Criminal Defense & White-Collar

A criminal file in Türkiye moves in stages, and the stage you are in determines what can still be done. During the investigation the prosecutor gathers evidence and decides whether to indict; once an indictment is accepted the file becomes a prosecution before the competent criminal court; after judgment there is an appeal route through the regional courts and, where open, the Court of Cassation. Foreign suspects and defendants have the same procedural rights as Turkish nationals, including the right to a lawyer and to an interpreter.

What differs for a foreigner is everything around the case. A travel ban or a wanted record can surface at the airport with no prior warning. A file opened years ago may still be live. Consular notification exists but is not automatic in practice. And a defendant living abroad has to decide whether to appear, which is a strategic question, not merely a practical one.

White-collar exposure has its own logic: liability follows the person who held the authority, so a foreign director registered as legal representative can face personal exposure for acts of the company he or she never carried out.

The guides below cover custody rights, fraud and financial crime, executive liability, Interpol notices and extradition, and appeals. For fraud specifically see criminal law: fraud; for entry bans and removal see immigration and residence permits.