Unofficial English translation for information only. In case of discrepancy, the Turkish text prevails. This translation is not legal advice.
Turkish source: Law No. 6098, Official Gazette 04/02/2011, No. 27836. Turkish text as published on mevzuat.gov.tr, checked on 26 October 2026: https://www.mevzuat.gov.tr/mevzuat?MevzuatNo=6098&MevzuatTur=1&MevzuatTertip=5
PART ONE – General Provisions
CHAPTER THREE – Extinction of Obligations and Obligational Relationships, Limitation Period
DIVISION ONE – Cases of Termination
Article 131 – A. Extinguishment of Rights and Obligations Ancillary to the Principal Obligation
If the principal obligation is extinguished by performance or for another reason, rights and obligations ancillary to it, such as a pledge, suretyship, interest and a penalty clause, are also extinguished.
Interest accrued and a penalty clause may be claimed if the right to demand their performance has been reserved by contract or by notice given up to the time of performance, or if it is understood from the circumstances and conditions that they were reserved.
Special provisions concerning pledges over immovable property, negotiable instruments and concordats are reserved.
Article 132 – B. Release
Even if the transaction giving rise to the obligation is subject by law or by the parties to a specified form, the obligation may be wholly or partially extinguished by a release agreement made by the parties without being subject to any form.
Article 133 – I. In General
An existing obligation is extinguished by a new obligation only by the parties’ express intention to that effect.
In particular, undertaking liability on a bill of exchange, promissory note or cheque for an existing obligation, or issuing a new debt instrument or new suretyship instrument, does not constitute novation unless the parties have expressly intended novation.
Article 134 – II. In Current Accounts
The mere entry of various items in a current account does not constitute novation of the obligation.
However, if the account has been balanced and the resulting balance has been accepted by the other party, the obligation is novated.
If one of the items is secured, balancing the account and accepting the resulting balance does not terminate the security unless otherwise agreed.
Article 135 – D. Merger
An obligation is extinguished when the capacities of creditor and debtor merge in the same person. However, the merger does not affect rights over the receivable that third parties already held.
If the merger is retroactively reversed, the obligation continues to exist.
Special provisions concerning pledges over immovable property and negotiable instruments are reserved.
Article 136 – I. In General
If performance of the obligation becomes impossible for reasons for which the debtor cannot be held liable, the obligation is extinguished.
In contracts imposing reciprocal obligations, a debtor released from the obligation due to impossibility is obliged to return the performance received from the other party under the provisions on unjust enrichment and loses the right to demand performance not yet rendered to the debtor. This provision does not apply where, by law or contract, the risk arising before performance of the obligation has been allocated to the creditor.
If the debtor does not notify the creditor without delay that performance has become impossible and does not take the necessary measures to prevent the damage from increasing, the debtor is obliged to compensate for the resulting damage.
Article 137 – II. Partial Impossibility of Performance
If performance of the obligation becomes partially impossible for reasons for which the debtor cannot be held liable, the debtor is released only from the part of the obligation that has become impossible. However, if it is clear that the parties would not have entered into such a contract had this partial impossibility of performance been foreseen, the entire obligation is extinguished.
In contracts imposing reciprocal obligations, if one party’s obligation becomes partially impossible and the creditor agrees to partial performance, the counter-performance shall also be rendered to the same extent. If the creditor does not agree to such performance or if the counter-performance is indivisible in nature, the provisions on total impossibility apply.
Article 138 – III. Excessive Difficulty of Performance
If an extraordinary circumstance that was not foreseen and could not be expected to be foreseen by the parties at the time the contract was made arises for a reason not attributable to the debtor, and changes the facts existing at the time the contract was made to the debtor’s detriment to such an extent that demanding performance would be contrary to the rules of good faith, and the debtor has either not yet performed the obligation or has performed it while reserving rights arising from the excessive difficulty of performance, the debtor is entitled to request the judge to adapt the contract to the new conditions or, if this is not possible, to withdraw from the contract. In contracts for continuous performance, as a rule, the debtor exercises the right to terminate instead of the right to withdraw.
This provision also applies to obligations in foreign currency.
Article 139 – 1. In General
If two persons mutually owe each other a sum of money or other identical performances, each may set off the receivable against the obligation if both obligations are due.
Set-off may be raised even if one of the receivables is disputed.
Set-off of a receivable that has become time-barred may be raised only if it had not yet become time-barred at the time it could have been set off.
Article 140 – 2. In the Case of Suretyship
As long as the principal debtor has the right to raise set-off, the surety may also refrain from performing to the creditor.
Article 141 – 3. In the Case of a Contract for the Benefit of a Third Party
A person who has assumed an obligation for the benefit of a third party may not set off that obligation against a receivable the person has against the other party to the contract.
Article 142 – 4. In the Event of the Debtor’s Bankruptcy
In the event of the debtor’s bankruptcy, creditors may set off their receivables against their obligations to the bankrupt, even if those receivables are not due.
Article 143 – II. Effects
Set-off takes effect only when the debtor notifies the creditor of the intention to set off. In that case, both obligations are extinguished up to the amount of the lesser obligation as of the time they could have been set off.
Special commercial customs concerning current accounts are reserved.
