Validity of Foreign Court Judgments in Turkey

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Recognition and Enforcement of Foreign Court Judgments in Turkey

It is not possible for court decisions issued in foreign countries to be valid in Turkey on their own. Foreigners who have a court decision issued in their own country or in another country must carry out certain procedures in Turkey. Otherwise, the judgment in question will not be valid in Turkey.

Let us first examine the difference between recognition and enforcement and then the procedure to be followed in detail.

What is Recognition of Foreign Court Judgments?

Recognition means the acceptance by Turkish courts of the legal validity of foreign court judgments. Recognition only acknowledges the existence and validity of the foreign judgment but does not guarantee its enforcement.

In order for the judgment to be recognized in this way, the court must determine that the conditions for enforcement are met.

What is Enforcement?

Enforcement means that the recognized court decision can be enforced. In other words, the enforced foreign court decision can now be enforced in Turkey. According to Law No. 5718 on Private International Law and Procedural Law, anyone who has a legal interest in the enforcement of the judgment may request enforcement.

Recognition and Enforcement Request and Conclusion

• The request for recognition and enforcement shall be made by petition.
• The petition shall be prepared according to the contents of the Law and the required documents shall be attached to the petition.
• The competent court is the Civil Court of First Instance. The person may apply by filing a petition to the Civil Court of First Instance where the defendant resides in Turkey. If the defendant is no longer residing in Turkey, the court of the last place of residence in Turkey is authorized. If the defendant has never resided in Turkey, the courts of Ankara, Istanbul or Izmir will be competent.
• The person may make this application in person or through a lawyer whom he/she has given special authorization.
• The petition for enforcement shall be served to the other party together with the hearing date.
• The competent court decides on the partial or full enforcement of the judgment, depending on whether the conditions set forth in the Law are met.
• In case recognition and enforcement are accepted, the relevant decision shall take effect from the moment the foreign court decision becomes final.
• Foreign judgments that are decided to be enforced shall be enforced like the judgments rendered by Turkish courts.
• The appeal of the decisions on the acceptance or rejection of the request for enforcement shall be subject to general provisions.
• Appeal shall stay the execution.

The elements that must be included in the petition, the additional documents and the necessary requirements should be addressed separately.

What are the elements that should be included in the petition?

Law No. 5718 on Private International Law and Procedural Law stipulates that certain information must be included in the petition for recognition and enforcement. The elements that must be included in the petition are as follows:

– The names, surnames and addresses of the party seeking enforcement, the other party, and their legal representatives and attorneys, if any.

– The state court from which the judgment subject to enforcement was rendered and the name of the court, the date and number of the judgment and the summary of the judgment.

– If enforcement is sought for a part of the judgment, which part it is.

The petition prepared in the application must contain this information. As many samples as the number of the opposing party shall be attached to the petition. In addition to this petition, some documents must also be submitted with the petition.

What are the documents to be attached to the petition?

These additional documents are as follows:

– Plaintiff’s ID and photocopy of it

– The original foreign court judgment duly certified by the authorities of that country or a copy certified by the judicial body issuing the judgment and a notarized Turkish translation thereof.

– The decision on the finalization of the judgment and the notarized Turkish translation of this decision.

– If the lawsuit will be filed with the attorney’s power of attorney, the special authorized power of attorney given to the attorney.

– Receipts for the payments made

The above-mentioned documents must be approved by a procedure called ‘apostille annotation’. Apostille annotation is a form of approval that verifies the authenticity and official validity of documents issued abroad. This annotation is issued by the competent authorities of the issuing country and ensures that the document can be used in another country.

What are the Conditions for Recognition and Enforcement?

There are certain conditions for the competent court to issue a recognition and enforcement decision. These conditions can be divided into two as prerequisites and essential conditions.

Prerequisites

The decision for recognition and enforcement must firstly be issued by a court. Even if it is not a court, it must have been issued by an authority that has the quality of a court in the foreign country in question. Decisions rendered by foreign administrative authorities are not subject to recognition and enforcement.

