Legal Bulletin
Turkey Legal News — 27 April 2026: AI, Alimony & New Laws
Published 27 April 2026·11 min read
The week of 27 April 2026 was particularly active in Turkish law. The Ministry of Justice's AI legal services project sparked a nationwide debate, the Court of Cassation delivered significant rulings on alimony and tenancy, and Parliament passed a law extending maternity leave while restricting social media for minors.
Legal Profession News
2026 Bar Entrance Exam — 12,993 Candidates; Results on 21 May
The Bar Entrance Exam (HMGS) is the mandatory qualifying threshold for prospective lawyers, judges and prosecutors in Turkey, administered annually by the national university entrance authority ÖSYM. The 2026-HMGS/1 was held on Sunday, 26 April across 17 provinces, 18 examination centres, 36 buildings and 462 halls. A total of 12,993 candidates sat the exam.
The question booklet and answer key were published by ÖSYM on examination day. Results are expected on 21 May 2026. Exam outcomes directly shape the career paths of law graduates and are closely watched by bar associations and the judiciary alike.
Question booklet and answer key →
Ministry of Justice AI Legal Services Project — All 78 Bar Associations Respond
Justice Minister Akın Gürlek announced an AI-assisted legal services project at the historic Peykler Madrasa in Edirne. Under the project, citizens can describe disputes involving rent, alimony or debt and receive automatically generated petition templates, guidance on likely outcomes, and evidence recommendations.
The announcement triggered a broad response across the legal community. All 78 Turkish bar associations issued a joint statement through the Turkish Bar Association (TBB), calling for careful evaluation of the project's impact on the right to a fair trial, the right to a defence, and legal certainty. Bar associations contend that a machine-generated petition is not equivalent to qualified legal representation.
This debate reflects a wider global tension around AI integration into legal services. Questions about access to justice, professional liability and the quality of algorithmic legal advice are set to define the policy agenda in Turkey in the months ahead.
Turkish Bar Association joint statement →
7 New Specialised Departments Under the Criminal Affairs Directorate
Justice Minister Gürlek announced the creation of 7 new specialised departments within the Directorate General of Criminal Affairs. The restructuring responds to the growing complexity of crime types and the increasing need for administrative expertise in each area.
The new departments are:
- Judicial Custody Department — management of seized assets and valuables
- Natural Disasters and Accidents Department — criminal proceedings arising from earthquakes, floods and similar events
- Unsolved Crimes Investigation Department — systematic follow-up on unresolved cases
- Digital Security and Disinformation Department — cybercrime and false information
- Organised and Economic Crime Department — criminal organisations and money laundering
- Terrorism, Terrorism Financing and Money Laundering Department
For criminal defence lawyers, this reorganisation is significant: they will now face a specialised administrative counterpart rather than a generalist one. Cases involving digital evidence or economic crime may be particularly affected by how these new units develop their working practices.
12th Judicial Reform Package and Lawyers' Firearms Licence: Bar Meets Minister
Ankara Bar No. 2 President Av. Gökhan Ağdemir met with Justice Minister Akın Gürlek to raise three matters directly affecting the legal profession:
- 12th Judicial Reform Package — anticipated changes and their impact on legal practice
- Free firearms licences for lawyers — a long-standing bar demand on personal safety grounds
- Rights of public-sector lawyers — salary, career progression and social entitlements
The meeting coincided with a critical legislative stage for the 12th Judicial Reform Package. Bar associations are closely monitoring provisions relating to professional conduct rules and judicial independence.
Istanbul Bar & Istanbul Municipality — Early Childhood Rights Protocol
The Istanbul Bar Association and Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality signed a cooperation protocol on children's rights in early childhood, aimed at strengthening legal protections for children of nursery, kindergarten and primary school age, and raising public awareness in this field.
Viewed through an International Law lens, Turkey's obligations under the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child continue to find practical application at the bar level. In a city where divorce and custody proceedings are exceptionally high in volume, such protocols can have concrete procedural implications for Family Law practitioners.
