How to file a lawsuit in Turkey?
How to file a lawsuit in Turkey?
As per the article 36 of Constitution of the Republic of Turkey, titled as “Freedom to claim rights”, “Everyone has the right of litigation either as plaintiff or defendant and the right to a fair trial before the courts through legitimate means and procedures”. Consequently, someone who believe that his/her right has been violated within the frontiers of the Republic of Turkey shall claim his/her rights before competent courts. The first and most popular way of this search of right is obviously litigation. In this article, we will give you information about the procedure for filing a lawsuit before respective Turkish Courts.
Before filing the lawsuit, it is important to identify the core subject of dispute and the facts related to the latter. This reasoning is important since the competent court which shall have jurisdiction over the dispute will be determined based on the subject matter, parties and facts of the dispute. As an example; while the competent court having jurisdiction for disputes between an employee and employer shall be labor courts, the competent court over divorces between husbands and wives shall be family courts.
In order to file a lawsuit, one first needs to prepare a complaint and submit it to the court. However, that “petition” has to comply with form rules defined in code. The article 119 of the Civil Procedure Law foresees the obligatory elements that has to be included in a complaint. Accordingly;
A complaint has to contain:
1.Name of the court.
2. Names, surnames and addresses of plaintiff and defendant.
3. Republic of Turkey identification number of the plaintiff.
4. Names, surnames and addresses of parties’ attorneys if any.
5. Subject of the case and, in cases concerning property rights, the value of the case
6. Clear summaries of all facts that constitutes basis of the claim of plaintiff
7. All of the facts that has been claimed shall be proven by which evidence.
8. Legal basis based upon
9. Clear outcome of the claim
10. Signature of the plaintiff or his/her attorneys’
The true and complete redaction of the complaint is by far the most important issue of a claim. Indeed, a case is won by petition and it is also lost by petition. Therefore, professional assistance and the consultation of a lawyer has to be required while preparing a complaint.
After the completion of redaction of the complaint, one needs to have the way to courthouse which has been written in the complaint and submit the latter. If you have already hired an attorney, the lawsuit can be filed online via UYAP (“national judiciary informatics system”) without going physically to the courthouse. The complaint has to be printed as one more than the number of the parties. For example, if there are 2 parties in a case, 3 complaints have to be printed for 1 copy to stay on plaintiff, one copy to stay on court and the last copy to be notified to the defendant. If there are several competent courts in a courthouse which has jurisdiction, complaints are submitted via “allocation offices” which distributes filed cases to respective courts clerk offices. After the arrival of the complaint to the relative courts clerk’s office, the clerk’s office notifies the complaint to the defendant and so the litigation procedure begins.
In order to file a lawsuit, the claimant is generally responsible of paying 2 types of expanses which are legal fees and advance on cost. In cases subject to legal fees, the said expanses have to be paid by the party introducing the claim. Apart of legal fees, the plaintiff has to pay post and notification costs and viewing and expertise expenses on advance (if demanded) as advances on cost.
As Mogulkoc Attorneyship & Legal Consultancy, we follow-up carefully all of your litigation and other legal proceedings. If you have any question concerning our article, feel free to send us message via info@mogulkoc.av.tr our you can fill the contact form on our contact page. Our law office provides legal service to its clients in the process of litigation in an objective honest and devoted manner. If you want to file a lawsuit for your disputed situation, you can always contact us via addresses showed above.