Received a payment order in Türkiye? Objecting within seven days, disputing the debt or the signature, and what happens next

Sometimes it is a notification in e-Devlet, sometimes a notice taped to your door: enforcement proceedings have been started against you and a payment order has been issued. Under Turkish law a creditor can start enforcement proceedings without a court judgment, and the enforcement office does not examine at this stage whether the debt really exists. That is why the debtor's strongest defence is a timely objection to the payment order. Even a short objection made at the right time can halt the proceedings; once the deadline passes, the way to attachment opens even if the debt does not actually exist. This article explains how many days you have in each type of proceeding, how to write the objection and what happens afterwards.

First, identify the type of proceeding

The top of the payment order states the type of proceeding and the form number. Deadlines and the place to object depend on the type, so this is the first thing to read.

Where enforcement is based on a judgment, the existence of the debt has already been decided by a court. The debtor can therefore only argue that, after the judgment was given, the debt was paid, deferred or became time-barred (Enforcement and Bankruptcy Law No. 2004, Article 33). We cover the special rules for rent proceedings in our article on evicting a tenant. The rest of this article focuses on the two most common types: general enforcement and proceedings based on negotiable instruments.

When does the deadline start and end?

The period starts on the day after the payment order is served on you. The day service is deemed to have taken place depends on how it was made:

• With electronic service, service is deemed made at the end of the fifth day after the document reaches your electronic address (Notification Law No. 7201, Article 7/a).
• If you are not found at your address, the document is left with the neighbourhood headman (muhtar) and a notice is attached to your door; service is deemed made on the day the notice is attached (Article 21).
• If the last day falls on an official holiday, the period ends on the first working day after the holiday.

How do you object?

In general enforcement, the objection is made to the enforcement office conducting the proceedings, either in a petition or orally; an oral objection is recorded in minutes. If you have an electronic or mobile signature, you can also file a petition through the UYAP Citizen Portal. The most common mistake is to file the objection with a court rather than the enforcement office.

After the objection: the creditor's options

A timely objection halts the proceedings; no attachment can be made unless the objection is removed. A creditor who wants to continue has three routes.

Removal of the objection is fast but narrow: the enforcement court as a rule decides on the documents, and the debtor can only show by documents of a similar kind that the debt was paid, deferred or became time-barred. These decisions are not final on whether the debt exists; either party may still sue in a civil court.

The action to set aside the objection is a full trial in which the existence of the debt is argued with all types of evidence. Where the dispute is one for which mediation is a precondition to suing (for example commercial receivables, rent, employment and some consumer disputes), the creditor must apply to a mediator first; the time spent in mediation does not count towards the one-year period.

Compensation for denial of debt and for bad faith

If the objection is removed or set aside, the debtor may be ordered, on request, to pay compensation for denial of debt of no less than twenty per cent of the claim (Articles 67/2 and 68). This requires the claim to be fixed or ascertainable. Conversely, if the proceedings are found to be unjustified and in bad faith, the creditor may be ordered to pay bad-faith compensation at the same rate. An objection is therefore a right where the debt is genuinely disputed; an objection made only to gain time can add twenty per cent to the debt.

Cheques and notes: five days, before the enforcement court

Proceedings based on cheques, promissory notes and bills of exchange give the creditor a faster route and narrow the debtor's defences. After service of the payment order, the debtor is called on to pay within ten days and to raise objections and complaints with the enforcement court within five days (Article 168).

In these proceedings an objection does not halt enforcement by itself. If the enforcement court considers the objection serious, it may order a temporary stay. If an objection to the signature is rejected and the proceedings had been stayed, the debtor may be ordered to pay compensation of no less than twenty per cent of the claim and a fine of ten per cent. Broader defences, such as that no consideration was given or that the underlying relationship never existed, often do not fit within the enforcement court's narrow review and call for a separate action in a civil court.

If you missed the deadline

Missing the deadline does not close every door, but the remaining routes are narrower, costlier and less certain.

• Late objection (Article 65): If an obstacle that was not your fault, such as serious illness, detention or a natural disaster, prevented you from objecting in time, you may apply to the enforcement court within three days of the obstacle ending. The evidence of the excuse and the grounds of objection must be submitted within the same period. This route is available until the realisation of assets is complete.
• Action for a negative declaration and restitution (Article 72): You can sue in a civil court for a declaration that you do not owe the debt. Once proceedings are under way, the scope for halting them by an interim measure in such an action is limited. If you were forced to pay, an action for restitution can be filed within one year of full payment.

If you do not object: finality, declaration of assets and attachment

Proceedings that are not objected to in time become final, and the creditor may request attachment. Finality does not amount to a final court judgment on the existence of the debt, but from that point the debtor, even if in the right, has to bring their own lawsuit.

• If you neither object nor pay, you must declare your assets within the period stated in the payment order (Article 74). On the creditor's request, a debtor who fails to do so may be subjected to coercive detention of up to three months, which ends once the declaration is made.
• Salaries and wages may be attached at a rate set by the enforcement officer of no less than one quarter (Article 83). Maintenance claims take priority.
• Pensions paid by the Social Security Institution cannot, as a rule, be attached, except for maintenance debts and the Institution's own receivables (Law No. 5510, Article 93).

Common mistakes

Legislation and sources

• Enforcement and Bankruptcy Law No. 2004: Arts. 16, 33, 60-72, 74, 83 and 167-170
• Notification Law No. 7201: Arts. 7/a, 21 and 32
• Turkish Commercial Code No. 6102: Arts. 749 and 814 (limitation for notes and cheques)
• Social Insurance and General Health Insurance Law No. 5510: Art. 93

The current texts of Turkish laws and regulations are available on the official Legislation Information System, and decisions and amendments in the Official Gazette.

If you would like us to assess enforcement proceedings started against you, or to start proceedings to collect a debt owed to you, please contact us. For other matters, see our Enforcement & Insolvency page.