These representative matters are a set of real, anonymised files that Serka Law Firm has handled for international clients, covering citizenship by investment, cross-border asset recovery, emergency criminal defense, foreign direct investment and consumer protection. Each summary names the client, the matter, the legal difficulty and the outcome, so that you can judge our experience by what was actually done rather than by claims about it.
Author: Av. Serkan Kara, Serka Law Firm. Last updated: 14 June 2026.
What is this page?
This page is a selection of representative matters handled by Serka Law Firm, an international practice that advises cross-border clients on Turkish law. Every matter below is taken from our own files and has been anonymised to protect client confidentiality. Identifying details have been removed, but the legal substance, the instruments used and the outcomes are real.
Why we show real matters instead of marketing claims
For an international client choosing a lawyer in another country, the most useful evidence is not a slogan but a track record. Each matter here names the specific mechanism that was used: a revised valuation, a mortgage release, recognition under the New York Convention, a fraudulent conveyance action, an investment incentive certificate or an application to the Consumer Arbitration Committee. That lets you see how a concrete cross-border problem was solved, and where the same approach may apply to yours.
How to read each matter
- Client. An anonymised profile of the party we acted for.
- Matter. The legal objective or instruction.
- Difficulty. The specific obstacle that made the file hard.
- Outcome. What was achieved, with the actual result.
1. Turkish citizenship by investment, the real estate route
Client: Family of four (Gulf region nationality)
Matter: Citizenship by investment through the purchase of real estate
Difficulty: The client had already identified a property, but the developer’s title deed carried a mortgage annotation (ipotek) that would have blocked the citizenship application. In addition, the independent valuation report returned a figure below the minimum investment threshold.
Outcome: We negotiated a mortgage release with the developer’s bank, obtained a revised valuation and structured the purchase so that it met every regulatory requirement. The family obtained citizenship within five months of submission, with no rejection by the authorities and no supplementary document request.
This is core citizenship by investment work: clearing title defects and bringing the valuation into line with the threshold in force on the application date, before the application is ever filed. Since 28 September 2026 the valuation for a citizenship purchase may be made by any valuation firm authorized by the Capital Markets Board of Türkiye (SPK), on a request through Web Tapu (from 4 March 2024 until then, only by GEDAŞ Gayrimenkul Değerleme A.Ş.), and since 9 December 2024 the amount is confirmed by the TTB that the land registry’s system builds from that report, which may be no more than twelve months older than the application for the citizenship transaction at the registry (TKGM circular Genelge 2024/4, as amended by the Makam Oluru of 28 September 2026, no. 21914825).
2. International asset recovery, cross-border enforcement
Client: European corporate entity
Matter: Recovery of unpaid receivables from a counterparty
Difficulty: The debtor company had restructured and transferred its assets to a newly formed entity. The original ICC arbitral award had to be recognized and enforced before the Turkish courts under the New York Convention, and the asset transfer required a separate fraudulent conveyance action (tasarrufun iptali).
Outcome: The ICC award was recognized by the Istanbul Commercial Court within four months. The fraudulent conveyance claim succeeded and the asset transfer was reversed. Total recovery exceeded 85 per cent of the original claim, including accrued interest and legal costs.
This matter combined two of our cross-border strengths: enforcement of a foreign award through recognition in international arbitration, and recovery of value through debt collection and enforcement when a debtor moves assets out of reach.
3. Airport courthouse representation, emergency criminal defense
Client: Foreign national (CIS country)
Matter: Detention at Istanbul Airport on an outstanding warrant
Difficulty: The client was detained in transit on the basis of a fraud complaint filed by a former business partner. The Airport Courthouse, the only airport-based courthouse in the country, required immediate legal representation for the first hearing within twenty-four hours.
Outcome: We appeared at the airport courthouse within three hours of the call. After reviewing the file and showing that the complaint was commercially motivated, the court ordered release without a travel restriction. The underlying complaint was later dismissed for insufficient evidence.
Detentions that demand this kind of urgent response fall under our criminal cases and jurisdiction practice, where the first hours after a foreign national is detained often decide the outcome.
4. Company formation, foreign direct investment structure
Client: Technology start-up (US-based founders)
Matter: Establishing a Turkish subsidiary for software development operations
Difficulty: The founders needed a corporate structure that qualified for investment incentives, complied with US FCPA requirements and allowed efficient repatriation of profits. Work permits were required for two non-Turkish directors.
Outcome: We incorporated a limited liability company (Ltd. Sti.) registered with the Istanbul Trade Registry, obtained investment incentive certificates from the Ministry of Industry and Technology, secured work permits for both directors within forty-five days and structured a compliant profit distribution mechanism. The company was operational within eight weeks of engagement.
This combines establishing companies with the wider foreign direct investment framework, so that the structure qualifies for incentives and stays compliant in both jurisdictions from day one.
5. Consumer protection, unfair commercial practices
Client: Group of twelve foreign property buyers
Matter: Collective action against a developer for misleading sales practices
Difficulty: The developer had marketed off-plan units to foreign nationals with amenity promises (pool, gym, commercial center) that were never delivered. Individual claims fell below the threshold for commercial court jurisdiction, but the collective damage was substantial. Language barriers complicated evidence gathering from buyers in five different countries.
Outcome: We filed consumer arbitration applications for each buyer before the Consumer Arbitration Committees (Tuketici Hakem Heyeti), supported by our multilingual team, which wrote to every client in their own language. Eleven of the twelve files ended in compensation awards, and the developer complied once enforcement proceedings were opened.
Recovering losses for a group of cross-border claimants relies on our compensation claims practice and on the multilingual capacity that lets us run one coordinated file across several countries.
What do these matters say about the firm?
Taken together, these files show a cross-border practice that works across citizenship, dispute resolution, criminal defense, corporate formation and consumer protection, using named instruments and named institutions rather than general phrases. Serka Law Firm works this way, with direct access to the lawyer who runs the file and a multilingual team that writes to each client in their own language.
How can an international client reach us?
If your situation resembles one of these matters, tell us which one, what has happened so far and what you need to reach, on WhatsApp at +90 530 127 59 35 or by e-mail to info@serkalaw.com. You can read more about the firm on our about us page and on our how we work page before you get in touch.
The firm’s other written channels and its Istanbul address are listed on the contact page.
General information, not legal advice. Turkish law; verify your specific situation with a qualified lawyer.