Law Numbered 7531 On Amendments To Certain Laws Was Published 15 November 2024

Some of the amendments made in the Law No.4721 Turkish Civil Code are as follows:
 

Article 286 of the Turkish Civil Code No. 4721 has been amended to give the mother the right to file a lawsuit for denial of paternity.  According to the revised Article 289 in this context, it has been determined that the mother may file this lawsuit within one year at the latest from birth.
 

Article 314 has been rearranged in accordance with the annulment provision of the Constitutional Court and in case of joint adoption, the names of the adoptive spouses can be written as mother and father.
 

Some of the amendments made in the Law No. 6325 on Mediation in Civil Disputes are as follows:
 

With the 6th paragraph added to Article 17/B, it has become possible for any of the parties to request registration from directorate of land registry office alone with the agreement document that has been annotated as enforceable regarding the immovable property.
 

Article 18/A-11 stipulating that the party who fails to attend the first meeting of the mediation without a valid excuse shall be held liable for the entire costs of the proceedings has been amended as "the party shall be held liable for half of the costs of the proceedings that the other party is obliged to pay".
 

With the phrase added to Article 20/2-E, it is now possible for professionals with 20 years of seniority in their profession to become mediators by receiving mediation training.
 

Some of the amendments made in Amendments to Law No. 2004 on Execution and Bankruptcy are as follows:
 

Pursuant to the amendment made in paragraph 111/b-4 of the Execution and Bankruptcy Law regarding the sales made by auction in electronic environment; it is regulated that the difference between the offers cannot be "less than one thousandth of the estimated value and in any case less than one thousand Turkish liras".
 

In e-sales conducted by way of auction, the extension period can be extended up to one hour with periods of 3 minutes each, starting from each new offer.

Some amendments made in Law No. 5235 on the Establishment, Duties and Powers of the Courts of First Instance and Regional Courts of Appeal are as follows:

Article 35/A titled "Work Division Review of Civil Chambers" has been added to the Law No. 5325. In this context, it is envisaged that the civil chamber to which the file is sent for the appeal examination shall conduct a preliminary examination and decide on the duty within 1 month. The civil chamber, which receives the file upon the referral decision, will notify its opinion that it does not have jurisdiction as a result of the preliminary examination within 2 weeks. After these periods, a decision on referral cannot be made.
 

These amendments entered into force as of the date of publication of the Law in the Official Gazette.
 

Amendments made in article 73/2 of the Turkish Criminal Code No. 5237 are as follows:
 

With the amendment, an exception has been introduced for the offense of libel in terms of the exercise of the right of complaint. As it is known, a complaint period of 6 months is foreseen for the offenses subject to complaint. The relevant period starts from the day the person who has the right to file a complaint knows or learns about the act and the perpetrator, without prejudice to the statute of limitations for lawsuits and penalties.  The amendment stipulates a period of 2 years as the upper limit of this period for the offense of defamation, rather than the statute of limitations as in other offenses. In this case, if the complainant learned about the act and the perpetrator later, he/she will lose the right to file a complaint after 2 years have passed since the offense.
 

This amendment shall not apply to files that are in the investigation or prosecution phase on the effective date of 14.11.2024.

Amendments made in article 75/6 of Law No. 5237 are as follows:
 

With the amendment, the offense of libel committed by means of an audio, written or video message; the offense committed due to the declaration, change or dissemination of religious, political, social, philosophical beliefs, thoughts and convictions, acting in accordance with the orders and prohibitions of the religion to which the person belongs, and the offense committed by mentioning the values considered sacred according to the religion to which the person belongs are included in the scope of the prepayment. For this reason, if the prepayment amount to be determined within the scope of the investigation initiated regarding the listed cases of the offense of libel is paid within ten days upon the notification to be made by the Public Prosecutor's Office, a public case will not be opened against the suspect.
 

This amendment shall not apply to files under investigation or prosecution as of the effective date of 14.11.2024.

Amendments made in article 253/3 of the Criminal Procedure Law No. 5271 are as follows:

With the amendment, the offense of libel committed through an audio, written or video message has been excluded from the scope of reconciliation. 
 

This amendment shall not apply to files under investigation or prosecution as of the effective date of 14.11.2024.

Amendments made in article 253/4 of the Criminal Procedure Law No. 5271 are as follows:

With the amendment made, within the scope of the investigation carried out in terms of crimes subject to reconciliation, if the suspect, the victim or the injured party does not notify his/her decision within three days after the reconciliation offer is made to him/her, he/she is considered to have rejected the offer, this period has been increased to 7 days.
 

Amendments made in Article 253/19 of the Criminal Procedure Law No. 5271 are as follows:

The amendment stipulates that in the event of reconciliation, a lawsuit for compensation cannot be filed due to the offense under investigation, except for damages that cannot be determined at the time of reconciliation or that arise after reconciliation. Therefore, in cases where the amount of damage can already be determined and in cases where no damage arises later, the reconciliation will result in the waiver of the compensation claim.
 

Amendments made in Article 253/24 of the Criminal Procedure Law No. 5271 are as follows:

With the amendment, graduation from a law faculty has become a condition for being a conciliator. This amendment will not apply to those who were successful in the conciliator written exams held before the effective date of 14.11.2024.

Amendments made in Article 254/2 of the Criminal Procedure Law No. 5271 are as follows:

With the amendment made, if the fulfillment of the act to be determined within the scope of reconciliation by the defendant is postponed to a later date, is tied to instalments or is continuous; it has been ruled that a decision to stop will be made, the lawsuit and criminal statute of limitations will not be processed in this process, and if the defendant does not fulfil the requirements of the reconciliation, the trial will continue from where it was left off. This amendment shall not apply to the files in which a deferment of the announcement of the verdict.

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¹ https://www.resmigazete.gov.tr/ eskiler/ 2024/ 10/ 20241030-4.htm (Çevrimiçi) (Erişim Tarihi: 04.11.2024)
https://www.resmigazete.gov.tr/ eskiler/ 2024/ 10/ 20241030-4.htm (Online) (Access Date: 04.11.2024)