The Istanbul attorneys who will run your file

Onur ÇALIŞICI

Founding Partner · Corporate, Commercial, Real Estate & Citizenship

Onur leads the firm’s transactional and investment work, guiding foreign clients through company formation, share transfers and commercial contracts under the Turkish Commercial Code (TTK) and Code of Obligations (TBK), as well as property acquisitions and citizenship-by-investment files. The detail that sinks most citizenship files is money: a valuation from the wrong firm, or payment routed through an account that does not match the buyer’s name. He structures the purchase so that a real-estate purchase still qualifies as an investment by the time the file reaches the Directorate.

He will tell you before you sign if a deal does not work, and he would rather lose the instruction than clean up the file two years later. Where one client is buying an apartment, forming a company and applying for a passport, all three sit in one file instead of with three lawyers who never speak to each other.

• Company formation, restructuring and commercial contracts (TTK & TBK)
• Real-estate acquisitions, due diligence and title-deed work
• Turkish citizenship by investment and residence-permit strategy
• Cross-border investment structuring for foreign clients

Oruç AYGÜN

Founding Partner · Criminal Defense, Enforcement & Fraud

Oruç heads the firm’s contentious practice, representing foreigners in criminal investigations and prosecutions under the Turkish Penal Code (TCK) and defending clients caught up in fraud, financial-crime and cross-border enforcement matters. He also drives debt recovery and enforcement proceedings under the Enforcement and Bankruptcy Law (İİK), acting for creditors and defending those facing unjust claims.

Turkish criminal procedure runs on deadlines, and most of the damage we see was done in the first 48 hours, before anyone called a lawyer. Summons, detention, entry ban: the useful call is the early one. More on our criminal defense page.

• Criminal defense and representation before Turkish courts (TCK, CMK)
• Fraud, financial crime and white-collar matters
• Debt recovery and enforcement proceedings (İİK)
• Entry-ban, statement and custody matters for foreigners

Enes Soysal

Attorney · Real Estate & Citizenship Applications

Enes runs the day-to-day of property and citizenship files: ordering the official valuation report, reading the tapu records before you commit, preparing the application and lodging it with the directorate. He tells clients when the file moves and, more usefully, when it has not.

Most rejections we see are paperwork, not law: a name spelled two ways across three documents, or a payment nobody can evidence. Avoiding that is most of the work on a citizenship and residency file.

Lokman AYGÜN

Trainee Lawyer · Litigation & Dispute Resolution

Lokman represents clients in civil and commercial disputes before the Turkish courts, handling contract, property and inheritance claims under the Civil Code (TMK) and Code of Obligations (TBK), as well as the recognition and enforcement of foreign judgments under private international law (MÖHUK). He will say early if a claim is not worth running, and he will say it before the court fees are paid rather than after.

A foreign judgment is worth nothing here until a Turkish court recognises it. That is the tenfiz action, and it has its own conditions under MÖHUK 5718 that a decision from your home court will not automatically satisfy. See our litigation and recognition & enforcement pages.