Case Reference: #2024-TR-0078

Client profile: German precision engineering manufacturer supplying components to the Turkish automotive sector. Annual revenue €200M.

Claim: €670,000 — six invoices for CNC-machined components delivered over a nine-month period to a Turkish Tier 2 supplier operating from Bursa's organised industrial zone (OIZ). All invoices denominated in euros, as per the supply agreement.

The situation

Turkey's automotive sector is the country's largest export industry, producing approximately 1.5 million vehicles annually. The sector's supply chain extends deep into Anatolia, with major OIZs in Bursa, Kocaeli, and Sakarya functioning as the backbone of Turkish manufacturing. European suppliers to this chain operate in a market where payment culture is shaped by currency volatility, relationship dynamics, and a commercial legal system that has undergone significant modernisation but retains procedural characteristics unfamiliar to most foreign creditors.

The Turkish supplier in this case had been a reliable partner for two years. When payments slowed, the financial director attributed the delay to the Turkish lira's depreciation against the euro — a plausible explanation given that the lira lost approximately 40% of its value against the euro over the preceding 18 months. Euro-denominated obligations had effectively become 40% more expensive in local currency terms.

Our client's credit department accepted this explanation for four months before engaging Intercol.

What we found

Our Istanbul team — which includes a former İcra Müdürü (execution office director) and a commercial lawyer with 20 years of Turkish automotive sector experience — conducted a due diligence assessment through the Turkish Trade Registry Gazette (Türkiye Ticaret Sicili Gazetesi) and the MERSIS (Central Registration System).

The results revealed that the supplier had undergone a quiet restructuring three months before the first missed payment. The company's two founding partners had separated their interests: Partner A retained the original entity (our client's debtor), while Partner B established a new company in the same OIZ, in the same manufacturing segment, with several of the original entity's key customer contracts. The original entity was being gradually hollowed out — retaining its supplier obligations while losing its customer revenue.

The currency explanation wasn't entirely false. The lira's depreciation had created pressure. But the non-payment wasn't caused by currency — it was caused by a deliberate restructuring that left the debtor entity with declining revenue and unchanged supplier obligations.

Deployment

Turkey's enforcement system operates through the İcra ve İflas Daireleri (Execution and Bankruptcy Offices), which function as part of the judiciary. For undisputed claims, the ilamsız icra takibi (execution without judgment) procedure allows creditors to file directly with the execution office without first obtaining a court judgment. The debtor then has seven days to object. If they don't object, the execution office proceeds to enforcement.

We filed an ilamsız icra takibi at the Bursa Execution Office for the full €670,000. The debtor objected within the seven-day window — as anticipated. The objection converted the proceeding to a court case at the Bursa Commercial Court (Asliye Ticaret Mahkemesi).

Simultaneously, we filed a ihtiyati haciz (precautionary attachment) application, presenting evidence of the debtor's asset transfer to Partner B's new entity. The Bursa court granted the attachment within 10 days, freezing the debtor's bank accounts at İş Bankası and Türkiye İş Bankası, as well as three CNC machines that our client's components had been manufactured on.

We also filed a separate action against Partner B's new entity under Turkish Commercial Code Article 202, which governs liability in corporate group transactions where one entity is systematically disadvantaged for the benefit of another. This filing was the pressure point. Partner B's new entity was bidding on a major Renault Turkey supply contract, and an outstanding lawsuit alleging fraudulent asset transfer would complicate due diligence on that bid.

Resolution

Partner B contacted our Istanbul office directly within two weeks of the Article 202 filing. A settlement was reached in which the original entity paid €520,000 immediately (funded by Partner B) and the remaining €150,000 within 90 days, secured by a promissory note (bono/senet) — which in Turkish law constitutes an independently enforceable instrument through the execution offices.

Total recovered: €670,000. Timeline: 74 days from mandate to completion of the final payment. The Article 202 action was withdrawn, and Partner B secured the Renault contract.

The Turkey intelligence note

Turkey's İcra system is faster than most international creditors expect. The ilamsız icra procedure can move from filing to enforcement in under three weeks if the debtor doesn't object. Even with an objection, the commercial courts in major industrial cities (Istanbul, Bursa, Ankara, Kocaeli) schedule hearings within three to five months.

The limitation period for commercial claims in Turkey is ten years (Turkish Code of Obligations, Article 146) — significantly longer than most European jurisdictions. This gives creditors more runway, but it also means that debtors have less urgency to settle unless enforcement pressure is applied.

If you're owed money by a Turkish entity and the explanation involves currency, supply chain disruption, or market conditions, brief our Istanbul team to determine whether the explanation is the whole story. In our experience, it usually isn't.