Challenging an Arbitral Award in Türkiye: The Set-Aside Action
If an arbitral award seated in Türkiye has gone against you, your main remedy is a set-aside action (iptal davası) — a court application to annul the award. You cannot simply ask a Turkish court to reverse the arbitrators because you disagree with them. Turkish law allows annulment only on a short, closed list of grounds, the action must be filed within a strict time-limit, and the court will not re-judge the merits of the dispute. This guide explains the grounds, the deadline, and what realistically can and cannot be challenged.
What "setting aside" an award means
An arbitral award is the final decision of an arbitration tribunal. Once it is made, the losing party usually has one direct way to attack it in the Turkish courts: the set-aside action — in Turkish, iptal davası — which asks a court to annul the award.
This is very different from an appeal. In a normal court case, an appeal court can look again at the facts, re-weigh the evidence, and correct legal mistakes. A set-aside action does not do that. The court only checks whether one of a few narrow defects exists. If none does, the award stands, even if you believe the arbitrators got the outcome wrong.
Which law applies. If the arbitration is "international" (for example, it has a cross-border element) and is seated in Türkiye, the governing statute is the International Arbitration Law No. 4686 (Milletlerarası Tahkim Kanunu). If the arbitration is purely domestic, the rules are in the Code of Civil Procedure No. 6100 (HMKHMKCode of Civil Procedure No. 6100The rulebook for how a civil case actually runs in Türkiye — which court, which steps, which deadlines, and what evidence counts.Glossary →), in its arbitration chapter. The two regimes are deliberately similar, but you must identify the correct one before you act.
The closed list of grounds for annulment
Both Law No. 4686 (for international awards seated in Türkiye) and HMK No. 6100 (for domestic awards) allow annulment only on a limited, closed list of grounds. You cannot invent new ones, and "the tribunal was wrong" is not on the list. The grounds fall into two families.
Grounds you must prove
- Incapacity or an invalid arbitration agreement. A party to the arbitration agreement lacked the legal capacity to enter it, or the agreement itself is invalid under the law the parties chose (or, failing that, Turkish law).
- Defective notice or inability to present your case (due process). You were not properly notified of the appointment of an arbitrator or of the proceedings, or you were otherwise unable to present your arguments and evidence. This protects the basic right to be heard.
- The award exceeds the scope of the arbitration. The tribunal decided matters outside the arbitration agreement, or ruled on questions that were never submitted to it (excess of authority, or ultra petita).
- Irregular composition or procedure. The way the tribunal was formed, or the procedure it followed, did not match the parties' agreement or — absent agreement — the governing law, and this affected the substance of the award.
Grounds the court can raise on its own
- Non-arbitrability. The subject matter of the dispute is one that, under Turkish law, simply cannot be resolved by arbitration (for example, certain matters reserved to the courts).
- Conflict with public policy (kamu düzeni). The award is contrary to Turkish public policy. This is a narrow safety valve, not a back door for re-arguing the merits.
The first family of grounds generally must be raised and proven by the party seeking annulment. The last two — non-arbitrability and public policy — can be examined by the court of its own motion. Courts read public policy narrowly: disagreeing with the result is not, by itself, a public-policy violation.
The time-limit: act fast
The set-aside action is subject to a strict, short statutory time-limit. The clock generally starts when the award (and, where relevant, any correction or interpretation of it) is notified to you. If you let the period pass, you usually lose the right to challenge the award altogether, and it becomes final.
Do not rely on a remembered number for the deadline. The exact length of the set-aside period and how it is counted are set by statute and should be confirmed against the current text of Law No. 4686 or HMK No. 6100 for your specific award. Because the window is short and missing it is usually fatal, treat the date you received the award as urgent and get the deadline confirmed immediately.
Practically, this means the moment an unfavourable award lands, the priority is to (1) identify whether Law No. 4686 or HMK No. 6100 applies, (2) fix the exact filing deadline, and (3) decide whether any annulment ground is genuinely available — all before the period runs out.
Why the merits are (almost) untouchable
The most common misunderstanding is that a set-aside action lets you re-run the case. It does not. A Turkish court hearing an annulment application will not re-examine the merits — it does not re-weigh the evidence, re-interpret the contract, or substitute its own view for the arbitrators' on who should have won.
This is by design. Parties choose arbitration partly for finality. The grounds for annulment are about the integrity of the process — capacity, a valid agreement, a fair hearing, staying within the tribunal's mandate, proper composition, arbitrability, and public policy — not about whether the arbitrators reached the "right" answer.
