NOTARY PUBLIC LAW

Law no : 1512

Date : 18.01.1972

Publication date : 05.02.1972 the official gazette page 14090

Effective date : Three months following its publication (article no: 209 of law on notary public)

The Regulation that bring Addendum and Changes to the law 1512

Law No Date of Law Name of the Law Enforcement Date

2258 19.02.1980 Law Regarding the Amendment of 23.02.1980

Last Section of the Article 112 of Law on Notary Public no:1512

2980 14.02.1984 Decree-Law No. 55 on the 23.02.1984

amendments of some articles of law

on notary public No.1512 and appending laws regarding, of 20.01.1983 and some stipulations of Decree-Law No. 55 on the amendments of some articles of law on notary public No.1512 and appending laws regarding, of 20.01.1983 and law on passing the amending decree law no:80 of 06.09.1983 regarding amendment of two articles of law no: 1512

3588 16.11.1989 law regarding amendments in some 23.11.1989

articles of notary public law

4276 18.06.1997 law regarding amendments in some 20.06.1997

articles of law on professional institutions qualified as public institute

4358 02.04.1998 law regarding amendments in common 04.04.1998

use of tax ID number and notary public law, execution and bankruptcy law, deed law, highway traffic law, law on check payment regulator and check bearer protection, law on banks, law on post office and law on passport

4579 13.06.2000 law regarding amendments in notary 16.06.2000

public law

5134 14.04.2004 law regarding amendments of 20.04.2004

one article in notary public law

5219 14.07.2004 law regarding amendments 21.07.2004

in various laws

5281 30.12.2004 Tax Law Adaptation in New Turkish 31.12.2004

Lira and law regarding amendments

in some laws

5309 02.03.2005 law regarding amendments in notary 08.03.2005

public law

5378 01.07.2005 law regarding amendments in some 07.07.2005

laws and decree laws and handicapped

persons

NOTARY PUBLIC LAW

PART ONE

General Clauses

Notary profession

Article 1 – Notary Public is a public service. Notary Publics document operations for assuring security and preventing disagreements and execute other duties given by laws.

Foundation process of notary public’s offices and their competences

Article 2 – In every place where a court of first instance or an individual civil court of peace has been established, a notary public’s office is founded to be authorized to execute the notary public operations of this court according to its field of jurisdiction.

(Additional second clause: 2/3/2005-5309/art. 1) However if the field of jurisdiction of the court of first instance covers more than one district, then notary public’s offices can be established in other districts.

In so far, if there is more than one notary public office in municipality borders of one county, every notary public’s office is authorized to execute all notary public operations in the municipality borders of the county and this without being restricted by the field of jurisdiction of the court of first instance.

(Additional fourth clause: 14/7/2004-5219/art. 8) The operations of the first, second and third class notary public’s offices situated in a district where the court of first instance has been erected continue. In these places, we can also establish more than one notary public’s office. The notary public’s offices whose operations continue in a district without a court of first instance or which is under the same field of jurisdiction recently reestablished but is not situated in the same municipality borders are not subject to the provisions of article 109.[1]

The provisions of the chapter ten are reserved.

Foundation process of more than one notary public’s office and closure of the notary public’s office

Article 3 – The Ministry of Justice can establish more than one notary public’s office in the places where arising business overload exists.

The Ministry of Justice uses its authority written hereinabove by taking into account in one hand the total of the gross income of the notary public’s offices situated in one place and in the other hand the evolutions and developments in the business life.

Upon condition that they are dismantled, it can close more than one of the actual notary public’s offices.

The Ministry of Justice takes the opinion of the Notaries Union of Turkey before it uses its authority about establishing or closing more than one notary public’s office.

(Last additional clause: 14/7/2004-5219/art. 8). If the first, second and third class notary public’s offices situated in the district in which the court of first instance had been erected is dismantled, it can be closed by the Ministry of Justice upon the proposition of the Notaries Union of Turkey.

Classification of notary public’s offices

Article 4 – The notary public’s offices are divided into four classes.

The first, second and third class notary public’s offices are classified by the Ministry of Justice who takes the opinion of the Notaries Union of Turkey.

This classification is based upon the population of the field of jurisdiction, the business overload and the notary public’s income. Generally, the notary public’s offices related to the same court are considered in the same class.

In every four year, the Ministry of Justice examines the notary public’s offices’ situation and announces its reclassification in the Official Journal.

The new notaries established during the four year mentioned in the above clause are classified without delay in accordance with the second clause and their estimated gross incomes and are announced in the Official Journal.

The provision of the article 31 concerning the right to relegation to the fourth class notary is reserved. In so far, those who will be promoted to the third class notary public’s offices are determined and announced at the beginning of April of each year.

Until the new classification is announced, the practice is done according to the old classification.

Notary public’s office’s class and the minimum service time

Article 4/a – (Added with article 1 of the Law 3588 dated 16/1/1989.)

The notary publics are divided into three classes. The service of third class of those who’s gone into notary public by being appointed for the very first time as a third class notary public begin at its business start date.

The minimum service time of the first and/or third class notary public is four years. In the end of this time, the promotion of notary public’s class depend upon the presence of positive convictions in the last good character document composed by the Justice inspector.

The promotion of notary public’s class does not affect notary’s class.

The notary who gives services in a notary public’s office whose class has been promoted starts to execute the upper-class services in the same notary public’s office beginning from the expiration of his service time if the notary public has not completed his service time related to his previous class and from the composition of the next positive character document if the latest character document formerly composed by Justice inspector indicates that the concerned does not possess the competences necessary to promote to the upper class.

PART TWO

Acceptance to the Notary Profession

Conditions of acceptance to the notary public

Article 5 – To be a notary public, it is imperative to complete the notary public internship in accordance with the provisions of this chapter and to receive the notary public certificate.

Exceptional cases

Article 6 – (Changed first clause: 14/04/2004 – 5134/ art. 1) Those who are appointed to the juridical or military magistrature or those who having been graduated from the law school are appointed to the administrative magistrature or have been qualified as lawyer and those in accordance with the Advocacy Code have been accepted to the advocacy by being exempted from the imperative of internship and advocacy examinations are not subject to the notary public internship.

If those people, having enclosed the documents exposed at the paragraphs (a), (b) and (c) of the article 9, submit a petition to the Ministry of Justice, and if the examination process done with the additional documents that Ministry considers necessary reveals that there is no obstacle for them to became notary public, then the concerned is given the certificate indicated at the clause 3 of the article 17 and is registered to the notary public’s office record indicated at the article 18.

