Recent developments
On 7 August 2019, Turkey signed the United Nations Convention on
International Settlement Agreements Resulting from Mediation
("Singapore Convention"), which aims to
regulate the enforcement of cross-border settlement agreements
resulting from mediation. The Singapore Convention is similar to
the New York Convention on the Recognition and Enforcement of
Foreign Arbitral Awards of 1956, which regulates the enforcement of
foreign arbitral awards and which Turkey also signed.
Under Turkish law, all disputes arising out of private law
transactions concerning matters that can be freely disposed of are
subject to mediation. However, parties must undergo mandatory
mediation for commercial disputes for monetary claims pursuant to
the Turkish Commercial Code. The Singapore Convention is applicable
to cross-border settlement agreements settling commercial disputes
as a result of a mediation. Taking this into consideration,
settlement agreements signed
