What it means for you
Almost everything that happens after "they are not paying" runs through this law: the payment order, the objection, the attachment of assets, the sale, and the bankruptcy route for merchants.
Commonly confused with
The number 2004 is the law's number, not a year. It has been amended many times since.
Where you meet this word
Cited on enforcement documents and in any Turkish debt-recovery strategy.
How the Law is laid out: seventeen chapters
Law No. 2004 was passed on 9 June 1932 and published in Official Gazette No. 2128 of 19 June 1932; under its own art. 369 it took effect on 4 September 1932. Its articles are numbered 1 to 370, with lettered articles inserted over the years (150/a-150/ı, 269/a-269/d, 308/a-308/h, 309/a-309/ü and others). The Law is divided into seventeen chapters, and in practice which chapter you are in decides which deadline you are on.
| Chapter | Articles | What it governs |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1-23 | Organisation and miscellaneous provisions — enforcement offices, the enforcement court, complaint (art. 16), service |
| 2 | 24-41 | Enforcement of judgments — the writ of execution (art. 32), postponement of enforcement |
| 3 | 42-73 | Proceedings without a judgment — request, payment order (art. 60), objection (art. 62), overcoming the objection (arts. 67-68) |
| 4 | 74-144 | Proceedings by attachment — declaration of assets, attachment, valuation, sale, distribution of proceeds |
| 5 | 145-153 | Realisation of a pledge — pledge over movables (art. 145 onwards), mortgage (art. 148 onwards), common provisions (art. 150/e onwards) |
| 6 | 154-183 | Proceedings by bankruptcy — and the special procedure for bills of exchange (arts. 167-170/b) sits in this chapter |
| 7 | 184-207 | Legal consequences of bankruptcy — the bankruptcy estate, the position of claims |
| 8 | 208-256 | Liquidation in bankruptcy — constitution of the estate, ranking list, distribution |
| 9 | 257-268 | Precautionary attachment — conditions (art. 257), objection (art. 265), lapse (art. 264) |
| 10 | 269-276 | Special provisions on rent and eviction of leased immovables |
| 11 | 277-284 | Action to set aside a debtor's transactions |
| 12 | 285-309 | Composition with creditors (concordato) and restructuring of capital companies and cooperatives by settlement |
| 13 | 310-311 | Negligent and fraudulent bankruptcy |
| 14 | 312-316 | Restoration of standing |
| 15 | 317-330 | Extraordinary moratorium and suspension |
| 16 | 331-354 | Penal provisions |
| 17 | 355-370 | Special provisions — deductions from salaries, entry into force |
The enforcement routes: which document, which route
The Law does not have one route. Which one you are on depends on the document in your hand and on who the debtor is, and choosing the wrong one usually costs time you cannot get back.
- Enforcement of a judgment (art. 24 onwards). Where you hold a court judgment or a document treated as one. For a money debt the office serves a writ of execution and, under art. 32, warns that the debt must be paid within seven days.
- Proceedings without a judgment — general attachment route (art. 42 onwards). For claims to payment of money or provision of security; no judgment is needed. The officer issues a payment order (art. 60) with seven days to pay, and the debtor's time to object is also seven days (art. 62).
- Special route for bills of exchange (art. 167 onwards). Where the claim rests on a cheque, bill of exchange or promissory note. Payment is due in ten days; a complaint that the instrument is not a bill of exchange, a denial of signature, and an objection to the debt, to the time bar or to jurisdiction all run for five days (art. 168).
- Realisation of a pledge (art. 145 onwards). Where the claim is secured by a pledge over movables or by a mortgage.
- Proceedings by bankruptcy (art. 154 onwards). Under art. 43 these may be brought only against those who count as merchants under the Commercial Code, those subject to the provisions on merchants, and those declared subject to bankruptcy by special statute; the creditor may also proceed against them by attachment and may switch routes once, without paying the fee again.
- Eviction of a leased immovable (art. 269 onwards). In proceedings for unpaid rent the payment order also carries the eviction warning.
- Precautionary attachment (art. 257 onwards). Available to the creditor of a money debt that is unsecured and already due; for a debt not yet due, only in the situations art. 257 lists (the debtor has no fixed residence, is preparing to conceal assets or abscond, and so on).