In addition, the court decision must be in the nature of a judgment.

The foreign court decision must be a decision regarding civil cases. In other words, the decisions must be decisions related to private law, not criminal law.

NOTE: However, an enforcement decision can also be requested for the provisions related to personal rights in the criminal judgments of foreign courts.

Finally, the foreign court decision must be finalized. If the judgment is not finalized, that is, if it is on the path of appeal or if the time required for finalization has not expired, recognition and enforcement cannot be requested. Whether the judgment has become final or not will be determined according to the law of the country that rendered the judgment.

Essential Conditions

Law No. 5718 on Private International Law and Procedural Law requires us to examine the substantive conditions in order.

First of all, the condition of reciprocity appears before us. Reciprocity means ‘reciprocity’. In other words, the country whose judgment is to be enforced must also recognize the judgments rendered by Turkish courts. This agreement may be an international agreement, or it may be in the form of an article of law or actual practice.

NOTE: Reciprocity is not a condition for recognition. It is only required for enforcement. Because the main purpose is to enforce the court decision.

As a second condition, the judgment must be rendered in a matter that does not fall within the exclusive jurisdiction of Turkish courts. In Turkish law, there are strict jurisdiction rules in some matters. For example, cases related to the same property, some labor and consumer cases cannot be subject to recognition and enforcement.

The judgment rendered by the foreign court must not be clearly contrary to the Turkish public order. In other words, the recognition and enforcement of the judgment should not result in consequences contrary to the values of the society or contrary to the Constitution. Furthermore, the foreign court judgment must be enforceable in Turkey.

The defendant must have been able to exercise his/her right to a fair defense before the foreign court. In other words, the person must have been duly notified. After the person has been duly summoned to the court, he/she must have been represented in accordance with the law. In addition, if the decision is rendered in the absence of the person, the request for recognition and enforcement will be rejected. This is because the person’s right to a fair trial will be denied.

NOTE: The competent Civil Court of First Instance is only obliged to examine these conditions. The judge has a ‘prohibition of revision’. In other words, he/she does not have the right to review or check the conformity of the judgment rendered in the foreign court.

All the above-mentioned procedures and the procedure to be followed are also applicable in the execution of an administrative action in Turkey based on a foreign court judgment.

Statute of Limitations in Recognition and Enforcement

The Law does not stipulate a specific period of time to apply for recognition and enforcement of the judgment obtained from the foreign court. Therefore, a person may apply for recognition and enforcement at any time based on the foreign court announcement.

The period for the recognition and enforcement of the recognized and enforced judgment in Turkish law is 10 years. In other words, after the foreign court decision is recognized and enforced, there is a 10-year statute of limitations for its enforcement.

The statute of limitations for lawsuits to be filed based on this decision after recognition and enforcement is 1 year. This 1-year period starts from the recognition and enforcement decision.

Recognition and Enforcement of Arbitral Awards

Recognition and enforcement of arbitral awards rendered in a foreign country in Turkey is provided for in two different circumstances. The first one is the Law No. 5718 on Private International Law and Procedure and the New York Convention of 1958.

Due to the reservation made by Turkey, the recognition and enforcement of arbitral awards rendered only in commercial disputes and in countries that are parties to the treaty can be requested according to the New York Convention of 1958. If the country where the foreign arbitral award is sought to be recognized and enforced has not ratified the Convention, the recognition and enforcement of the foreign arbitral award may not be sought in accordance with the New York Convention, but in accordance with the provisions of the provisions of the Law on Civil Procedure No. 5718.

Foreign arbitral awards that are final and enforceable or binding on the parties may be enforced. Enforcement of foreign arbitral awards shall be requested by petition to the Court of First Instance in the place agreed upon in writing by the parties. In the absence of such an agreement between the parties, the court of the place of domicile of the party against whom the award is rendered in Turkey, or if that is not the case, the court of the place where the goods subject to enforcement are located, shall be deemed competent.