TÜRKPATENT — Hague System: International Protection for Industrial Designs
TÜRKPATENT opened registrations for its project promoting international protection of industrial designs through the Hague System, administered by the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO).
Turkey acceded to the Hague System in 2005. The system allows applicants to obtain design protection in over 90 countries through a single application — a significant advantage in both time and cost for SMEs and export-oriented businesses. For Intellectual Property lawyers, this is a valuable advisory opportunity for clients active in product design and manufacturing.
Biometric Probation Monitoring System (BİOSİS) Reaches Tender Stage
A biometric monitoring system developed jointly by the Ministry of Justice and TÜRKSAT has reached the tender stage. Once operational, the system will:
- Eliminate the obligation of approximately 450,000 probationers to report in person to police stations
- Replace physical sign-in with biometric authentication and GPS tracking via smart devices
Probation (denetimli serbestlik) in Turkish Criminal Law allows a portion of a custodial sentence to be served under community supervision. Currently, probationers must appear at designated police stations at set intervals to sign in. BİOSİS would fully digitise this obligation.
From a criminal defence perspective, the system could simplify compliance monitoring for clients on probation. However, the data security implications and compliance with the Personal Data Protection Law (KVKK) regarding the storage of biometric data are questions that merit close attention.
2025 Justice Statistics: Faster Courts, Growing Use of Mediation
The 2025 Justice Statistics report prepared by the Directorate General of Criminal Records and Statistics was released. Key findings:
- Shorter proceedings — average time from filing to final judgment has decreased
- Alternative dispute resolution — greater use of mediation and conciliation is reducing court caseloads
- Higher clearance rates — the ratio of cases resolved to cases filed has improved
These figures suggest that Turkey's policy of reducing court congestion is starting to deliver results. The expansion of mandatory mediation in commercial and labour disputes is widely cited as a contributing factor. For practitioners and clients, this trend points toward faster resolution in certain categories of case.
Parliament
New Constitution and By-Elections: Speaker Calls for Political Consensus
Parliament Speaker Numan Kurtulmuş described the need for a new constitution as "a question of political culture rather than textual change" at the 23 April National Sovereignty and Children's Day reception, calling for broad cross-party agreement.
CHP leader Özgür Özel held a two-hour meeting with the Speaker, reiterating the opposition's demand for by-elections and raising the following:
- Non-implementation of Constitutional Court rulings — a recurring concern about executive compliance with binding court decisions
- The Can Atalay case — the continued imprisonment of an elected MP despite court orders for release, a live issue at the intersection of judicial independence and the separation of powers
- Appointment of trustees to municipalities — the legal dimensions of the practice of replacing elected local government officials with centrally appointed trustees
Court of Cassation Rulings
Public Figures Must Tolerate Broader Criticism
Court of Cassation, 4th Criminal Chamber (File No. E. 2023/16112, K. 2026/296, 06.01.2026), aligning with European Court of Human Rights jurisprudence:
Politicians, journalists and other public figures must tolerate a wider margin of criticism compared to private individuals.
Significance: This is an important precedent for criminal defamation and insult cases under Turkish Penal Code Arts. 125 et seq. Previous practice had not always clearly distinguished the tolerance threshold for public figures from that for private individuals. The chamber has now explicitly shifted that balance in favour of freedom of expression — a ruling defence lawyers can cite regularly in press freedom and speech-related cases.
Poverty Alimony Must Be Awarded Where Wife Earns Minimum Wage
Court of Cassation, 2nd Civil Chamber (File No. E. 2025/2575, K. 2025/9513, 05.11.2025):
Where the husband earns above the minimum wage and the wife earns at minimum-wage level, the wife's income does not lift her out of poverty; accordingly, poverty alimony must be awarded in her favour.
Previous practice: Many courts denied poverty alimony where the claimant spouse had any income at all.
New precedent: Minimum-wage earnings are no longer treated as sufficient to cross the poverty threshold. The analysis shifts from "is the spouse employed?" to "does the spouse have genuine economic independence?"