Conditions of internship

Article 7 – For being accepted to the notary public internship, one must:

1. Be citizen of Turkish Republic,

2. (Changed with 13/˚/2000-4579/art. 1) Be over 21, but less than 40,

3. Be graduated from one of the Turkish law schools or, having been graduated from a foreign law school, pass successful examinations in lessons considered shortcoming by the Turkish law schools programs,

4. (Repealed. 13/6/2000 – 4579/art. 1)

5. Not have been condemned for a crime involving moral turpitude or a guilt that requires solitary confinement or not have been received one or more years in jail for intent crime,

6. Not have been lost the quality to become a judge, prosecutor, officer or lawyer in consequence of a verdict or a discipline decision,

7. Not have been known by its environment for his attitudes and behaviors incompatibles with notary public profession,

8. Not have been associated with a business incompatible with notary public and notary public internship,

9. Not have been limited by a court verdict,

10. Have retaken his/her rights after bankruptcy, (fraudulent or blamable insolvents are not accepted even if their rights are returned.)

11. Remove the debtor warrant, if decided,

12. Not be physically or mentally disable so that he could make his notary public duties as required and consistently,

13. Have his domicile in the place of internship.

Those who have been received five years of jail or solitary confinement or those who have conclusively condemned for debit, embezzlement, bribery, corruption, thievery, cheating, forgery, breach of trust and fraudulent bankruptcy are not accepted for notary public internship, even if they are amnestied.

If the internship applicant is under prosecution for a crime requiring one of the written inflictions of the paragraph 5 of the first clause, it can be decided to hold the decision about the internship demand until the prosecution’s decision. If a public trial has been opened against the applicant for a crime which could require his prohibition from the public duties, it is imperative to not implement the demand of internship and to wait the trial result.

In so far, whatever the prosecution’s decision, in the cases where the internship demand must be declined, the demand is immediately decided without waiting the result.

Works that are incompatible with internship

Article 8 – The provisions of the first and second clauses of the article 50 of this Law and the provision concerning the prohibition of commerce inscribed in the third clause of the same article are applied to the interns.

Internship application

Article 9 – The application for internship is made via a petition submitted to the notary public chamber to which all notary public’s offices in the place of internship are related. Following pieces are attached to the petition:

a) Two authenticated copies of the documents enumerated in the seventh article concerning the conditions of internship,

b) A declaration concerning the presence or absence of obstacles cited in the paragraphs 5, 8, 10 and 11 of the seventh article,

c) A presentation note that will be composed by a member of the said notary public chamber concerning the moral conditions of the applicant for internship,

d) Domicile address suitable for notification,

One copy of those pieces are certified by the president of the chamber and then sent to the Notaries Union of Turkey. Other copies or originals are kept in the file at the chamber.

If the declaration given by the applicant appears incorrect, a prosecution is opened against him/her for committing the crime of making a false declaration to the public authorities.

Internship notice

Article 10 – In ten days following the decision of internship, the demand of application for internship is announced together with the documents indicated in the article hereinabove for fifteen days in a suitable place of the municipality or of the justice department building of the said place.

Under the condition of showing clear proofs and facts, all persons have the right to make objection to the chamber for not proceeding to the registration for a while.

Report

Article 11 – Before the announcement of the demand, the president of the chamber employs one of the chamber’s notary public’s offices for investigating and doing a report on the moral conditions of the demander and the compatibility of his/her works with the notary public internship.

The decision of acceptance, of rejection or of waiting until the prosecution’s decision

Article 12 – In a one-month period following the end of the objection delay, the chamber board who takes into consideration the written report mentioned in the article 11 makes a justifiable decision concerning whether the candidate is accepted or rejected to the list of interns or the prosecution’s decision is waited.

In fifteen days following the notification, the members of the chamber board, the Republic prosecutor or the concerned can make an objection to the Notaries Union of Turkey against this decision.

If there is no decision within the period indicated in the first clause, then it is considered that the demand has been denied. In this case, the demander of internship can make an objection to the Notaries Union of Turkey in fifteen days following the end of the one-month period.

The decision of acceptance of the chamber board and the decision of the Board of the Notaries Union of Turkey upon the objection become absolutes after the approbation of the Ministry of Justice. The concerned or the Notaries Union of Turkey can make an objection to the Council of State against the Ministry of Justice’s decision.

Beginning of internship

Article 13 – The notary public internship begins from the date of registration to the list.

Objection stops the registration process.

Determination of the number of interns and of with which notary public’s office the internship will be done

Article 14 – In each December, the Ministry of Justice who takes into account in the one hand the numbers of the opened or closed or to be opened or closed notary public’s offices and in the other hand the opinion of the Notaries Union of Turkey determines the number of interns to accept for the next year and publishes this condition for one time until the end of year in the Official Journal or in the journals of the determined locals. Notaries Union of Turkey can make an objection to the Council of State against the Ministry of Justice’s decision.

The notary public’s office with which the internship will be done is indicated in the chamber board’s decision taken in accordance with the article 12.

If the notary public’s office is closed or the notary public quits his affairs for more than two months because of an obstacle, the chamber board decides immediately that the intern completes its internship with a different notary public. In so far, this provision is not applied to the intern having completed its sixth month.

Internship duration and intern’s duties

Article 15 – The internship duration is one year.

The internship is made without interruption. The chamber board authorizes the completion of the days during which the intern is absent for justifiable reasons only if the intern makes an application within one month that follows the disappearance of the problem.

In case of justifiable reasons, the president of the chamber can give permission to the intern.

In the notary public’s office, the intern is in charge of exercising the works indicated in this law and regulation.

Reports on internship

Article 16 – The notary public’s office in which the intern does his/her internship composes quarterly reports that indicate the intern’s moral conditions and professional qualities and addresses it to the chamber it is related.

The latest of those reports includes the conclusive judgment on the possibility of the intern to be a notary public or on the necessity to prolong the internship for six months.

If the notary public’s office with which the internship is made is to be changed in accordance with the latest clause of the article 14, the missing quarterly report is arrayed along the report that covers the first quarter with the new notary public. If the internship place is not changed according to the same clause of the article 14 and if the intern is appointed by proxy to a different notary public’s office in pursuant of the article 33, 34 and 35 and if the internship place is changed during the last quarter of the internship, then the quarterly reports and, under the condition that notary public does not return to his/her post until the end of the internship, the final report are composed by the president of the chamber or his deputy by taking into account the oldest reports and by collecting the necessary information.