Deadlines, with the article behind each
Enforcement deadlines are short and most are counted in days. Every row below comes from the article cited in the current text of Law No. 2004.
| Period | What it runs on | Article |
|---|---|---|
| 7 days | Complaint to the enforcement court against an act of the office, from the day it is learned | 16(1) |
| no time limit | Complaint that a right is not being given effect or is being left unreasonably pending | 16(2) |
| 7 days | Time to pay under a writ of execution | 32 |
| 7 days | Time to pay under a payment order | 60 |
| 7 days | Objection to a payment order, from service | 62 |
| 1 year | Action for annulment of the objection, from service of the objection | 67(1) |
| 6 months | Application to have the objection definitively removed, from service of the objection | 68(1) |
| 10 days | Payment in the bills-of-exchange route | 168(2) |
| 5 days | Complaint on the instrument's character, denial of signature, objection to the debt / time bar / jurisdiction | 168(3)-(5) |
| 1 year | Right to request attachment, from service of the payment order | 78 |
| 1 year | Request for sale of an attached asset, from the attachment | 106 |
| 7 days | Objection to a precautionary attachment order | 265 |
| 7 days | Filing the enforcement request or the action after a precautionary attachment | 264(1) |
| 1 month | Enforcement request after service of the judgment, where the attachment was granted during the action | 264(3) |
| 7 days | Debtor's objection in proceedings for unpaid rent | 269(2) |
| 6 months | Application to remove that objection | 269(3) |
Missing one of these is rarely a matter of trying again: under art. 68, if removal of the objection is not sought in time no fresh proceedings without a judgment may be brought, and under art. 264 a precautionary attachment lapses once the period passes. The first thing to do with an enforcement document is to record the date it was served. You can get a rough first read on whether your own claim is still in time with the limitation deadline checker, by entering the type of claim and the date of the event; what it returns is a date to check, not legal advice.
Whatever you opened the Law for
If you have run into an article of this Law, the subject you need is probably one of these:
- Debt collection in Türkiye — the sequence from the enforcement request to attachment.
- Defending against enforcement — what a debtor can still do once proceedings have started.
- Composition with creditors and the moratorium — arts. 285 onwards, from a creditor's side.
- A tenant who does not pay rent — art. 269 works together with art. 315 of the Code of Obligations.
- The words next to it: icra takibi, ödeme emri, haciz, ihtiyati haciz.
Frequently asked questions
What is the İİK?
İİK stands for İcra ve İflas Kanunu, the Enforcement and Bankruptcy Law No. 2004. It governs how a debt is collected by force: the enforcement request, the payment order, objection, attachment, sale, precautionary attachment, bankruptcy and composition with creditors are all in it. “2004” is the law's number, not a year — the statute dates from 1932.
How many articles does the Enforcement and Bankruptcy Law have?
The articles are numbered 1 to 370, but that figure alone misleads: lettered articles such as 150/a-150/ı, 269/a-269/d, 308/a-308/h and 309/a-309/ü were inserted over the years and some articles have been repealed. Always check a citation against the current consolidated text.
When did the Enforcement and Bankruptcy Law enter into force?
It was passed on 9 June 1932 and published in Official Gazette No. 2128 of 19 June 1932; art. 369 states that the Law takes effect from 4 September 1932. It has been amended many times since — the amending statutes that appear most often in the current text are Laws No. 538 (1965), 4949 (2003), 3494 (1988), 6352 (2012) and 7343 (2021) — so an article quoted from an older source may no longer read the same way.
How long do I have to object to a payment order?
Seven days in proceedings without a judgment, running from the date the payment order is served (art. 62). In the bills-of-exchange route the period for objections and complaints is five days and the time to pay is ten days (art. 168). If only part of the debt is disputed, the objection must state clearly which part and how much; otherwise art. 62 treats it as no objection at all.
The debtor objected — what can the creditor do?
Two routes. The creditor may apply to the court within one year of service of the objection for annulment of the objection, proving the claim under the general rules (art. 67). Where the claim rests on a deed of acknowledgement whose signature is admitted or notarised, or on a receipt or document issued by a public authority within its powers, the creditor may ask the enforcement court within six months to remove the objection definitively — and if that is not sought in time, no fresh proceedings without a judgment may be brought (art. 68).
Is there a deadline for attachment and sale?
Yes. The right to request attachment lapses one year after the payment order is served (art. 78). Sale of an attached asset must be requested within one year of the attachment, and the valuation and sale expenses must be paid in full and in advance together with the request — otherwise the request is treated as not having been made (art. 106).
Statute: Enforcement and Bankruptcy Law No. 2004
How we help with this: Debt Collection & Enforcement
