirs.
Renunciation of Inheritance: An heir's declaration — made to a civil court of peace, orally or in writing, within three months of learning of the death — refusing the inheritance, typically to avoid assuming debts.
Termination of Co-Ownership: A lawsuit ending co-ownership of an asset (often inherited real estate) held by multiple people, either through sale or physical division, at the request of one co-owner.

Labour Law

Severance Pay: Compensation an employer pays a departing employee, for each full year of service, when employment ends under conditions defined by law (at least one year's tenure and specified termination reasons).
Notice Pay: Compensation owed by the party terminating an employment contract, when the statutory notice period is not observed, equal to the wages for that period.
Reinstatement Action: A lawsuit by which an employee covered by job security provisions seeks reinstatement, alleging dismissal without valid cause or proper procedure; mandatory mediation must be attempted first.
Workplace Mobbing: Systematic, sustained psychological pressure or mistreatment aimed at isolating an employee or forcing them to resign; may give rise to a right of just termination and compensation.

Criminal Law

Reconciliation Procedure: A mandatory procedure, for certain statutorily listed offences, in which a mediator helps the suspect/defendant and victim reach an agreement; a successful reconciliation prevents or ends public prosecution.
Judicial Control: An alternative to pretrial detention, under which a suspect or defendant remains free during the investigation or trial subject to obligations such as a travel ban or periodic reporting to a police station.
Deferral of the Announcement of the Verdict: A mechanism by which a conviction handed down under specified conditions is treated as never having occurred if the defendant commits no new intentional offence during a five-year supervision period.
Cybercrime / IT-Related Offence: Offences committed using computers, the internet, or mobile applications as a tool. In fraud cases this is an aggravating factor under Art. 158/1(f) of the Turkish Criminal Code and significantly increases the penalty; using a bank account or a payment institution (e.g. Papara, Paycell) or crypto-asset account to move criminal proceeds can fall within this scope.

Enforcement and Bankruptcy Law

Seizure (Attachment): The process by which a defaulting debtor's movable or immovable assets, or salary, are seized through the enforcement office and earmarked for satisfying the creditor's claim.
Action for Cancellation of Objection: A lawsuit filed by a creditor, after the debtor's objection has halted enforcement proceedings, to prove the objection unfounded and allow enforcement to resume.

Consumer Law

Defective Goods: Goods that do not conform to the qualities agreed by the parties or that objectively should be expected of them. A defect may be apparent at delivery or emerge only later (hidden).
Elective Remedies: A set of four remedies available to a buyer of defective goods, of which only one may be exercised: rescission, price reduction, free repair, or replacement with a defect-free equivalent.
Hidden Defect / Apparent Defect: An apparent defect is one detectable at delivery through ordinary examination; a hidden defect emerges only during use. The distinction directly affects notice periods and the burden of proof.
Proportional Method: The calculation method courts apply to a price-reduction claim: the ratio between a good's defect-free and defective market values is applied to the sale price.
Consumer Arbitration Board: A free, typically faster administrative body that consumers must apply to, below a statutory monetary threshold, before going to court in a consumer dispute.

Real Estate Law

Flat-for-Land Construction Contract: A contract, requiring formal execution, under which a landowner transfers land to a contractor who undertakes to build on it and deliver a defined share of the resulting units back to the landowner.
Right of Pre-emption: A statutory right (Turkish Civil Code Art. 732) allowing co-owners of shared property to acquire a co-owner's share sold to a third party by suing the buyer; since a 2025 amendment, the co-owner pays the market value set by the judge (Arts. 732-734).
Eviction for Default: A landlord's right, under Art. 315 of the Turkish Code of Obligations, to terminate the lease and seek eviction if the tenant fails to pay rent within the period (30 days for housing/business premises) set by a written notice.
Two Justified Notices: A rule (Art. 352/2 TCO) giving a landlord the right to seek eviction — within one month after the rental year ends — where justified written notices were sent for unpaid rent in two separate months of that same year.
Compensation for Unlawful Occupation: Compensation claimable from a person who has used real estate without the owner's consent, for the period of that use — a claim independent of rent and not requiring fault.
Mortgage: A limited real right registered against real estate at the land registry to secure a debt (typically a loan), giving the creditor the right to have the property sold if the debt is unpaid.
Right in Rem: A right that gives direct control over a thing and can be asserted against everyone (such as ownership, mortgage, or easement) — distinguished from a "claim right" (relative right), which can only be asserted against a specific person.
Easement (Right of Servitude): A limited right in rem, registered at the land registry, that restricts a property owner's rights for the benefit of another property or a specific person (Turkish Civil Code Art. 779 et seq.) — including rights of way, spring rights, and building rights — obliging the owner to tolerate a use or refrain from certain acts.

Commercial Law

Negotiable Instrument: A category of negotiable securities with statutorily defined formal requirements — cheques, promissory notes and bills of exchange — for which a special, expedited enforcement procedure is available if unpaid.
Ordinary Partnership: A contract-based partnership without separate legal personality, formed by two or more persons combining labour or assets toward a common purpose (Art. 620 et seq. TCO).
Commercial Receivable: A monetary claim arising from a commercial transaction or activity, evidenced by documents such as an invoice or current-account record, recoverable through enforcement proceedings or litigation.

Compensation Law

Service Fault (Public Liability): An administrative-law concept holding a public authority liable for harm arising from its failure to perform a duty properly or in time; asserted through a full remedy (tam yargı) action before the administrative court.
Full Remedy Action: A type of action (Art. 2, Administrative Procedure Law) brought before the administrative court by a person harmed by an administrative act or action, seeking compensation; a prior written application to the authority is required.
Indeterminate Claim Action: A former type of action (Art. 107, Code of Civil Procedure) that allowed a claimant to specify the amount claimed later in the proceedings where it could not be fully determined at filing. It was repealed by Law No. 7589 (Official Gazette, 31 July 2026) and replaced by a one-time right to increase the claim within a partial action (Art. 109(4)). Indeterminate claim actions filed before the law entered into force continue under the former rules.
Presumption of Innocence: A fundamental legal principle, guaranteed under Article 38 of the Constitution and international conventions, under which a person is presumed innocent until a final conviction is rendered.

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This page has been prepared solely to provide general information about our areas of practice; it does not constitute legal opinion or advice.