The president of the notary public chamber addresses the intern’s file in which he/she included his/her own opinion and which is accompanied with his domicile address to the Presidency of the Notaries Union of Turkey.

After including its own objections, if any, the Presidency of the Notaries Union of Turkey addresses the file to the Ministry of Justice.

The decision of the Ministry of Justice

Article 17 – In 15 days which follows the arrival of the file, the Ministry of Justice decides whether the purpose of the internship has been achieved.

If the purpose has not been reached, this decision can prolong the notary public internship duration for six months or can put an end to the internship.

If the purpose has been reached, the Ministry of Justice delivers a certificate of notary public to the intern. This certificate authorizes the right to be appointed to a third class notary public’s office in service.

The concerned intern, the notary public’s office in which the internship is done and the Notaries Union of Turkey can make an objection to the Council of State against the decisions of the Ministry of Justice, made in accordance with this article.

The registry of the notary public certificate holders

Article 18 – The notary public certificate holders are enlisted in pursuant of their certificate numbers to the registry taken in the Ministry of Justice.

If those whose record has been deleted from the register request it, their re-registration is done in accordance with their application date fixed in pursuant of the second clause of the article 25. Those who are in this situation and who apply in the same day are arranged in order in accordance with their certificate numbers. If, at the day of registration, there are those whose registrations are to be done in pursuant to the first clause, then, this type of registration has priority.

Other points that show the situation of the concerned and that are indicated in the regulation are also inscribed in the register. In case of appointment to the notary public, of death, of permanent loss of appointment conditions to the notary public or of other situations shown in this law, the mode of the removal of the registration is indicated in the regulation.

The obligation of address notification

Article 19 – The ones who hold notary public certificate and who are enlisted in the register mentioned in the article 18 have the obligation to notify to the Ministry of Justice any change in the address that they have notified to the notary public chamber in pursuant of the article 9 and so in 15 days which follows the day of change.

Internship wages

Article 20 – The notary public internship is gainful.

The internship wage is fixed by the Notaries Union of Turkey who takes the opinion of the Ministry of Justice and is paid from the Union’s budget between the beginning of the internship and the delivery of the notary public certificate by the Ministry of Justice.

In case of illness of the intern justified in accordance with the regulation, the wages are not cut during the permission which is utmost two months, including the permission mentioned in the article 15.

In case of prolongation of the internship in accordance with the article 17, the intern receives no wages for this prolongation.

Excluding the involuntarily loss of one of the internship qualities, if the intern quits the internship or is dismissed from the internship or the holder of notary public certificate rejects two times the Ministry of Justice’s proposal regarding his/her appointment for notary public or refuses to begin the work to which he is appointed after his/her application to the announced notary public and then is considered resigned or quits the career by his/her own will without serving at least two years at the notary public’s office that he/she is first appointed, then the total amount of the wages that are paid to him/her for internship is collected by the Notaries Union of Turkey together with the legal interest of the payment period in accordance with the provisions of the Execution And Bankruptcy Law regarding to the execution of the sentences. This receivable of the Notaries Union of Turkey is brought under prescription in one year beginning from the date of occurrence of the payment reasons mentioned above or, in any cases, in ten years beginning from the delivery of the notary public certificate.

Responsibility of the intern

Article 21 – The interns are responsible as the real officer of all the businesses which they made during the internship duration in pursuant of the provisions of this law and regulation.

PART THREE

Appointing notary public

CHAPTER ONE

Announcement and application procedure

Announcement

Article 22- Notary publics that are vacant, opened or upgraded from fourth to third class will be announced for one time in The Official Gazette and the gazette that will be issued in that place, in Ankara and in Istanbul and in places which will be designated by The Ministry of Justice.

The announcement of the Notary publics that will be vacant because of age restriction is obligatory before the notary public will be dependent on age restriction.

The previous gross income of the notary public that is vacant or upgraded to the third class and foreseeable gross income of newly opened notary public that will be designated by the Ministry of Justice according to the precedents and the necessary documents for application will take place in the announcement.

Application procedure

Article 23- (Changed clause 1 13.06.2000 – 4579/ art. 2) the ones who submit their applications to the announced notary publics are obliged to attach the document showing they didn’t lose the conditions mentioned in Article 7, paragraphs 1,5 and the following and the document showing the completion of military service or the document showing unsuitability for the military service to the petition that will be submitted to the office of the director of the public prosecutions place of their residence that will be sent to the Ministry of Justice or the Ministry.

The Ministry of Justice will not take the request of the people with the uncompleted documents into consideration within the given period.

The above-mentioned provision of the paragraphs will not be applied to the ones lawing as the notary public on the application dates.

Last section, Article 9 provision will be applied in this case.

CHAPTER TWO

Designation to the third class notary public

Designation upon announcement

Article 24- according to the Article 22 only the ones who possess a notary public certificate will be designated to the announced third class notary public.

Following a month completion of the last announcement date and completion of the period by all means as stipulated by the paragraph 2, Article 23 Article the Ministry of Justice designates the one at the top of the register, as stipulated by the Article 18 as the notary public, under the condition not to possess any hindrance

Designation upon proposal

Article 25- (Abolished. Article 17, law no 3588 16/11/1989)

Upon the refusal of the proposal

Article 26- (Abolished. Article 17, law no 3588 of 16/11/1989)

CHAPTER THREE

Designation as the first class, second class and third class notary publics

Designation procedure

Article 27- (amendment: Article 2, law no 3588 of 16.11.1989)

The Ministry of Justice will designate one of the applicants as the notary public; the first class ones among the first class notary publics, second class ones among the first or the second class notary publics and third class ones among the first, second or third class notary publics following the completion of an announcement within a month period according to the Article 22. A person who possesses a notary public certificate can be designated as a third class notary only if a third or a higher class application is not submitted. Regarding a second or third class notary public designation, a priority has been given to the designation request of the higher class notary publics. Designation request of a notary public failed to law as a notary public for two years will not be taken into account.

During the designation process, seniority serves as a basis for notary publics among the same class, and incase of equality of seniority; qualification degree compared to employment record shall be taken in consideration. Those who certify in regulation that they speak at least one of the languages like German, French, English or Italian among the notary publics who have the same seniority and qualification shall be preferred over other candidates and those who graduated from one of the foreign faculties of law in one of the languages mentioned-above shall be preferred over others and those who have a doctorate in law shall be preferred over all. In case of equality of conditions on the above-mentioned situation, those who graduated previously shall be preferred. The person to be appointed shall be fixed, based on drawing lots in case of equality mentioned-above.

