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Turkish Contract & Agreement Translation

When the Translation Is the Legally Binding Document

 

 Most international contracts include a governing language clause: where the two versions conflict, the English original prevails and the Turkish translation is for reference only. That clause does not always hold.

Under Turkish Law No. 805, contracts between two Turkish-registered entities must be executed in Turkish. A governing language clause designating English as the controlling text is unenforceable between two Turkish parties. In consumer contracts, courts routinely set aside governing language clauses where the Turkish version favours the consumer. And once a contract enters Turkish court or arbitration proceedings, the sworn Turkish translation becomes the operative document regardless of what the original says.

This is why the Turkish translation of a contract is not always a secondary document. In a significant number of cross-border situations, it is the legally binding one. Getting it right is not a formality.

 

 

▮What we translate

  • Non-disclosure agreements
  • Distribution and reseller agreements
  • Joint venture and partnership agreements
  • Licensing and IP transfer agreements
  • Employment and service contracts
  • General terms and conditions
  • Memoranda of understanding
  • Framework agreements for cross-border supply chains
If your contract does not appear on this list, it almost certainly still falls within our scope. The question is always the same: does the legal context require a specialist who knows Turkish contract law, not just the Turkish language?

▮Why Turkish contract require specific expertise
Turkish contract law draws its foundations from the Swiss Code of Obligations, substantially revised in 2012. But the decades since have produced a body of court decisions, regulatory guidance, and commercial practice that no imported framework fully anticipated.

Three issues come up regularly in practice:
  • Terminology with no direct equivalent. Concepts such as "consideration" in common law contracts have no counterpart in Turkish law. Translating them literally produces a document that reads correctly but means something different to a Turkish court.
  • Dual-language contracts and the primacy rule. Under Turkish law, where a contract exists in both Turkish and a foreign language, the Turkish version generally prevails in domestic proceedings. This means the Turkish translation is not a secondary document. It is the legally operative one.
  • Regulatory terminology that changes. Turkish data protection, commercial, and employment law have all been substantially amended since 2016. Terminology that was standard five years ago may no longer reflect how courts and regulators currently interpret the same concepts.
▮How we work
Every contract project is assigned to a translator with legal background, not a general translator. Terminology is governed by a client-specific glossary built from your first project and maintained across all subsequent work. A second specialist reviews before delivery.

For recurring contract programmes such as NDAs issued regularly, framework agreements across multiple counterparties, we set up a dedicated TM and glossary from the outset so terminology is consistent across every document, not just within a single file.

For LSP partners, we deliver in MemoQ or SDL Trados compatible formats, with full TM handover on request. NDA as standard.

▮Further reading: