Turkey: Directors and Officers

According to the Foreign Direct Investments Law No. 4875 foreign investors are generally treated in the same way as domestic investors in Turkey. They are free to make investments in various ways including establishing companies (with 100% foreign capital ownership), acquiring shares, forming partnerships, or opening branches.

Radical steps have long been taken in the Turkish commercial landscape to increase transparency, reduce bureaucratic hurdles, and integrate digital transformation with corporate governance principles. The Turkish Commercial Code No. 6102 (TCC) historically regulated the maintenance, notary certification, and retention of corporate books within a traditional, physical framework.

Türk ticaret hayatında şeffaflığın artırılması, bürokratik süreçlerin azaltılması ve dijital dönüşümün kurumsal yönetim ilkeleriyle entegre edilmesi amacıyla uzun süredir köklü adımlar atılmaktadır. 6102 sayılı Türk Ticaret Kanunu (TTK), ticari defterlerin fiziki ortamda tutulması, noter onayına tabi tutulması ve saklanması süreçlerini geleneksel bir çerçevede düzenlemişti.

In joint stock companies, representation is vested in the board of directors. However, as companies grow and expand, it often becomes necessary to adapt or diversify the way representation is structured. To address this need, the Turkish Commercial Code numbered 6102 (“TCC”) allows boards of directors to delegate representation authority, provided that at least one member retains unlimited representation powers.

The Turkish Competition Board (the “Board”) has long possessed the statutory authority to impose administrative fines on individual directors and employees whose conduct plays a decisive role in competition law infringements.

Similar to other areas of business life, transactions of corporations are also becoming more and more digitalized.

The LLC in Turkey remains the most practical and investor-friendly business structure under the Turkish Commercial Code.

Thanks to its separate legal personality, limited shareholder liability, and flexible governance system, the JSC model ensures both legal security and operational efficiency.

Ekonomik Kalkınma ve İş Birliği Örgütü ("OECD") kurumsal yönetimi şu şekilde tanımlamaktadır: "Kurumsal yönetim, bir şirketin yönetimi, yönetim kurulu, hissedarları ve diğer paydaşları arasındaki bir dizi ilişkiyi içerir."