CHAPTER FOUR

Joint Provisions

Designation by means of transfer

Article 28- (Abolished. Article 17, law no 3588 of 16/11/1989)

Designation request of the notary publics who leave by means of closing down the notary public office or by resigning

Article 29- (Amendment: Article 3, law no 3588 of 16/11/1989)

When the adjudicatory power annuls a designation possession to a vacant or a newly started notary public office, the unemployed notary public returns to law his former duty, if another notary public is designated for his former duty the notary public will be designated primarily for the vacant position of his notary public class or for the new notary public office that is newly started. The service period of the above-mentioned notary public is counted as he serves in the new notary public.

A notary public who quits his profession by means of resignation after fulfilling his/her two-years service period and submits his application upon announcement, and certifies his notary public competency; he shall be designated to a notary public of his/her class or a lower class on the date of his resignation as stipulated in the framework of principles within the first paragraph of Article 27.

A notary public who quits his/her profession by means of resignation without fulfilling his/her two-years service period; shall be designated to a notary public of his/her class on date of his resignation by certifying his/her notary public competency and only if no other candidate is available as stipulated in the Article 24 and 27

notary public who has resigned shall be designated to a lower class notary public upon his/her request as stipulated by the principles in first section of the article 27. In both cases, if there is more than one request the preference shall be given according to the second section of Article 27.

a notary public who quits his profession by means of resignation can not submit his/her request for designation after completing the 6 months period of his resignation.

a notary public who quits his profession twice by means of resignation can never be designated as a notary public again.

The deputy notary public who is designated before this law came into effect can not take advantage of the second and third section’s provisions of the above-mentioned law. After resigning from the notary public office the above-mentioned ones can not be designated to a notary public office unless he/she possesses the qualifications and competencies mentioned in Article 7.

To begin, to renounce and resign the duty

Article 30- notary public title is acquired by the notification of the designation decision. Notary public title of a notary public’s designated or transferred to a notary public office in his/her class or in a higher class,

A person designated or transferred to a notary public office, have to commence his/her duty within a month period, following the appointment notification or transfer decision. Within this period, the appointed or transferred person failing to commence his/her duty without any justified reasons or in case he/she submits the designation or transfer request renouncement petition to the Ministry or the office of the director of the public prosecutions, following the appointment or transfer decision notification, this person shall be considered as a resigned person acting as a notary public.

(Article 17, Law no: 3588 of 16/11/1989 and last sentence of second paragraph abolished, Article 4 and third and fourth paragraphs of the same law amended as follows: )

The person who is designated as a notary public before the designation or transfer decision have not been notified to him/her, shall renounce from his/her request by submitting a petition to the Ministry or the office of the director of the public prosecutions. The designation request of a person who renounces three times as mentioned-above shall not be taken into consideration. If the above-mentioned person holds a notary public certificate his/her certificate shall be annulled. One of the present candidates shall be designated as a notary public in case a renunciation before the designation decision notification takes place without any further announcement according to the articles 24, 27 and 29.

Period of starting the duty in a new notary public office for those who are already in the profession shall commence following the date of handover operation of the previous notary public office.

(Last paragraph - Article 3, law no 4579 of 13.06.2000) The Ministry of Justice shall fix a month period to the notary public, who starts up a notary public office in a place that is not determined by the Ministry of Justice or moves his notary public office to the above-mentioned place, for moving his notary public office to the place determined by the Ministry of Justice. The notary public who fails to move his notary public office in the determined place shall be considered as resigned from his duty and his notary public office shall be moved to a determined place under the supervision of the Notary Public Association in Turkey.

PART FOUR

Power to Notary Public and Warrant

The management by proxy of the dismantled notary public’s office

Article 33 – Whatever the reason, if a first, second or third class notary public’s office is dismantled, the Office is managed by proxy by the intern who is completed the six month of his/her internship in the said Office, if there is more than one intern in this position, then by the senior intern, if there is no intern in this position, by an intern which will be found and charged by the notary public chamber and in the absence of all these options, by the chief clerk or, if unavailable, by the most senior clerk of the Office

(Changed clause 2: 16.11.1989 – 3588/art. 5) (Changed phrase 1: 2/3/2005 – 5309/ art. 3) If there is no available clerk in the notary public’s office, this duty is fulfilled, upon the notification of the Republic Attorney General, by an enforcement officer, an assistant enforcement officer or an adequate justice officer who are appointed by the justice commission. If the deputy reveals insufficient during the controls, he/she can be changed any time.

The officer who rules the notary public’s office in accordance with the above clauses receives a wage fixed by the notary public chamber; this wage can not be less than his/her monthly wage or revenues and is paid from the notary public’s income. By the way, this wage can not be more than half of the gross income of the notary public’s office.

(Changed: 16.11.1989 – 3588/art. 5) The notary public’s office’s dues, the deputy’s wages and the other expenditures of the notary public’s office including the travel allocation which is given for the deputy’s personal operations will be separated from the monthly gross income of the notary public’s office and the balance together with the detailed list of income-expense will be addressed by the deputy to the Notaries Union of Turkey ultimately until the fifteenth calendar day of the following month.

Proxy in case of temporarily separations

Article 34 – If the notary publics are temporarily separated because of arresting, of constrained work ceasing and of dismissal, their duties are performed in pursuant of the article 33.

In this case, excepting the case of temporarily dismissal, the notary public office’s dues and the deputy’s wage are separated and one half of the remained gross income is attributed to the notary public; the other half is withheld until the conclusive decision of the investigation and the prosecution and it’s so in order to offset the debit or otherwise to restore to the notary public. In case of temporarily dismissal, notary public’s office’s dues and the deputy’s wage are separated and the remained gross income is send to the Notaries Union of Turkey.

If the temporarily competent assistant notary public ceases to work because of the reasons mentioned in the first clause, a deputy is chosen according to the procedure indicated in the article 32. The deputy receives all the incomes.

Proxy in case of obstacle

Article 35 – The notary publics who left their businesses because of illness and justified reasons are substituted by the person who has the primary authority to sign in the said notary public’s office.

