Mehtap Payne has joined Turkey's Guden Law Firm as its new Senior Legal Counsel and Head of Maritime Law.

In order to prevent the spread of the COVID-19 epidemic, the Republic of Turkey’s Ministry of Commerce has taken some measures on how companies should organize their board meetings. Within the scope of these measures, the ordinary general meetings of joint stock and limited companies, which were previously invited to the meeting in accordance with the Turkish Commercial Code numbered 6102 (“TCC”) and the company agreement, were cancelled with a decision to be taken by the governing bodies, without waiting for the general meeting to be held.

Arbitration, as an alternative dispute resolution method, continues to play an important role on resolving international commercial disputes during Covid-19 Pandemic.

The COVID-19 pandemic is showing the effects all over the world and as for Turkey, has taken immense measures to prevent the spread of COVID-19. Various government bodies issued decrees to prevent the spread of COVID-19. As we mentioned in our previous articles, The Republic of Turkey and the Ministry of Internal Affairs decided to temporarily close workplaces. This process, which started with an additional circular sent to all governorates on March 15, 2020, has already halted the activities of more than 200,000 businesses. In addition, on 22.03.2020, it was decided to stop all enforcement and bankruptcy proceedings with the Presidency Decision No. 2279. Later on, with the Provisional Article 2 of the Law No. 7226 which dated on 26.03.2020, it was concluded that the rental fees that were not paid between 1.3.2020-30.6.2020 will not constitute the reason for the termination of the lease contracts and evacuation of the workplaces. Problems have arisen as to whether the measures introduced in terms of lease contracts will be paid in respect of rental fees. In this article an assessment will be made on this issue.

As the coronavirus outbreak is increasing rapidly by day, more uncertainty and difficulty for enterprises and businesses are born particularly in regard to the performance of contractual obligations. Herewith, more and more businesses and organisations are now inevitably looking at their contracts to see what impact the coronavirus outbreak will have and how they can mitigate and navigate the challenges brought by the pandemic. Ultimately, businesses worldwide are considering whether they can or should rely on the force majeure clause, if there is one in the relevant contract, or the common law doctrine of frustration as legal mechanisms to manage the impact of the crisis on their business and see what possible remedies might be available at the end.

Under Turkish Law, the main purpose of each contract is that the parties' fulfilling their mutual obligations. One of the general principles of law and primary rule of contract law is the principle of pacta sunt servanda.

The Guden Law Firm has advised Turkish petroleum exporter BDY Group Yatirim A.S. on questions related to the impact of the growing COVID-19 crisis on their company's master sale and purchase agreements.

On March 23, 2020, The Union of Turkish Bar Association submitted a letter to the Ministry of Justice to address problems accruing in the judiciary due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Following this call, the deadlines for proceedings were temporarily suspended due to the COVID-19 pandemic by the judgment adopted on 25 March 2020. A number of regulations have been made to prevent the loss of rights in the judiciary.