An arbitration seated in Türkiye under the International Arbitration Law (Law No. 4686) may be conducted in Turkish or in the official language of one of the States recognised by the Republic of Türkiye, and the parties choose inside that limit. This is a different question from enforcing a foreign award in Türkiye, which runs on rules of its own. Here the seat itself is in Türkiye and the file is bilingual from the first submission. What follows is the language provision, how far it reaches, and the two court points a party based abroad meets along the way.
What makes the arbitration international
Article 2 lists the circumstances that give a dispute the foreign element the Law requires. Among them are the parties to the arbitration agreement having their domicile, habitual residence or places of business in different States; those places lying in a State other than the seat of arbitration, other than the place where a substantial part of the obligations under the main contract is to be performed, or other than the place most closely connected with the subject of the dispute; at least one shareholder of the company party to the main contract having brought in foreign capital under the foreign investment legislation; and the main contract or legal relationship effecting a movement of capital or goods from one country to another.
Turkish, or the language of a recognised State
Article 10(C) opens with the limit rather than with the freedom: the arbitration may be conducted in Turkish or in the official language of one of the States recognised by the Republic of Türkiye. Inside that boundary the language or languages to be used are fixed by the parties and, where they have not agreed, by the arbitrator or the arbitral tribunal. A clause naming a language that is official nowhere, or official only in a State that Türkiye does not recognise, falls outside the wording of the provision.
How far the chosen language reaches
The same paragraph lists where the choice applies. Unless the parties’ agreement or an interlocutory decision of the arbitrators on the subject provides otherwise, the language or languages are used in all the parties’ written statements, at the hearings, in the arbitrators’ interlocutory decisions, in the final award and in the written notifications. That list repays reading item by item at the drafting stage, because it settles in advance the language of documents that will be produced years afterwards, the award among them.
A translation the tribunal can call for
Article 10(C) closes with a power rather than a duty: the arbitrator or the tribunal may decide that the documents the parties rely on be submitted together with a translation into the language or languages used in the arbitration. The provision names no certifier, prescribes no form for the translation and says nothing about who bears its cost. A party relying on a bundle in a third language is therefore better placed planning for such an order than waiting to see whether it comes.
The one year period for the award
Article 10(B) fixes the time in which the award on the merits is given, unless the parties agree otherwise: one year from the date the sole arbitrator was appointed in single arbitrator cases, or from the date the first meeting record of the tribunal was drawn up where there is more than one. The arbitration period may be extended by agreement of the parties or, failing agreement, by the civil court of first instance on the application of one of them; where that application is rejected the proceedings end at the expiry of the period, and the court’s decision on the point is final. A bilingual file has to fit inside that period.
The court a party abroad meets, and the waiver
Article 3 answers a question that arises early. For the tasks the Law states are to be performed by a court, the competent court is the civil court of first instance of the place of the defendant’s domicile, habitual residence or place of business, and where the defendant has none of these in Türkiye, the İstanbul Civil Court of First Instance. The same article adds that for problems arising from international arbitration the courts may intervene only in accordance with this Law. Article 15(A) provides that only a setting aside action lies against an award, before the regional court of appeal competent for the place of that civil court, heard as a matter of priority and urgency, within thirty days running from the date the award, or a correction, interpretation or completion decision, was notified to the parties; bringing the action stays enforcement of the award automatically. The same article lets parties waive the right partly or wholly, and parties whose domicile or habitual residence is outside Türkiye may waive it entirely by an express declaration in the arbitration agreement or by a later written agreement.
Which parts of the file are rendered
Acte Tercüme translates pleadings, exhibits, interlocutory decisions and awards between Turkish, English and French for arbitrations seated in Türkiye, and translates the petition and annexes of a setting aside action. Where the language of the proceedings has been fixed, that choice decides what is rendered and in which direction, and the operative part of an award goes across in full rather than in summary.