If there is no person with authority to sign, the businesses are done by the intern having completed six months of his/her internship in the said notary public’s office, if there is no intern in this situation, by the chief clerk or senior clerk of notary public and if there is no person to whom the attorney could be presented then by an another intern having the qualities mentioned hereinabove and who is considered adequate by the notary public chamber.

(Changed clause three: 2/3/2005 – 5309/art. 4) If there is no available person, this duty is fulfilled, upon the application of the notary public to the Republic Attorney General, by an enforcement officer, an assistant enforcement officer or an adequate justice officer considered sufficient who are appointed by the justice commission in return of a wage appreciated in accordance of the third clause of the article 33.

If the temporary notary public assistants have the obstacles indicated in the first clause, then the last clause of the article 34 is applied.

Power

Article 36 – Notary public can give power of attorney to his intern having completed three months of his/her internship, to his chief clerk or to his another clerk in order to receive help.

In case of more than one power of attorney, the priority order of these powers of attorney is indicated in the licenses.

The modalities in which the power of attorney can be granted are specified in the regulation.

PART FIVE

Notary Public Oath, Guarantee, Samples of Signature and Seal

Notary Public Oath

Article 37 – Before they start to work, those who are first appointed to the notary public take an oath on their hearts and honors at the court of first instance or at the individual civil court of peace to which they are related; the oath indicates that they will execute this confided duty in a right manner and with no partiality. One of the three copied records is addressed to the Ministry of Justice. Another copy is addressed to the Republic General Attorney and the last one is held in the file at the notary public’s office.

Guarantee

Article 38 – In two months which follows their beginning to work, those who enter in the notary public profession must guarantee 5 % of the annual gross income of the notary public’s office. The guarantee can only be cash.

The guarantees of the notary public’s offices that will be opened are paid according to the gross income estimated at the notary public advertisement.

Also, until the end of the February of the concerned year, the notary public’s offices guarantee 1 % of the real gross income of the previous year.

The amount of the guarantee is paid into a national bank of which more than half of its capital belongs to the State. Those banks are shown in the regulation.

The guarantee is a counterbalance for the damages caused by the notary public’s offices and hence for the fines assessed to them. Those moneys can not be transferred (assignment of claim) or discharged (hypothec) to someone else. According to the article 49, a part in withheld during the cession; the execution reveals possible from the rest.

In order to make him/her fulfill his/her obligations, the Ministry of Justice gives an adequate time, one month at best, to the notary public who does not pay the guarantee in the fixed time or who does not pay all sums. The notary public who does not complete his/her guarantee is considered resigned.

Samples of signature and seal

Article 39 – The notary publics are charged with the responsibility to send to the local governorship the three samples of their notarial seal and signature in 15 days which follows the date of their beginning to work.

Also, one sample of the signatures of the ones to whom a power of attorney is presented is sent to the local governorship in 15 days which follows the preparation of the said power of attorney.

PART SIX

Notary Public Office

Office quality and renting

Article 40- notary public office shall be accepted as government office. Notary public shall make the renting contract on behalf of the office.

Notary public is responsible for all expenses of notary public office.

Document and books supply and destruction

Article 41- according to the procedures mentioned in regulations, document and books and other office supplies and supply used in organs of Notaries Union of Turkey and destruction of document and papers shall be subject to the stipulations regarding government offices.

Personnel

Article 42- Notary public office personnel consist of considerable amount of clerks and employees working under the service of the notary public.

In notaries public offices where there are at least two clerks, one shall works as head clerk.

Head clerk

Article 43- head clerk is the personnel chief in the notary public office.

Head clerk is as well as responsible as notary public from documents, books and registered moveable property.

Conditions required for being a head clerk

Article 44- Conditions required for being a head clerk are as follows:

possess conditions stipulated in government official law, not being discharged by a penal or disciplinary decision, complete candidacy period of six months, authentication of competency by the notary public

Candidate, whose competency has not been authenticated yet, shall work for another six months. If the candidate fails, he/she shall not work any longer in that Notary public office.

Those who completed courses opened by Notaries Union of Turkey or Chambers shall be a candidate in Notary public office before anyone else.

Contract obligation

Article 45- notary publics hire candidates at least for a year contract. Notary public has the right to notice of report owing to incompetence of the candidate, unless written explicitly following the completion of candidacy period. In case candidacy period extends, the same stipulation shall be applied.

Within the notice of report period if the contract is not annulled or candidacy is not extended, the contract shall continue as clerk contract following the completion of the period.

Notary clerk and candidate contract shall be prepared as four copies and first copy shall be sent to notary chamber, second copy shall be sent to regional labor directorship within 15 days following the date it is prepared. The third copy shall be kept with notary public and the last shall belong to the clerk or candidate.

Authenticated copies of documents showing the candidate possess the conditions mentioned in Public Officials Law shall be attached to the copy sent to the Chamber.

Notary public shall notify the chamber within 15 days following the situation appears like; the clerk candidate contract became a clerk contract or the contract terminates for any reasons according to the second paragraph.

Notary publics who act contrary to the above-mentioned paragraphs, if found faulty, shall at least receive a condemnation for the first time.

The above-mentioned stipulation shall be applied for those who act contrary to the article 44.

In case discharge decision is final for notary clerk and candidate, clerk and candidacy contract shall be annulled automatically on the date of the final decision. Clerk and candidate can not demand any indemnity for his reason.

Duties fail to be executed by the employees

Article 46- employee shall not be employed as clerks.

Annual leave of absence or special leave

Article 47- notary publics shall give the leave of absence to the clerks and employees who work in the notary public office at least a year as follows:

A) Those who work from 1 to 5 years (5 years included) shall have 15 days

B) Those who work from 5 to 15 years (15 years included) shall have 20 days

C) Those who work for more than 15 years shall have 1 month

leave of absence.

Those who shall have their leave of absence away from the notary public office shall have a supplementary leave of absence up to 7 days, to compensate for period in arrivals and departures.

The competency period of clerks shall be taken into consideration in calculating service period of a year, mentioned in the first paragraph.

The notary public shall give to clerk and employees a leave of absence at most for ten days in a year including the departures and arrivals, under the condition of having a justified excuse. If those-above mentioned leave of absences exceeds ten days in total, the exceeding amount shall be deducted from the annual leave of absence.

Clerk and employees shall have their total salary within the period they are on leave, as stipulated in the above-mentioned paragraph.

Collective labor contracts and service agreements shall increase the above-mentioned periods shall be increased. Annual paid leave right shall not be abandoned.

