How to Verify a Turkish Supplier Before You Pay

The wire transfer form is open in another tab. The supplier you met at the Istanbul fair, or found through a B2B site, is asking for a deposit, and the price is good. This is the exact moment to slow down, because most cross-border payment disasters are preventable with a short legal check before the money moves. In Türkiye (Turkey), company records are public. A lawyer can confirm remotely — without you boarding a plane — that the company legally exists, where it is registered, what its capital and field of activity are, and whether the person signing your contract can actually bind the company. This guide walks you through what can be verified, the red flags that appear again and again in the files we handle, and the contract protections that belong in place before a single dollar leaves your account. A check like this reduces risk; nothing eliminates it. But in the cross-border payment disputes that reach our desk, one pattern keeps repeating: the counterparty would not have survived first contact with the trade registry.

What can you actually verify about a Turkish company?

Every company in Türkiye must be entered in the trade registry (ticaret sicili) before it legally exists. Registrations and most later changes are announced in the Turkish Trade Registry Gazette (Türkiye Ticaret Sicili Gazetesi), a public record. That single fact works in your favor: a real Turkish company leaves a paper trail that no polished website can fake.

From the registry and the Gazette, a Turkish lawyer can confirm:

• Legal existence and company type. Is it a joint-stock company (A.Ş.), a limited company (Ltd. Şti.), or just an individual trading under a brand name?
• The exact registered name. The name on your invoice and the beneficiary name on the bank account should match it, word for word.
• MERSIS number. Every registered company has a unique ID in Türkiye's central registry system (MERSIS). Ask for it; a legitimate supplier should not hesitate.
• Registered address and field of activity. A "textile exporter" whose registered activity is something else entirely deserves questions.
• Registered capital. A signal of substance, though not a bank balance, as we explain below.
• Directors and managers, the company's registration date, and its change history over the years.

Can the person signing actually bind the company?

This is the question foreign buyers almost never ask, and it decides whether your contract is worth anything. In Turkish practice, the power to sign for a company and bind it (temsil ve ilzam) is formally recorded. It is not enough that someone's business card says "General Manager."

Signing authority has traditionally been evidenced by a signature circular (imza sirküleri), a notarized document listing who may sign for the company, whether they sign alone or only jointly with another officer, and any limits on what they can commit to. The underlying authority appears in the trade registry itself, which remains the source of truth. Recent reforms have simplified the paperwork around signature documents, so have your lawyer confirm authority through current registry records rather than an old template.

Watch for two classic traps:

1. Joint signature rules. Many companies require two signatures for binding commitments. A contract signed by one person, where two are required, is a problem you want to discover before you wire, not after.
2. The friendly middleman. An "agent" or "export manager" who signs in their own name, with the company nowhere on the document, may leave you holding a claim against an individual instead of the company.

What do financial-standing signals look like from the outside?

No public record will show you a Turkish company's bank balance. What the record does show is a history, and history is where trouble leaves marks.

• Age and continuity. A company registered three months ago that claims twenty years of exports is telling you two different stories.
• Capital movements. Capital increases can signal growth; sudden decreases or rushed share transfers deserve an explanation.
• Address and management churn. Frequent address changes or a revolving door of managers is a pattern worth probing.
• Insolvency signals. Composition-with-creditors proceedings (konkordato), liquidation and similar steps generate public announcements. Your lawyer can look for them.
• Enforcement exposure. Debt-enforcement proceedings in Türkiye run through enforcement offices under the Enforcement and Bankruptcy Law (Law No. 2004). Full third-party access to a company's enforcement history is limited; counsel works from the records that are accessible and, where the supplier cooperates, from disclosures a healthy company should not fear providing.
• Litigation exposure. Turkish court litigation records are not generally open to third parties, but counsel can gauge exposure through available records, insolvency announcements and counterparty disclosures.

Beyond the record, ask commercial questions: verifiable export references, production capacity, a live video walkthrough of the factory floor. A supplier with nothing to hide rarely minds showing it.

Which red flags should stop a wire?

Fraud patterns are boringly consistent. These are the ones we see most often in the files that reach us from abroad — the same playbook we documented in our guide to fraud patterns targeting foreign buyers of Turkish property, adapted here to trade.

What belongs in the contract before you wire?

Verification tells you who you are dealing with. The contract decides what happens if things go wrong anyway. Before money moves, we want to see:

• A written contract with the registered entity. Full registered name, MERSIS number and registered address — the same details you verified — signed by someone with confirmed authority.
• A governing-law and dispute-resolution clause. Under Türkiye's Private International Law Act (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 →, Law No. 5718), parties to an international contract can generally choose the law that governs it. Choose deliberately, not by accident.
• An arbitration option worth considering: ISTAC. The Istanbul Arbitration Centre offers a neutral route for cross-border disputes; see our foreign-business guide to arbitrating at ISTAC. Because Türkiye and most trading nations are parties to the 1958 New York Convention, arbitral awards travel across borders far more smoothly than court judgments do.
• Payment terms that match the level of trust. A 100% advance to a new counterparty is the highest-risk structure available. Alternatives — a letter of credit through banks, escrow-style arrangements, or milestone payments tied to inspection — each shift risk differently. Which one fits depends on deal size and on the leverage each side holds.
• Delivery terms, named. State the Incoterms rule and version expressly, so "delivered" means the same thing in your warehouse and in Izmir.
• Quality and inspection. A pre-shipment inspection right, with payment milestones tied to it, converts hope into a mechanism.

Turkish contract law (Code of Obligations, Law No. 6098) gives parties broad freedom to structure these terms. Our commercial contracts team drafts and reviews supply agreements with exactly this cross-border risk in mind.

What if you already paid and something is wrong?

First, do not go silent, and do not sign anything new. Preserve everything: the contract or proforma, invoices, SWIFT receipts, and every message, WhatsApp threads included. Then move quickly, because options narrow as time passes and assets move.

Depending on the facts, the toolkit includes a formal demand through Turkish counsel, debt-enforcement proceedings under the Enforcement and Bankruptcy Law (İİKİİKEnforcement and Bankruptcy Law No. 2004The Turkish statute governing how debts are collected by force — enforcement proceedings, attachment, sale and bankruptcy.Glossary →, Law No. 2004), litigation or arbitration under your contract, and, for money claims where the legal conditions are met, interim measures such as precautionary attachment (ihtiyati hacizİhtiyati hacizPrecautionary attachment (asset freeze)A court-ordered freeze on a debtor's assets granted early — before the case ends — to stop them being moved out of reach.Glossary →) to freeze assets while the case proceeds. Where the facts point to fraud rather than a failed deal, a criminal complaint can run in parallel with the civil claim.

One procedural note for foreign claimants: foreign plaintiffs suing in Turkish courts may be asked to post security for costs unless an exemption applies. It is a manageable step, but one to plan for with counsel.

We cover the full recovery path — leverage, enforcement and realistic sequencing — in our guide to recovering a debt from a Turkish company as a US business, and our debt collection and enforcement practice handles these files for foreign creditors regularly.

How does the check work from abroad?

Entirely remotely. You do not need to travel, and for a registry-level check you generally do not need to grant a power of attorney; a short engagement scope and the supplier's details are enough to start. Deeper steps, such as obtaining certified documents or sending a formal notice, may require more formality — we explain the mechanics in our guide on how to hire a lawyer in Turkey from abroad.

We run these checks for importers, buyers and investors abroad (including through our US Desk): registry and Gazette review, signing-authority confirmation, red-flag screening, and contract review before payment. If a supplier is waiting on your wire, tell us the basics and we will tell you what can be verified and how quickly.

Frequently asked questions