What is mandatory mediation (arabuluculuk)?
Arabuluculuk is Türkiye’s statutory mediation regime (Law No. 6325), and for defined dispute classes it is a mandatory precondition to litigation (dava şartı): filing suit without first attempting mediation gets the case procedurally dismissed. The mandatory categories most relevant to companies: employment claims (severance, notice pay, wages, reinstatement track), commercial disputes over receivables and compensation between merchants, consumer disputes above the arbitration-committee thresholds, and rent/condominium classes added by later reforms.
How the process actually runs
The applicant applies to the mediation bureau at the competent courthouse; a mediator is appointed from the registry (or chosen by agreement); the first meeting must be scheduled promptly and the process is designed to conclude within weeks, not months. Non-attendance has teeth: a party who skips the first session without excuse bears litigation costs later even if they win. Settlement is recorded in a binding minutes document; with the required annotations it is enforceable like a judgment — which makes mediated settlements genuinely executable, not gentlemen’s agreements.
Using it strategically as a startup
Three plays. Employment exits: a mediated settlement executed through the bureau process gives far stronger release protection than a private ibraname, so route contested departures through it deliberately. Receivables: for B2B collection, mandatory commercial mediation is effectively a fast, cheap demand-with-consequences step — arrive with a payment-plan proposal, not just a claim. And clause design: contracts can add voluntary med-arb steps, but do not draft dispute clauses that ignore the mandatory layer; sequencing arbitration after statutory mediation avoids procedural collisions.
Does mediation apply if our contract has an arbitration clause?
Arbitration displaces court litigation, and the dava şartı attaches to court suits — but employment claims resist arbitration in most forms, so the mediation step remains the practical gateway there.
Is the settlement confidential?
The process is confidential by statute; the settlement document itself is disclosed only as needed for enforcement — useful for disputes you would rather not litigate in public.
Related: notice pay, severance.