When a case is brought in Türkiye against a company or a person abroad, one of the first documents to reach them is the statement of claim (dava dilekçesi); where a translation is attached, Turkish service rules set its language as that of the country where the addressee is (Service Regulation, Article 40(1)). Article 119 of the Code of Civil Procedure (HMK, Law No. 6100) fixes the parts of the document, and the translation keeps each of them visible.
Ten items and the headings around them
Article 119(1) lists ten items, marked (a) to (h) with the letters of the Turkish alphabet: the court; the names and addresses of the claimant and the defendant; the claimant’s Turkish identity number; any legal representatives and counsel; the subject of the claim and, in claims over property rights, its value; the facts; the evidence for each fact; the legal grounds; the relief sought; and the signature. The law lists contents, not headings. Headings such as AÇIKLAMALAR (explanations) or SONUÇ VE İSTEM (conclusion and request) are drafting custom, and the translation renders whatever headings the drafter used.
Court, parties and identity number
The name of the court, for example a numbered civil court of first instance in a given city, is an institutional name: a descriptive English equivalent at the first mention with the Turkish name in brackets, and the number and city never altered. The identity number under item (c) is copied exactly, with its label explained as the Turkish national identity number. A company appears under its registered trade name, which is not translated.
Subject and value
Item (d) states what the claim is about and, where property rights are at stake, the value of the subject matter. The value stays in Turkish lira as written; converting it would put a figure in the translation that the court never saw. Court fees and the costs advance (Article 120) do not appear in the petition text but on a separate receipt, which is translated as a document of its own if it is needed.
Numbered facts and their evidence
Item (e) requires clear summaries of all the facts on which the claim rests, under sequence numbers; item (f) links each alleged fact to the evidence meant to prove it. The numbering is part of the legal structure, not layout. The answer and later records refer back to these numbers, so a translation that reflows the paragraphs into continuous prose breaks every later cross-reference.
Legal grounds and the relief sought
Item (g) names the legal grounds relied on, usually by statute and article. Item (ğ) requires the relief sought (talep sonucu) to be stated clearly. English offers “relief sought”, “prayer for relief” or simply “requests”; “relief sought” is plain and carries no particular procedure with it. Whichever term is used, the requests keep their numbering and order, and nothing is added, merged or softened.
Signature, annexes and copies
Item (h) is the signature of the claimant, a legal representative or counsel; a petition filed through UYAP carries an electronic signature entry instead. The claim is deemed filed on the date the petition is registered, and a copy is attached for each defendant (Article 118(1)). Under Article 121, documents in hand are attached in original with copies, and documents held elsewhere are described precisely enough to be found. Each annex in the list at the end is a separate document for translation purposes.
Petition or statement of claim
The Turkish word dilekçe means petition, and Turkish procedure uses it for many filings, including the answer and the appeals, so “petition” alone does not tell a foreign reader which filing is in hand. “Statement of claim” identifies the document that opens the proceedings. The answer mirrors it: Article 129(1) lists its contents, again with numbered facts, and for a defendant abroad adds an address in Türkiye for the proceedings, so a Turkish address in a foreign company’s answer is a statutory requirement, not a translation error. Preliminary objections, such as an objection to jurisdiction where the jurisdiction rule is not exclusive, usually open the answer under their own heading and cannot be raised after it is filed (Article 131). Acte Tercüme translates Turkish statements of claim into English for defendants abroad, and their answers from English into Turkish.