Application of labor legislation stipulations

Article 48- any relation arising from service agreement between clerk and employers with the notary public is subject to the labor legislation unless stipulated otherwise in this law.

Notary public office transfer

Article 49- Whatever the reason, if a notary public office became vacant, the relevant notary public or the person authorized to sign shall notify the situation in writing to the office of the public prosecutors. The office of the public prosecutor shall notify the situation to the Ministry of Justice or notary chamber, if notary public died; to his/her rightful inheritors and shall examine his/her calculations and operations within two months at most and shall transfer document, book, paper and trusts to a representative along with a minutes, shell send the report to be prepared with a copy of the minutes to the Ministry of Justice. If the notary public has no connection, the Ministry of Justice shall make the notary public or to his/her rightful inheritors to return the guarantee. If the If the notary public has connection, compensated amount shall be deducted, and measures shall be taken according to the examination results of legally authorized bodies.

office of the public prosecutors or and notary public or present inheritors shall determine an item belonging to notary public in notary public office and shall be used by the representative, in return for a fee specified by notary chamber, until the new notary public takes over the duty

Stipulation of first paragraph regarding; document, book, paper and trust transfer to the representative shall also be applied for notary public office transfer from; notary public to notary public, representative to notary public and from one representative to another.

If the parties shall not reach an agreement on the amount to be paid for the transfer of present items and installments from the previous to the last notary public within the notary public office, the notary chamber shall fix this amount.

Notaries Union of Turkey shall pay the transportation fee, fixed according to the charges law, to the public prosecutor who is present in transfer of notary public office and justice officials assigned for help by the above-mentioned prosecutor. In so far, whatever the transfer period takes, transportation fee shall not be given for more than five days .

PART SEVEN

The Obligations and Rights of Notary Publics

CHAPTER ONE

The Obligations of Notary Publics

Works that are incompatible with notary public position and are prohibited for notary publics

Article 50 – Any service or duty is compatible with notary public position; excluding the duties given by the juridical authorities, presidency or membership to the scientific or charity foundations, arbitration or testamentary executorships.

(Second clause repealed: 18/06/1997 – 4276/art. 25)

It is prohibited to the notary publics to gamble on the stock exchange, to trade in the meaning indicated at the clause 1 of the article 28 in the State Personal Law, to guarantee, to dump anyhow from the fees belonging to them, to use agents, to commit an act of publicity or competition and, by no means to conclude among them verbal or written accords regarding the notarial fees.

Working hours of the notary publics

Article 51 – The daily work of the notary public’s office starts together with the other local state departments. At the annual ordinary general assembly, the notary public chambers fix the daily work and leave hours of the member notary public which will be applied for one year and addressed them to the Notaries Union of Turkey and the Ministry of Justice. In so far, the working hours of the notary publics can only count one more hour than that of the other local state departments. Notary public’s office can not accept any work except working hours. The provisions of the article 52 are reserved.

Prohibition of work for notary publics during holiday and exceptional cases

Article 52 – During the resting days or the resting hours of the working days, the notary publics are only authorized to arrange and confirm testaments or other notarial operations of whose delay risks to produce damage. It is imperative to show on the document the reason why the resting days and hours was worked and to register this operation on the first number after the rest of the daybook.

Obligation for conformity to the ordering provisions

Article 53 – The notary publics can not make an operation contrary to the ordering provisions of the laws. This provision is also applied to the scope of the operations of which the signature confirmation has done.

Professional secrecy

Article 54 – Excepting the cases that law orders, the notary public and the notary public’s office’s clerks can not reveal the secrets that they have learned because of their duties.

The secrecy of the documents and registers

Article 55 – The notary public’s office’s documents and registers can be examined by a court, an examining magistrature and the Attorney general of the Republic or by the persons that state departments authorized to conduct in the notary public’s office an investigation of which the subject is also indicated.

The documents and registers cannot be taken out of the office unless the decision of the court or the examining magistrate.

If the court or the examining magistrate decides to keep the document in the file until the end of the trial, an authentic copy is prepared and is sent to the notary public in order to be held instead of the original document.

If the place where the notary public does not provide the opportunity to examine and the document must be addressed to another place, then the copy that will be certified by the tribunal court situated at the place of notary public is held in the same manner.

The copies demanded by the persons who have the inquiry authorization and by the Republic prosecutors are not subject to any notary public’s office’s fee. Only a typing fee is taken from the copies that are addressed to other official authorities.

Age restriction

Article 56 – When the notary publics complete the age of 65, they are subject to the age restriction. Concerning the calculation of the age, the provisions of the Law on Pension Fund of the Republic of Turkey are relatively applied.

CHAPTER TWO

Permission and Illness

The leave of notary publics

Article 57 – For the ones who have a service time from six months to 10 years (including ten years), the annual leave of the notary publics is 30 days; for those who have a greater service time, the annual leave is 40 days. Those times cover the departure and return times. The annual leave is given by the Ministry of Justice.

The permission of the two successive years can be given together. In this case, the unused permissions of the past years are disqualified.

Under the condition of justified obstacle, the notary publics can receive from the Republic prosecutor of his place a leave of absence which should not pass ten days including the departure and return times. If the total of those leaves passes 20 days, the surplus is deducted from the annual leave.

In so far, the notary public who must work in the organs of the Notaries Union of Turkey or who must leave his/her work because of the duties given by the Notaries Union of Turkey or the Ministry of Justice is considered on leave for the necessary time upon condition to inform the Republic prosecutor. Those leaves can by no means be deducted from the annual leave.

The leaves granted in accordance with the provision of the third and fourth clause are immediately reported to the Ministry of Justice.

Exceeding leave credit

Article 58 – Those who exceed their leave credit 15 days without any justified obstacle are considered resigned. Those who exceed their leave credit with an inferior period or who leave their duties without permission are subject to a disciplinary penalty. In so far, the highest penalty for the first time is the censure.

Operation to be done in case of illness of the notary publics

Article 59 – The notary publics who are sick are considered on leave under the following conditions in accordance with their service time and the report granted by the doctors of the Government or the State hospital through the Republic Attorney General:

1. The ones who have a five year (including five years) service time have a leave until three months,

2. The ones who have a service time until ten years (including ten years) have a leave until six months,

3. The ones who have a service time greater than ten years have a leave until one year.

The leaves of notary publics whose continuing illness is certified via an official health association report can be prolonged twice. The duties of those notary publics who are not healed in the end of this time are terminated by the Ministry of Justice.