Practical significance: This ruling explicitly establishes that an employed spouse can still claim alimony in divorce proceedings, setting an important precedent for Turkish Family Law practice.
Family Residence Declaration Does Not Invalidate Prior Eviction Undertaking
Court of Cassation, 3rd Civil Chamber (File No. E. 2025/3374, K. 2025/4997, 20.10.2025):
A subsequent family residence declaration cannot retroactively invalidate an eviction undertaking that the tenant had previously given and which was legally effective at the time it was made.
Background: Tenants sometimes seek to block eviction proceedings by registering a family residence annotation under Turkish Civil Code Art. 194. This strategy can be deployed after an eviction undertaking has already been given.
What this means: Family residence declarations made before an eviction undertaking may still block eviction; however, declarations made after the undertaking have no retroactive effect. This is a favourable ruling for landlords and an important point for tenants to bear in mind.
Evidence Obtained Without Written Search Warrant Is Inadmissible
Court of Cassation, 7th Criminal Chamber (File No. E. 2021/5762, K. 2025/8147, 27.05.2025):
Materials obtained without a written search warrant or a judicial search order, as well as evidence gathered by police officers acting undercover without official undercover-agent status, may not form the basis of a conviction.
Legal context: Arts. 116–134 of the Code of Criminal Procedure require a judicial decision — or, in urgent cases, a prosecutor's order — before a search of a residence or workplace may be conducted. Non-compliance renders any evidence obtained unlawfully obtained evidence that cannot support a conviction.
Practical significance: Extending this principle to evidence gathered by officers posing as buyers without formal undercover-agent status directly affects defence strategy in drug trafficking and organised crime cases. A current authority for exclusionary rule arguments in criminal proceedings in Turkey.
Legislation
Specialist Jurisdiction Reorganised in Ankara Administrative Courts
By decision of the Supreme Council of Judges and Prosecutors (HSK) First Chamber, subject-matter jurisdictions have been assigned to specific administrative courts in Ankara, with the aim of enabling specialised courts to deliver higher-quality decisions in technically complex cases.
Ankara Administrative Courts No. 2, 3, 4 and 16 — cases arising under:
- Law No. 3194 (Zoning Law) — building permits, zoning plan annulments
- Law No. 6306 (Urban Transformation Law) — risky area and building decisions
- Law No. 3621 (Coastal Law) — coastal structures and coastal strip disputes
- Law No. 2863 (Cultural Heritage Protection Law) — protected sites and conservation orders
- Law No. 4708 (Building Inspection Law) — matters involving building inspection firms
Ankara Administrative Courts No. 10, 13 and 25: Cases involving the Capital Markets Board (SPK), Competition Authority and Public Oversight Authority (KGK).
Ankara Administrative Courts No. 12, 14 and 15: Cases involving RTÜK, BTK, EPDK, NDK and KVKK (Personal Data Protection Authority) — particularly significant given the rising volume of data protection litigation in Turkey.
For Administrative Law practitioners and in-house counsel, correctly identifying the competent court is essential: a claim filed in the wrong court will be dismissed for lack of jurisdiction.
Parental Leave Extended — Social Media Banned for Under-15s
A law adopted by the Grand National Assembly introduces two sets of changes in a single package:
Employment Law changes:
- Maternity leave: extended from 16 to 24 weeks — bringing Turkey closer to EU standards
- Paternity leave: extended from 5 to 10 days
For Employment Law purposes, these changes create cost and workforce-planning implications for employers while representing a significant improvement in employees' rights. New leave durations must be factored into redundancy calculations and contract reviews.
Social media regulation:
- Prohibition on providing social media services to children under 15
- Mandatory age-verification measures for social network providers
- Obligation to provide differentiated services to children aged 15 and over
This measure directly affects platforms regulated by BTK (Information Technologies and Communications Authority). The technical compliance timeline and enforcement regime are expected to be clarified in secondary legislation in the coming months.