The trend of alternative dispute resolutions is in demand nowadays in Turkey. After the new regulations about mediation, the eyes are on the arbitration now. In the mid position of Europe, Asia, Middle East and North Africa a new arbitration institution is on the stage now: Istanbul Arbitration Centre (ISTAC).

In the fast developing arbitration world, both the ad hoc arbitration and the institutional arbitration are two options for the dispute resolutions, however institutional arbitration centers have a specific importance.

The arbitration culture has not developed in Turkey until the last years like it developed in Europe. The main reason of the non-development is seen as the inconsistency of the Turkish Court of Appeal's chambers about the appeals of challenges to arbitral awards. Turkish Court of Appeals has a wide judicial discretion about "quashing" the arbitral awards. It is a possibility that after receiving an arbitral award from an arbitration institution or from an ad hoc arbitration, it can not be executed in Turkey, therefore the confidence to arbitration concept could not be built.

Along with the new developments, ISTAC is planning to change the people's bias about arbitration.

ISTAC has started to its activities in November, 2015. The Rules of ISTAC were prepared by the Professional arbitrators and academic members of Turkey. The Rules of the world's leading arbitrational institutions like International Chamber of Commerce (ICC), American Arbitration Association (AAA), London Court of International Arbitration (LCIA) served as model for the Rules of ISTAC.

Fast Track Arbitration Rules and Emergency Arbitrator Rules are parts of ISTAC Rules and the aim is to speed up the proceedings in international arbitration system of Turkey.

The most important advantage of ISTAC is about the enforcement of the awards. If one or both of the parties are residents, awards can be enforced as domestic awards, which means any enforcement decision or further court fees are not needed.

We strongly believe that this new international arbitration instutiton will increase the importance of alternative dispute resolutions and Istanbul is about to be the new arbitration center of Europe, Asia, Middle East and North Africa.

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