PART EIGHT

Duties of Notary Public

FIRST CHAPTER

General

Duties of notary public in general

Article 60- Duties of notary public are as follows:

Arrange all kinds of legal procedures which are not given legally to any other office, instance or person (are not entitled by law)
arrange all kinds of legal procedures of undetermined instances that are stipulated formally by the laws and as stipulated by the said law,
make real property sale promise agreement
confirm signature, seal or any sign or date above the paper that is written outside as stipulated by this law,
give a copy of the original or copy or the document that is brought to the notary public office as stipulated by this law,
translate the documents from one language to another or from one writing to another,
make a formal complaint against someone, send notification and send notarized minutes,
enter the necessary registered legal procedures in an official register,
Execute other duties as stipulated by this law and by the other laws.

CHAPTER TWO

Particularly

Determination

Article 61- Notary publics fix situation or form and value of a place or a thing and identity and expression of concerned parties and upon invitation to attend lottery and election and meetings of private institutions to certify the situation.

Safe keeping

Article 62- notary publics guard the things entrusted to him for keeping or for giving to another person in accordance with the below mentioned decision.

One copy of the minutes is given to the person that trust the thing and the person that the trust belongs to is notified by the other copy.

Entrust the trust

Article 63- trusts are kept by the notary public accordingly.

Upon the request of the related person, the trust shall be put in a safe and be kept in a national bank after it is sealed by the notary public in the presence of the related person. The trust shall be kept in an iron case or in a secure box unless a bank is available.

Money trust

Article 64- if the trust is money, notary public trust the money at latest the following day in the mane of the notary public office trust current account in the bank showing the name, surname and the address of the holder of the right.

Receipt is used for collecting and paying the trust money. Receipts of payment are two copies whereas payment invoice is only one copy. The person that trusts the thing gets the first copy of the receipts of payment.

The money shall be paid to the holder of the right by the bank in return of a check given by the notary public office.

Notary public shall notify the bank when the expenses related to the trust money are paid. In this case the time limit shall become invalid.

in case the trust is not taken in a year following the completion of the entrust period or in case expenditures and expenses are not paid, the notary public shall notify the person that entrust to pay expenditures and expenses, unless notification is available he shall notify his lawful successors, if any the person that trust is paid in favor of him.

If the related person fails to pay expenditures and expenses to the notary public within a month period following the notification, the notary public shall sell the trust in the municipality auction if not available he shall sell the trust in a suitable place and determines the condition by keeping the minutes. Notary public office expenses and total sales expenses, due trust until the day shall be subtracted by the sales total and the remaining shall be trust in the bank.

Trust transfer to the treasury

Article 66- if the trust is worthless or fails to cover the sales cost, as stipulated by the first section of the Article 65 the notification fails, the trust shall be transferred to the Treasury.

The money trusted to the bank by the notary public as a trust or upon the exercise of last paragraph provision of the article 65 shall be transferred to the Treasury, after the completion of the time limit.

Right ownership regarding trusts

Article 67- the trusts which be given to the other persons not mentioned in the minutes depends on the consent of the parties or decisions of the court.

Book approval

Article 68- notary publics keeps the necessary books according to the provisions of the Turkish Commercial Law and other laws and notary publics approve the above-mentioned books as required by the above-mentioned laws.

After the approval of the said book in the above-mentioned section, the notary public notifies instances as prescribed by the above-mentioned laws; of the sort, year, and page number of the approved book one by one or in a list with a registered letter.

Therefore, notary public charges the related person for letter fee as shown in the fee tariff and post expenses in cases where law obligates to notify one by one.

Testament and duties regarding savings related to the death

Article 69- notary publics keep open and secret testaments and they keep minutes regarding the above-mentioned testaments. They notify the situation in writing to the public registration office upon the death of persons trusted savings other than death, prepared by the notary publics, or testaments kept this way.

In case Public registration office certifies the death with a formal document or inform on death, notary publics entrust the approved copies of the testaments kept in their notary public office and covenant for title related to the death prepared by them to be sent to the office of the director of the public prosecutors.

According to the first section the person will pay the writing fee as shown in the writing tariffs for the writing addressing the Public Registration Office and the post charge.

Notification procedures

Article 70- any kind of document that will be used as notification will be notified to the relevant person according to the provisions of the Notification Law. Notification minutes will be attached to the copy in the notary public office.

Distribution of monthly and yearly work schedules

Article 71- Notary publics prepare a schedule at latest the 10^th of each month, showing the quality and the number of the work that came in and came out from the notary public office and the fee, expenditure, duty and other tax costs and expenses that they took from the people within the previous month, and send it to the Notary Association in Turkey.

When the person gives notary public power of attorney, other than matters the as shown in the first section, the notary public who stands proxy for the person shows; the money that is paid to him and detained notary expenses and parts that he paid to the notary public and name and account number of the bank that he trusted the money detained, according to the Article 34, on the work schedule.

Each year until the end of March Notary publics organize a schedule of revenue, expenditure and amount of guarantee concerning the previous year and send it to the Ministry of Justice and Notaries Union of Turkey.

PART NINE

Aspects of Notary Operations

FIRST CHAPTER

General rules to comply for notary operations

Legal procedures and parties

Article 72-Notaries certify legal procedures upon the request of concerned parties. Certification is done according to the related provisions and as shown in other laws and regulations. The person notified or not will be written on a copy that will be given to the relevant person and will be approved.

Related party is the one that requests the certification.

Notary publics are obliged to find out identity, address, skill and true intentions of the related parties.

If the person concerned is deaf, dumb or blind

Article 73- (amended article with the title, Article 23, law no 5378 of 01.07.2005)

If the notary public understands that the person concerned is deaf, dumb or blind the operations shall be concluded with the presence of two witnesses upon the request of the person concerned. If the person concerned is deaf or dumb and can not communicate by writing the operations shall be concluded with the presence of two witnesses and a sworn translator.

If the person concerned can not speak Turkish

Article 74- If the person concerned can not speak Turkish, the operations shall be concluded with the presence of a sworn translator.

Using mark, seal or fingerprint replacing signature

Article 75- if the person concerned and witness, translator, and expert can not sign or if they can not use a mark replacing signature, if any seal will be used, if not thumb print of left hand will be taken, if not any of the other fingers prints will taken and the printed finger will be written down.