The competent court for the recognition and enforcement of foreign arbitral awards, whether the dispute is commercial or not, is the Civil Court of First Instance.

The party seeking enforcement of a foreign arbitral award may apply to the court with a petition. Some documents must be submitted together with this petition. These documents are as follows:

• The original or duly certified copy of the arbitration agreement or clause.
• The duly finalized and enforceable arbitral award
• The original or duly certified copy of the arbitral award that is binding for the parties.
• Notarized and duly certified copies of the above-mentioned documents must also be submitted with the petition.

The petition and documents shall be prepared in the number of the opposing parties. The petition regarding the request for enforcement shall be notified to the opposing party together with the date of the hearing.

Foreign arbitral awards that have been ordered to be enforced shall be enforced as if they had been rendered by Turkish courts. The court may decide to partially or fully enforce the relevant arbitral award or to reject the request.

The court may refuse the recognition and enforcement of foreign arbitral awards in certain circumstances. These grounds for refusal are explained in detail in Article 62 of the LPCL. The appeal of the decisions on the acceptance or rejection of the request for enforcement is subject to the general provisions. The appeal suspends the execution.

Recognition and Enforcement of Divorce Abroad in Turkey

Recognition and enforcement of divorce judgments are requested for different reasons. In the recognition of divorce, it is aimed that the divorce decree issued in a foreign country can be considered valid in Turkey. In the enforcement of the divorce, it is aimed to be able to fulfill these executions in the presence of situations that need to be executed in addition to the recognized divorce decision. In other words, if the divorce decision is not enforceable, recognition will be sufficient.

Recognition of Divorce

Article 27/A was added to the Population Services Law in 2018. This article provides convenience to foreigners who want the relevant divorce decree to be valid in Turkey. According to the Article, divorce decrees issued by competent judicial or administrative authorities in a foreign country shall be registered in the civil registry if they are duly finalized and are not clearly contrary to the Turkish public order.

The persons may go together to the Population Directorates in Turkey and to the foreign representative offices abroad to have the divorce decision registered in the civil registry. If the divorced spouse of the person is deceased or a foreigner, the other party who is a Turkish citizen or his/her attorney can make this application alone

If the conditions are not fulfilled and therefore the registration process is not carried out by the civil registry office, the procedures set out in the Civil Procedure Law should be applied for recognition.

Enforcement of Divorce

If the divorced persons want not only the divorce to be valid in Turkey, but also to benefit from some of the rights brought by the divorce, they should file an enforcement case.

The general conditions for recognition and enforcement apply here in the same way. There are some differences only in some issues. There are 4 types of decisions related to divorce that may be subject to enforcement.

• Custody
• Compensation
• Property Sharing
• Alimony (Poverty and Attachment)

After the enforcement of the divorce judgment, the above-mentioned judgments become enforceable in Turkey.

General recognition and enforcement cases were filed in the Civil Courts of First Instance. The recognition and enforcement of the divorce judgment is filed in the Family Court. The Family Court is authorized in the place of residence or domicile of the defendant. If both are not available, the case can be filed in Ankara, Istanbul or Izmir courts.

Why Us?

As Güneş & Güneş Law Office, we would like to emphasize the importance of recognition and enforcement cases in legal processes. Recognition and enforcement involves the steps necessary for international court decisions to be valid in local legal systems. These processes can often be problematic due to complex legal issues and different jurisdictions between the parties. Our specialized lawyers protect the rights of our clients by providing legal support at every stage of these proceedings, from the issuance of court documents to the enforceability of judgments. Recognition and enforcement cases play an important role not only in commercial relations but also in personal matters such as family law. Güneş & Güneş Law Office provides the necessary legal support to secure its clients’ rights arising from international law. You can contact us for detailed information and support.

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