Debt Recovery and Enforcement Proceedings in Türkiye: What Foreign Creditors Should Know

A signed contract or an unpaid invoice is only as valuable as a creditor's ability to actually collect on it. For foreign creditors owed money by a Turkish debtor, Türkiye's enforcement system offers a real path to recovery — but it operates on its own procedural rules, and using it effectively requires understanding those rules from the start.

How Enforcement Proceedings Work

Türkiye's enforcement offices provide a structured process for pursuing an unpaid debt, generally beginning with a formal payment order to the debtor. If the debtor does not pay or formally object within the applicable period, the creditor can move toward seizing assets to satisfy the debt. If the debtor does object, the matter typically proceeds to litigation to establish the debt before enforcement can continue — which makes how the underlying claim was documented, long before any dispute arose, unexpectedly important.

What Foreign Creditors Should Prepare For

Clear documentation of the underlying debt — contracts, invoices, delivery records, correspondence acknowledging the amount owed — significantly strengthens an enforcement case and shortens the path to recovery. Foreign creditors should also expect that locating and identifying the debtor's assets in Türkiye is often a necessary step in its own right, separate from establishing that the debt is owed.

• Assembling clear documentary evidence of the debt before proceedings begin
• Understanding the payment-order process and the debtor's objection rights
• Identifying recoverable assets in Türkiye as part of the enforcement strategy

Winning the argument that a debt is owed and actually recovering it are two different problems, and enforcement proceedings exist to solve the second one.

How POA Helps

We represent foreign creditors in enforcement proceedings against Turkish debtors, from preparing the initial payment order through litigation and asset recovery where the debtor objects.