COVID-19's Impact On Contracts And Relation With Force Majeure

The following statements are intended to help clarify the current legal situation caused by COVID-19 in terms of contracts and are valid for contractual relations subject to Turkish law. If contracting parties choose a law other than Turkish law as the law to be applied to the contract, the following statements may not apply. In such cases, the matter would have to be interpreted according to the law under which the contractual relationship is governed.

1. What is Force Majeure and Hardship?

Most of the contracts concluded today include a clause called "force majeure". These clauses generally state the events that constitute force majeure and then explain the actions that the parties may take if these events occur and the legal consequences thereof. Although it is a commonly used concept in practice, the definition and conditions of force majeure are not stipulated in the Turkish legislation. We determine the scope of the implementation of this concept in Turkish