We recommend that settle Turkish legal disputes by mediation NOW! Corona forces Turkish courts into de facto lockdown for 2020 If you want to end a Turkish legal dispute in the foreseeable future – settle by mediation!

If you have beef with a Turkish business partner, do not count on any help from Turkish civil or business courts during spring and summer 2020. While Turkish civil and commercial courts are officially still open and working, oral hearings are being postponed, stayed or outright cancelled.

In theory, Turkish court hearings can be conducted via video conference (skype, zoom etc), but most Turkish judges are sceptical and unfamiliar with these options. Pre Corona, this was simply not necessary and virtually no Turkish civil or business court judge has felt a need to consider an online video conference hearing. Without such oral hearings, the court cannot decide the case, unless the parties agree on settlement terms which will then be confirmed and sealed by the court.

Corona forces parties to settle unless they are prepared to wait 6-9 months. Therefore, try hard to settle any legal disputes as soon as possible! Even after the factual lockdown has ended (whenever that may be), it will take the Turkish civil and business courts many months to get a grip on their backlog of cases.

Another important aspect to consider is that due to the unavoidable recession in Turkey and around the world, in summer and fall of 2020 many Turkish defendants might be bankrupt. Thus, even if you eventually win the case, it will not do you  any good because chances are you might not be able to enforce the claim against the (bankrupt) Turkish defendant anymore. So, settle the dispute by mediation, cut your losses!