Two short documents come out of a Turkish civil mediation, and in English they are easy to confuse: the record that closes the process (son tutanak) and the agreement document that sets out what the parties undertook. Only the second can become enforceable, and whether it is enforceable depends on who signed it and on whether a court added an annotation. Law No. 6325 on Mediation in Civil Disputes governs both, and a party abroad usually receives them together with a request to sign or to pay.
Two documents, not one
Article 17(2) requires the outcome to be documented in a record showing that the parties agreed, did not agree, or how the activity otherwise ended; it is signed by the mediator and by the parties, their legal representatives or their lawyers, and where they do not sign, the mediator signs alone and states the reason. Article 18(1) then deals with the agreement: its scope is determined by the parties, and where an agreement document is drawn up it is signed by the parties and the mediator. In English the two are given two names and never merged, because a record signed by the mediator alone proves only how the process ended.
What the parties decide to put in it
Apart from the ending of the activity, it is for the parties to decide what else goes into the record (Article 17(3)), and the mediator explains the record and its consequences to them, informing absent parties by any means of communication. A record of three lines is therefore not an incomplete document but a choice the parties made, and a translation does not supply what the parties left out. The mediator keeps the notifications, the documents entrusted to them and the record for five years and sends a copy of the final record to the General Directorate within one month of the end of the activity (Article 17(4)).
The annotation that makes it enforceable
Under Article 18(2) the parties may ask for an annotation of enforceability to be placed on the agreement document. Where mediation was used before an action was brought, the request goes to the civil court of peace of the place where the mediator served; where it was used while a case was pending, to the court hearing that case. An agreement carrying the annotation is deemed a document in the nature of a judgment. That phrase is the heart of the page: the document is not itself a judgment, and calling it one in English overstates it, while calling it a private contract understates what the annotation added.
When no annotation is needed
Article 18(4) creates a second route in which the signature block does the work. Except where legislation makes an annotation compulsory, an agreement document signed jointly by the parties, their lawyers and the mediator, or in commercial disputes by the lawyers and the mediator, is deemed a document in the nature of a judgment without any annotation. Whether a Turkish mediation agreement can be acted on therefore depends on exactly which names and capacities appear at the foot of it. For that reason the signature block is translated field by field, with each capacity named, and a stamp or a bar number beside a signature is noted rather than passed over.
Review is limited, and it is on the file
Giving the annotation is a non-contentious judicial matter and the examination is made on the file, except in family law disputes suitable for mediation, where it is made with a hearing (Article 18(3)). The same paragraph limits that examination to whether the content of the agreement is suitable for mediation and for enforcement, and provides for a fixed court fee on the application and on an appeal against the decision, and for fixed stamp duty where the parties wish to use the agreement in another official transaction without having the annotation placed on it. The court therefore does not review the merits of the settlement, and the English text does not describe the annotation as an approval of its content. Notary, apostille and court fees are set by the authority, change every year and are not quoted on this site.
The record a court asks to see
In labour matters the record is a condition of getting into court at all. Under Article 3 of Law No. 7036 on Labour Courts, applying to a mediator is a condition of the action for claims and compensation of the employee or employer based on law or on an individual or collective agreement and for actions seeking reinstatement, and since 2023 the same applies to actions for the annulment of an objection, for negative declaration and for recovery concerning those claims. The claimant must attach the original of the final record stating that no agreement was reached, or a copy certified by the mediator; if it is missing, the court sends a notice granting a definite period of one week with a warning that the action will otherwise be rejected on procedural grounds. Article 18(5) closes the other side: no action may be brought on the matters agreed. This is the civil institution, and it does not share an English word with the mediation conducted in criminal procedure. Acte Tercüme translates Turkish mediation records, agreement documents and enforceability annotations into English, with every signature block as it stands.