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.
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