İzmir Mediation Lawyer

Mediation is a resolution method in which the parties produce their own solutions in meetings managed by an independent and impartial mediator; compared to court it is faster, more economical and confidential by default. As an İzmir mediation lawyer, we act as party counsel in mediation meetings in commercial, labour, consumer and lease disputes and support our clients on the legal consequences of the process.

Our Mediation Practice Areas

• Employee - Employer Disputes (Severance, Notice pay, Salary receivables)
• Commercial Disputes and Inter-company Receivables
• Disputes arising from Consumer Law
• Rental Disputes and Eviction
• Discretionary (Voluntary) Mediation Processes

Why Mediation?

It preserves the commercial or personal relationship between the parties by preventing disputes from entering a cycle of litigation that takes months or even years. Since it is based on the will of the parties, the results are more permanent and applicable. It is also quite affordable compared to court costs.

How Does the Mediation Process Work?

The mediation process begins with the application of the parties or court referral. In the first meeting, the mediator informs the parties about the process and determines the scope of the dispute. After listening to the parties’ demands and solution proposals, the mediator takes an active role in finding common ground. In case of an agreement, the arranged agreement document is considered as a judgment and becomes enforceable. Throughout the process, the confidentiality of the parties is protected and no statements that can be used against any party are recorded.

Your right to file a lawsuit is preserved in the mediation process. In case of disagreement, there is no legal obstacle to resorting to the court path. In this respect, mediation is an effective resolution method that can be tried without risk.

In Which Disputes Is Mediation a Mandatory Condition of Litigation

Mandatory mediation is a procedural rule requiring an application to a mediator before going to court in certain disputes. The obligation attaches not to the person but to the subject matter of the dispute: a significant part of labour, commercial, consumer and lease disputes falls within this scope. If a lawsuit is filed for a claim within scope without applying to a mediator, the court dismisses the case on procedural grounds for lack of a condition of litigation. If the original of the final mediation minutes, or a copy certified by the mediator, is not attached to the statement of claim, the court grants the definite period provided by law; if it is still not submitted, the case is again dismissed on procedural grounds. For this reason, making the application to the correct office, against the correct parties and with the correct claims determines the fate of the case from the outset.

In İzmir, applications for mandatory mediation are made to the mediation office of the courthouse where the competent court is located. The office appoints a mediator from the list of registered mediators; if the parties agree, they may also jointly designate a mediator from that list. The appointed mediator contacts the parties and issues the invitation to the first meeting. Providing the counterparty’s current address, telephone number and, for companies, trade registry details correctly in the application prevents the process from stalling at the notification stage.

Not every dispute is subject to mandatory mediation. Pecuniary and non-pecuniary compensation claims arising from occupational accidents or occupational diseases, and recourse claims relating to them, are outside the scope. Claims for the eviction of leased immovables through enforcement without judgment are likewise excluded. In disputes falling within the competence of the consumer arbitration committee, that route applies first. In addition, matters over which the parties cannot freely dispose, and disputes involving allegations of domestic violence, are not suitable for mediation. Whether a claim falls within scope often depends on how it is characterised in the petition, so the claim items should be separated before the application.

Scope of Mandatory Mediation (by Dispute Type)

In the dispute types below, having applied to a mediator before filing a lawsuit is a condition of litigation. How long the process runs is regulated separately in the law for each dispute type; for current periods, mevzuat.gov.tr should be taken as the basis. Actual completion depends on the parties’ participation and the scope of the dispute.

Mediation in Labour Disputes: Application, Meeting and Final Minutes

Claims between employee and employer for severance pay, notice pay, overtime pay, annual leave pay, national holiday and general holiday pay, underpaid wages and similar items, as well as reinstatement requests, are subject to mediation before a lawsuit is filed. In practice, most files revolve around the claim items calculated after termination. If the legal basis and the calculation method for these items are not established correctly, the figure discussed at the meeting drifts away from the amount that can lawfully be claimed.

Severance pay is calculated over the gross wage including benefits for each full year of service, with the remaining months prorated. Continuous payments such as transport, meals and bonuses are added to that wage. Because the ceiling applied to severance pay and the hourly rate used in overtime calculations are updated periodically, such figures must be confirmed from the values current at the time of application. We examined how the claim items are calculated in detail in our article on mediation in severance and notice pay claims.

