These representative matters are anonymized examples of the types of cross-border work Serka Law Firm handles for international clients, spanning citizenship by investment, cross-border asset recovery, emergency criminal defence, foreign direct investment, and consumer protection. Each example sets out the client profile, the matter, the legal challenge, and the legal approach the work calls for, so you can understand how a specific cross-border problem is worked rather than read claims about results.
By Av. Serkan Kara, Istanbul Bar No. 53770. Last updated: 22 June 2026.
What is this page?
This page sets out representative types of matter handled by Serka Law Firm, an international legal practice founded in 2015 that advises cross-border clients on Turkish law. The examples are drawn from the kinds of files we work on and have been fully anonymized to protect client confidentiality. Identifying details have been removed; what remains is the legal substance, the instruments involved, and the way each kind of matter is approached.
Why we describe the legal substance instead of results
For an international client choosing counsel from another country, the most useful information is not a slogan but an understanding of how a problem is actually worked. Each example below names the legal mechanism that applies, a CMB-licensed valuation, a mortgage release, recognition under the New York Convention, a fraudulent conveyance action, an investment incentive certificate, or a Consumer Arbitration Committee filing, so you can see how a specific cross-border problem is approached and where the same method might apply to yours.
How to read each matter
- Client. The anonymized profile of who the matter is for.
- Matter. The legal objective or instruction.
- Challenge. The specific obstacle that makes this kind of matter difficult.
- Approach. The legal instruments and steps the matter calls for.
1. Turkish Citizenship by Investment, Real Estate Route
Client: Family of four (Gulf region nationality)
Matter: Citizenship by investment via real estate purchase
Challenge: A property is identified, but the developer’s title deed carries a mortgage annotation (ipotek) that would block the citizenship application, and the independent valuation returns a figure below the minimum investment threshold.
Approach: The work is to negotiate a mortgage release with the developer’s bank, obtain a revised valuation through a CMB-licensed appraisal company that reconciles against the threshold in force at the time of filing, and structure the purchase to satisfy every regulatory requirement before the application is submitted.
This is core citizenship by investment work: clearing title defects and reconciling the valuation against the threshold in force at the time of filing before the application is ever submitted.
2. International Asset Recovery, Cross-Border Enforcement
Client: European corporate entity
Matter: Recovery of unpaid receivables from a counterparty
Challenge: The debtor company has restructured and transferred assets to a newly formed entity. An ICC arbitration award needs to be recognized and enforced in court under the New York Convention, and the asset transfer requires a separate fraudulent conveyance (tasarrufun iptali) action.
Approach: The matter runs on two fronts at once: recognition and enforcement of the foreign award before the Istanbul Commercial Court under the New York Convention, and a fraudulent conveyance claim to reverse an asset transfer placed beyond reach. Coordinating the two is what makes cross-border recovery work where a debtor has moved assets.
This matter combines two of our cross-border strengths: enforcing a foreign award through international arbitration recognition, and recovering value through debt collection and execution when a debtor moves assets out of reach.
3. Airport Courthouse Representation, Emergency Criminal Defence
Client: Foreign national (CIS country)
Matter: Detention at an airport on an outstanding warrant
Challenge: A foreign national is detained during transit on a fraud complaint filed by a former business partner. The Airport Courthouse, the only airport-based courthouse in the country, requires legal representation for the initial hearing within 24 hours.
Approach: Time-critical detention calls for immediate appearance at the hearing, review of the case file, and presentation of the legal arguments on the nature of the complaint within the framework of the law. The first hours after a foreign national is held are where the work of the defence is concentrated.
Time-critical detentions of this kind sit within our criminal cases and jurisdiction practice, where the first hours after a foreign national is held are decisive for the defence.
4. Company Formation, Foreign Direct Investment Structure
Client: Technology startup (US-based founders)
Matter: Establishing a subsidiary for software development operations
Challenge: The founders need a corporate structure that qualifies for investment incentives, complies with US FCPA requirements, and allows efficient repatriation of profits. Work permits are needed for two non-resident directors.
Approach: The structure is built from the outset to hold together incentives, compliance, and profit transfer: a limited liability company (Ltd. Sti.) registered in the Commerce Registry, investment incentive certificates from the Ministry of Industry, work permits for the non-resident directors, and a profit-distribution mechanism that stays compliant across both jurisdictions.
This blends establishing companies with the wider foreign direct investment framework, so the structure qualifies for incentives and stays compliant across both jurisdictions from day one.
5. Consumer Protection, Unfair Commercial Practices
Client: Group of 12 foreign property buyers
Matter: Collective action against a real estate developer for misleading sales practices
Challenge: A developer marketed off-plan properties to foreign nationals with amenity promises (pool, gym, commercial centre) that were never delivered. Individual claims fall below the threshold for commercial court jurisdiction, but the collective damage is substantial, and language barriers complicate evidence gathering from buyers in several countries.
Approach: Where individual claims fall below the commercial-court threshold but the collective damage is real, the route is consumer arbitration: filing through the Consumer Arbitration Committees (Tuketici Hakem Heyeti) for each buyer, supported by a multilingual team that communicates with every client in their native language so the evidence holds together across countries.
Recovering damages for a group of cross-border claimants draws on our compensation lawsuits practice and the multilingual capacity that lets us run a single coordinated action across several countries.
What do these matters say about the firm?
Read together, these examples show a cross-border practice that works across citizenship, dispute resolution, criminal defence, corporate formation, and consumer protection, using named instruments and institutions rather than generalities. Serka Law Firm has worked in this way since 2015, with direct partner access and a multilingual team that communicates with clients in their own language across the 15 languages our work covers. That combination, real practice areas applied to real cross-border problems, is what each matter on this page is meant to illustrate.
How does an international client engage us?
If your situation resembles one of these matters, the first step is a confidential review of the facts, the documents, and your objective, so we can tell you candidly whether and how we can help. You can read more about the firm on our about us page, our firm profile, and our how we work page before you reach out.
To discuss a matter like the ones above and request a confidential consultation: contact Serka Law Firm.
General information, not legal advice, and not a representation about the outcome of any matter. Turkish law; verify your specific situation with qualified counsel.