As per the Turkish International Private and Procedure Law (herein shall be referred to as the “Law”), apart from the matters that Turkish courts have exclusive jurisdiction, parties of an agreement that contains a foreign element could choose the courts of a foreign jurisdiction to settle any disputes that might arise.
It should be noted that the Law only refers to the courts of a foreign jurisdiction and does not require any reference to specific courts in such jurisdiction.
However, recent rulings of the Turkish Supreme Court provide that when choosing foreign courts to have jurisdiction to settle disputes arising out of an agreement, the specific court in the relevant jurisdiction must be precisely referred to, rather than a general reference to the courts of such jurisdiction (e.g., “English courts”) as such a reference would be regarded as null and void. In this regard, Turkish Supreme Court states that the jurisdiction clause should not be considered by the Turkish courts unless the reference is made to a specific foreign court.
Please be informed that Turkish Supreme Court’s rulings are not binding for the courts of first instance in Turkey however the Courts tend to comply with the Supreme Court’s rulings therefore should the parties fail to specify the foreign Court he Turkish Court may decide that they have jurisdiction to hear the dispute.
If you need any assistance with Turkish law and disputes that might arise from contracts, please contact our team.