For reinstatement requests the deadlines are even more critical. An employee whose contract has been terminated must apply to a mediator, claiming that the termination was not based on a valid reason, within the short forfeiture period provided by law from the notification of the termination. If the meetings end without agreement, an action must be filed before the labour court within the period provided by law from the date the final minutes were drawn up. These periods must be confirmed from the current legislation in the specific file. Missing these periods means the claim will not be heard even if you are right on the merits. We explained how the process works step by step in our article on mediation in reinstatement cases.

Preparation for the meeting is the stage that determines the outcome. On the employee side, the employment contract, termination notice, payroll records, bank statements, attendance records and any correspondence are gathered; on the employer side, the personnel file, attendance logs, leave register and documents supporting the reason for termination. The mediator may also hear the parties separately; information shared in these private sessions is not conveyed to the other party unless permitted. If agreement is reached, the payment schedule, the number of instalments, the consequences of default and which claim items are covered must be written out clearly; a waiver clause whose scope is left vague becomes the source of a new dispute later on.

The process closes with the final minutes drawn up by the mediator. The minutes state whether the parties reached agreement, the matters agreed upon if they did, and which party failed to attend if they did not. Statutes of limitation and forfeiture periods do not run from the date of application to the mediation office until the date the final minutes are drawn up; this suspension is significant protection for claims close to expiry. The minutes recording non-agreement are the document that must be attached to the statement of claim, and submitting anything other than the original or a certified copy is not sufficient.

Mandatory Mediation in Commercial Disputes

Under the Turkish Commercial Code, having applied to mediation is a condition of litigation in commercial cases concerning claims and compensation demands whose subject is the payment of a sum of money. This covers receivables arising from the price of goods and services, current-account disputes, claims from dealership and distributorship agreements, compensation demands arising from breach of contract and commercial actions for annulment of objection. You can find how we establish payment discipline in inter-company receivables management in our article on commercial debt collection, and our work on contract infrastructure on our corporate law advisory page.

In commercial disputes the period granted by law is longer than in labour disputes. The practical reason is that the parties need time to compare records such as commercial books, invoices, delivery notes and current-account statements. Before the meeting, the contract text, order forms, delivery documents, reconciliation letters, email correspondence and any cheques or promissory notes are filed. Establishing which contract, which delivery and which date the receivable rests on, before arguing over figures, keeps the meeting from becoming an exchange of assertions.

For companies, authority to represent requires separate attention. The signature circular, trade registry record or a specially authorised power of attorney showing that the attendee may represent the company must be at hand; participation without authority makes the enforceability of any settlement debatable. The settlement text should concretely regulate the payment schedule, security, acceleration on default, the starting date of interest and the scope of mutual release. Where the commercial relationship will continue, adding the payment terms applicable to future orders to the settlement prevents recurring disputes.

Mediation in Disputes Arising from Lease Relationships

With an amendment made to the law, disputes arising from lease relationships, disputes concerning the division of movable and immovable property and the dissolution of joint ownership, disputes arising from the Condominium Ownership Law and disputes arising from neighbour rights were brought within the scope of mandatory mediation. Determination of rent, rent arrears, eviction, return of the deposit and allegations of damage to the property are the headings most frequently encountered in practice. We examined how eviction and rent-determination processes proceed at the litigation stage on our lease law and eviction processes page.

There is one exception to the scope: claims for the eviction of leased immovables through enforcement without judgment are excluded from mandatory mediation. Because this distinction can send two claims arising from the same lease down different procedural paths, it must be determined before the application which claim is subject to which procedure. In disputes on the determination of rent, an upper limit set out in the law and based on the consumer price index applies to the increase in renewed lease periods; for contracts that exceed the period provided by law, or that are renewed at the end of that period, the rent is determined equitably, taking into account the condition of the property and comparable rents. The current wording of the rate and the period should be confirmed via mevzuat.gov.tr.

In lease files, coming to the meeting with the lease agreement, payment receipts, the original of any undertaking to vacate, notices and their service records, dues and utility invoices, and the fixture list and photographs taken at handover makes the work easier. Since the parties often remain in the same building or the same commercial environment, mediation in lease disputes is not merely a procedural step but a practical solution that keeps the relationship intact: the parties can regulate the vacating date, the schedule for paying accrued rent and dues, and the set-off of the deposit in a single document.

Voluntary Mediation and Family Disputes

In disputes that are not subject to mandatory mediation, the parties may apply to a mediator at any time. Voluntary mediation may arise through a clause placed in a contract before any dispute, by the joint will of the parties after a dispute arises, or at any stage after a case has been filed; the court may also encourage the parties towards mediation. The criterion of suitability is clear: private-law disputes arising from matters over which the parties may freely dispose are suitable for mediation. Disputes with a foreign element also fall within this scope.