Article 144 – III. Receivables That May Be Set Off with the Creditor’s Consent
The following receivables may be set off only with the creditors’ consent, after the right to set off has arisen:
1. Receivables concerning the return or value of deposited goods.
2. Receivables concerning the return or value of goods wrongfully taken or withheld as a result of fraud.
3. Receivables such as maintenance and employee wages, which are necessary for the maintenance of the debtor and the debtor’s family and, by their special nature, must be paid directly to the creditor.
Article 145 – IV. Waiver of Set-off
The debtor may also waive the right to set off in advance.
DIVISION TWO – Limitation Period
Article 146 – I. Ten-Year Limitation Period
Unless otherwise provided by law, every receivable is subject to a ten-year limitation period.
Article 147 – II. Five-Year Limitation Period
A five-year limitation period applies to the following receivables:
1. Rent, interest on principal and other periodic performances such as wages.
2. Accommodation charges at places such as hotels, motels, boarding houses and holiday villages, and charges for food and drink at restaurants and similar establishments.
3. Receivables arising from small-scale crafts and small-scale retail sales.
4. Receivables in a partnership arising from the partnership agreement between the partners or between them and the partnership; and receivables between the managers, representatives or auditors of a partnership and the partnership or its partners.
5. Receivables arising from mandate, commission and agency contracts, and from brokerage contracts other than claims for commercial brokerage fees.
6. Receivables arising from contracts for work, except where the contractor, through gross fault, has failed to perform its obligations at all or has failed to perform them properly.
Article 148 – III. Definiteness of Periods
The limitation periods specified in this Division may not be modified by contract.
Article 149 – 1. In General
The limitation period begins to run when the receivable becomes due.
Where a notice is required for the receivable to become due, the limitation period begins to run on the day on which that notice may be given.
Article 150 – 2. In Periodic Performances
For lifetime income and similar periodic performances, the limitation period for the entire receivable begins to run on the day the first unperformed periodic performance becomes due.
If the entire receivable has become time-barred, unperformed periodic performances are also time-barred.
Article 151 – V. Calculation of time limits
In calculating time limits, the day on which the limitation period begins is not counted, and the limitation period is completed only when the last day of the period has also elapsed without the right being exercised.
The provisions concerning the calculation of time limits for the performance of obligations also apply to the calculation of limitation periods.
Article 152 – B. Limitation period for ancillary claims
When the principal claim becomes time-barred, the interest and other claims ancillary to it also become time-barred.
Article 153 – C. Suspension of the limitation period
In the following cases, the limitation period does not begin to run, or, if it has begun, is suspended:
1. For claims of children against their parents, during the period of parental custody.
2. For claims of persons under guardianship against their guardian or against the State arising from guardianship proceedings, during the period of guardianship.
3. For claims of spouses against each other, for as long as the marriage continues.
4. For claims of domestic servants against those who employ them, for the duration of the employment relationship.
5. For as long as the debtor holds a usufruct over the claim.
6. For as long as it is not possible to assert the claim before Turkish courts.
7. Where the status of creditor and debtor is united in the same person, if that unification subsequently ceases with retroactive effect, for the period until that circumstance arises.
At the end of the day on which the grounds for suspension of the limitation period cease to exist, the limitation period begins to run or resumes running if it had begun before suspension.
Article 154 – I. Grounds
The limitation period is interrupted in the following cases:
1. If the debtor has acknowledged the obligation, in particular by paying interest or making partial performance, or by providing a pledge or naming a surety.
2. If the creditor has applied to a court or an arbitrator by way of an action or defence, initiated enforcement proceedings, or filed a claim with the bankruptcy estate.
Article 155 – II. Effect on co-debtors
Where the limitation period is interrupted against one of the joint and several debtors or one of the debtors of an indivisible obligation, it is also interrupted against the others.
Where the limitation period is interrupted against the principal debtor, it is also interrupted against the surety.
Where the limitation period is interrupted against the surety, it is not interrupted against the principal debtor.
Article 156 – 1. Where the obligation is acknowledged or determined by a decision
Upon interruption of the limitation period, a new period begins to run.
If the obligation has been acknowledged in a written instrument or determined by a court or arbitral decision, the new period is always ten years.
Article 157 – 2. Where the creditor takes action
Where the limitation period has been interrupted by an action or defence, it begins to run anew after each procedural act of the parties or each decision of the judge during the proceedings.
Where the limitation period has been interrupted by enforcement proceedings, it begins to run anew after each act relating to enforcement of the claim.
Where the limitation period has been interrupted by filing a claim with the bankruptcy estate, it begins to run anew from the time when the possibility of claiming the receivable again arises under the provisions on bankruptcy.
Article 158 – E. Additional period where an action is dismissed
If an action or defence has been dismissed because the court lacks jurisdiction or competence, because an error capable of correction was made, or because it was brought prematurely, and in the meantime the limitation period or preclusive time limit has expired, the creditor may exercise their rights within an additional period of sixty days.
Article 159 – F. Claim secured by a pledge over movable property
The fact that a claim is secured by a pledge over movable property does not prevent the limitation period from running in respect of that claim; however, the creditor retains the right to satisfy the claim from the pledged property.
Article 160 – G. Waiver of the limitation period
A waiver of the limitation period may not be made in advance.
A waiver by one of the joint and several debtors may not be invoked against the others.
The same provision applies where one of the debtors of an indivisible obligation has waived the limitation period.
Nor may a waiver by the principal debtor be invoked against the surety.
Article 161 – H. Invocation
Unless the limitation period is invoked, the judge may not take it into consideration of their own motion.