Build your challenge around a real procedural or jurisdictional defect, supported by the record. An application that, in substance, just asks the court to disagree with the arbitrators on the facts or the law is very likely to fail.
Domestic award, international award, or foreign award?
The right remedy depends on where the award sits, and three situations are easy to confuse.
- Domestic award (seat in Türkiye, no foreign element): challenged by a set-aside action under HMK No. 6100.
- International award (seat in Türkiye, cross-border element): challenged by a set-aside action under Law No. 4686.
- Foreign award (seat outside Türkiye): you do not bring a Turkish set-aside action. Instead, you resist recognition and enforcement (tanıma ve tenfiz) when the other side tries to enforce it here. That stage is governed by the 1958 New York Convention and, where it applies, the International Private and Procedural Law No. 5718 (MÖHUK). The grounds for refusing enforcement broadly track the annulment grounds above.
So a party unhappy with a foreign-seated award generally cannot annul it in Türkiye — its proper challenge belongs to the courts of the seat. In Türkiye, that party's defensive tool is opposing enforcement under the New York Convention and MÖHUKMÖHUKTurkish Private International Law Act No. 5718The Turkish statute that decides which country's law applies to a cross-border matter, and how foreign judgments are recognised and enforced here.Glossary → No. 5718.
What happens after a set-aside action
If the court rejects the annulment application, the award stands and moves toward enforcement. If the court annuls the award, the legal effect depends on the ground and the governing regime — in some situations the dispute can return to arbitration, in others the parties may need to start again. Decisions on a set-aside action can themselves be subject to the ordinary appellate routes, within their own deadlines.
Because outcomes turn on the specific defect, the governing statute, and the record before the tribunal, no one can promise that an award will or will not be set aside. What you can do is move quickly, identify a genuine ground, and present it cleanly within the time-limit.
How Lexin Legal can help
We act for foreign businesses dealing with arbitral awards connected to Türkiye — whether you are trying to set aside an award seated here, or resist enforcement of a foreign award. We assess, on the facts and the record, whether a real annulment or enforcement-refusal ground exists, confirm the applicable statute and the exact deadline, and prepare the filing.
If you have just received an unfavourable award, the time-limit is the first thing to protect. Contact us promptly so the deadline can be fixed and your options reviewed before the window closes.
Frequently asked questions
Can I appeal an arbitral award in Türkiye like a normal court judgment?
No. There is no ordinary appeal on the facts or the law. Your direct remedy for an award seated in Türkiye is a set-aside action (iptal davası), which can annul the award only on a short, closed list of grounds — and the court will not re-examine who should have won.
What are the grounds to set aside an award?
Under Law No. 4686 (international awards seated in Türkiye) and HMK No. 6100 (domestic awards): incapacity or an invalid arbitration agreement, defective notice or inability to present your case, the tribunal exceeding its authority, irregular tribunal composition or procedure, non-arbitrability of the subject matter, and conflict with Turkish public policy. The last two can be raised by the court on its own motion.
How long do I have to file a set-aside action?
There is a strict, short statutory time-limit that generally runs from when the award is notified to you. Missing it usually means the award becomes final. The exact length and how it is counted must be confirmed against the current text of Law No. 4686 or HMK No. 6100 for your award — so treat it as urgent the moment you receive the award.
Will the court look again at the evidence and the contract?
No. A Turkish court hearing an annulment application does not re-weigh the evidence, re-interpret the contract, or replace the arbitrators' decision with its own. The review is about the integrity of the process, not the correctness of the result.
The award was made abroad. Can I set it aside in Türkiye?
Generally no. A set-aside action targets awards seated in Türkiye. A foreign-seated award is challenged at its seat; in Türkiye your defensive option is to resist recognition and enforcement (tanımaTanımaRecognition of a foreign judgment in TürkiyeThe court decision that makes a foreign judgment legally effective in Türkiye as proof — without, by itself, making it enforceable.Glossary → ve tenfizTenfizEnforcement of a foreign judgment in TürkiyeThe Turkish court decision that makes a foreign judgment enforceable in Türkiye — the step that lets you actually collect.Glossary →) under the 1958 New York Convention and, where applicable, MÖHUK No. 5718.
Can you guarantee the award will be set aside?
No, and no lawyer ethically can. Outcomes depend on the specific defect, the governing statute, and the record before the tribunal. What we can do is identify whether a genuine ground exists and act within the deadline.