In family law the picture is more nuanced. Matters concerning public order, such as the divorce decree itself, custody and parentage, require a judge’s decision and cannot be concluded through mediation. Spouses may, however, agree on the financial consequences of divorce and record that agreement in an uncontested divorce protocol; the protocol takes effect upon the judge’s approval. Disputes involving allegations of domestic violence are not suitable for mediation; in such cases protective and preventive measures take priority. We describe our work across the divorce process on our İzmir divorce lawyer page.

Mediation is also becoming more common in inheritance matters. Since claims between heirs for the division of immovables and the dissolution of joint ownership fall within mandatory mediation, family division disputes can often be resolved without going to court. Instead of dissolution actions that may last for years, heirs agreeing by exchanging properties or having one of them take over the others’ shares lowers both the cost and the tension within the family.

The Settlement Document and the Annotation of Enforceability

The value of mediation is measured by how the understanding reached at the meeting is put on paper. The settlement document should clearly state the identity details of the parties and their attorneys, the mediator’s name and registry number, the subject of the dispute, each matter agreed upon, which items the amount to be paid covers, the payment dates, the account for payment, the consequences of default and the scope of the mutual release. Vague expressions turn into a fresh dispute at the implementation stage; a measurable and enforceable text is therefore a more reliable guarantee than the parties’ good faith.

An annotation of enforceability on the settlement document is requested from the civil court of peace at the place where the mediation was conducted. In mandatory mediation this review is carried out on the file. A settlement document bearing the annotation is deemed a document in the nature of a court judgment; if the other party fails to perform, enforcement proceedings based on a judgment may be initiated without the need to file a new lawsuit. This is the essential point that distinguishes mediation from a gentlemen’s agreement.

The law provides a separate convenience for a settlement document signed jointly by the parties, their attorneys and the mediator: such a document is deemed a document in the nature of a court judgment without any need for an annotation of enforceability. Attending the meetings with counsel therefore shortens the process not only in terms of negotiating strength but also because the settlement becomes directly enforceable. Drawing up the settlement document in as many copies as there are parties, with each keeping its own, prevents later problems of proof.

Consequences of Not Attending the First Meeting

In mandatory mediation, attending the first meeting is an obligation to which the law attaches a sanction. A party who fails to attend the first meeting without a valid excuse is held responsible for the entire litigation cost in the case subsequently filed, even if it succeeds partly or fully, and no attorney fee is awarded in its favour. If neither party attends, the litigation costs are left on each of them. The purpose of this rule is to make visible the cost of treating mediation as a mere formality.

The validity of an excuse is assessed on the facts. Circumstances such as illness, being abroad or the invitation not having been properly served are taken into account when documented; the excuse is nevertheless expected to be notified to the mediator before the meeting date. Responding to calls and notifications from the mediation office and keeping address and telephone details current is therefore not mere courtesy but conduct with direct financial consequences.

Attending the meeting does not mean having to settle. A party may attend, listen to the proposals and then declare that it does not agree; the final minutes are then drawn up as non-agreement and the route to court remains fully open. The duty to attend concerns the process, not the outcome. In practice most decisions not to attend stem from never hearing the other side’s claim; yet the first meeting is the most practical way to see the real size of the file and the other side’s evidence at no cost.

The Distinction Between the Mediator and Party Counsel

Law No. 6325 imposes on the mediator obligations of independence and impartiality. The mediator may not act in favour of one party, may not take sides by giving legal advice, may not decide the matter and may not push the parties towards a particular outcome; the task is to enable the parties to understand each other and produce their own solution. Where important circumstances exist that would cast doubt on impartiality, the mediator must disclose them to the parties and, where necessary, decline the appointment or withdraw.

The position of party counsel is the opposite. Counsel looks solely to the client’s interest: calculating the claim items, evaluating the other side’s offer, pointing out the risks in the settlement text and, where appropriate, advising against settlement. Because the two roles carry different obligations, they cannot be combined in the same dispute.

We apply this distinction as an explicit working rule in our office: where we have been appointed as mediator in a dispute, we do not later act as counsel for either party in the same dispute; and in a file where we act as counsel, we do not accept appointment as mediator. The rule exists to protect the confidentiality of the process and the trust the parties place in the mediator. Stating in which capacity you are approaching us when you make an appointment lets the file be positioned correctly from the outset: are you requesting a mediation appointment, or are you looking for counsel to represent you at the mediation meeting?

If you are unsure which area of law your matter belongs to, you may start from our practice areas page, where all of our fields of work are listed.