(Amended section 2, Article 24, law no 5378 of 01.07.2005) if a notary operation is signed or marked in any kind replacing the signature, upon the request of the person concerned or operation made on behalf of the person concerned excluding the blind persons who sign; the notary publics shall took the fingerprints of the person concerned, translator or expert in the notary public office as mentioned-above deem necessary regarding the quality of the operation, the state of the person signed or marked and his/her identity. If he uses the seal he shall also use the fingerprints. Notary publics took the witness, translator and expert oath in accordance with the Legal Proceedings Law.

Prohibition

Article 76- notary publics, witnesses, translators and experts can not participate in notary operations in cases as follows:

if he/she is personally involved or the person concerned is acting on behalf of him/her,
if they are married before, even though there isn’t any matrimonial bond between the concerned parties,
If there is any affinity, blood relationship in third degree, ancestor, affinity in second degree (those degrees included) lineal consanguinity or collateral line, adoptive relationship between one of the involved party,
if the concerned party is the clerk or the employer of the notary public
If the concerned party is acting on behalf of the person as mentioned in the second, third and fourth point,
If the notary operation includes a deposition on one’s own benefit or on the benefit of the person as mentioned in the second, third and fourth point.

First judge executing notary operations

Article 77- in accordance with the article mentioned-above, if a notary public fails to execute notary operation and if there is no notary public available in that place, in accordance with the provisions of this law the first judge shall execute the notary operation, if the court of first instance is not present, judge of peace shall execute the notary operation.

Other prohibition causes for witnesses:

Article 78- The following persons can not be witnesses:

minors
incapacitated persons
according to the Legal Proceedings Law, persons who can not be heard as sworn witnesses
Clerk and employers of the notary public.

Documents required for operations by proxy

Article 79 – Those who wish to carry out notary procedures as deputy, parents, supervisors, substitute, representatives and heritors or on behalf of artificial persons such as companies or foundations are obliged to be able to present documents which, on the one hand, post their qualities and competences and, on the other hand, allow them to proceed to the desired operations. In addition to the paper of the original document, two other copies will be prepared without taxes or fees and will receive the descriptions of the operation as well as the date, the number and the place of delivery. One of these copies will be entrusted to concerned party and the other will be preserved by the body of notaries to be attached to the original document and the copies.

Attachment of a photo

An article 80- obligatory photo attachment procedure of the concerned person is shown in the regulation.

The notary public shall attach the photo person concerned to the relevant operation documents, if he considers it necessary for the quality of the operation, the state of the concerned person and his/her identity or upon the request of the concerned person excluding the extent of the first section.

Protuberance, modification, termination, annulment and correction in notary operations

Article 81- regarding notary operations, protuberances without the signature of the concerned party and the approval of the notary public are not valid. Protrudes in handwritings are not acceptable.

After its completion, modification or termination and annulment or correction of a notary operation, under the condition of not changing the quality and the value of the previous work is possible through the execution of a new operation, same as the previous one.

If the new operation is executed in other notary public office, this new notary public office shall send a copy of the new operation document to be attached to the previous operation document with a necessary explanation to the previous notary public office.

Provisions of the notary operations

Article 82- in accordance with the provisions of this law, certificated operations shall be official.

Legal operations executed by the notary publics in accordance with the second chapter of this part are valid until proven fraudulent.

In accordance with the third chapter of this part, signature authentication executed by the notary public is to certificate the authenticated signature belongs to the concerned person by means of the authentication of the signature and this operation shall not include the contents of the legal operations. The signature and the date are valid until proven fraudulent in those kinds of operations.

Notary operations excluding the provisions of the second and third section are valid until proven fraudulent.

Execution of the duty outside the notary public office

Article 83- Notary publics execute notary operations in their notary public office. If the execution of the above-mentioned duty in the office causes delays or raises other kind of difficulties, the duty shall be executed outside the notary public office by showing the reason in the work documents.

The person authorized to sign shall have the same above-mentioned authority on the date of the operation.

SECOND CHAPTER

Regulation

Form

Article 84

Notary publics execute the legal procedures by a minutes signed by other persons.

These minutes must have the following qualities:

1. Name and surname of the notary public and title of the notary public’s office

2. Place and date of the procedures (in numbers and in writing)

3. (Amendment of 2/4/1998- 4358/ Art. 3) ID card and address of the concerned party and if any of the translator, witness and expert and also tax ID card of the concerned party.

4. Minutes of concerned party regarding his/her true intentions

5. Participated parties signature and seal and signature of the notary public.

The original of the work document as prepared according to the aforementioned procedures is kept in the notary public’s office and the copy of the document is given to the concerned party.

Other registers in minutes

Article 85- in minutes there are registers regarding the acquaintance of the notary public with the concerned person, if not acquainted the source of the notary public’s idea about the concerned persons personality. If the notary public can not reach a decision and execution of the operation is requested, means of proof shall be written to the minutes for identity proof and situation.

Reading the minutes

Article 86- After writing down the declaration regarding the true intention of the person concerned the minutes is given to the person mentioned before.

The person concerned reads the minutes and if the contents are in accordance with his/her intentions he signs it after this matter is written.

If the person concerned is illiterate

Article 87- If the person concerned is illiterate, in the presence of the two witnesses the above-mentioned person declares his/her intentions to the notary public. After the notary public writes down this declaration the minutes is read. The provisions of the other laws regarding the execution operation in the presence of the two witnesses are legally guaranteed.

Person concerned and witnesses sign this after declaring it is exactly written and this matter is written in the minutes.

Provision of the documents attached to the minutes

Article 88- if the concerned person relates to a document in his/her declaration and this document is attached to the minutes then, this document becomes an integral part of the minutes. In accordance with the last section of the Article 84, during submission of the minutes copy; taking a copy of this document is upon the request on the person concerned.

Obligatory operations to be executed as arrangements

Article 89- agreements and power of attorneys necessitates deed operations in terms of quality, and testament, conditional sale, real estate promise to sell, settlement deed, marriage contract, child adoption and acknowledgement, hereditary share agreement and other operations as prescribed by other laws arranged in accordance with the provisions of this chapter.

Validation

Form

Article 90 - Under legal procedures notarization of the signature is carried out by a certificate of authenticity showing the signature belongs to the signing party.

Notarized signature of the original work document is given to the concerned party and a signed copy of the document is kept in the notary public’s office.

Conditions of validation

Article 91- validation is effective by signing in the presence of the notary public or accepting the signature belongs to the self by the person concerned.

Certificate of authenticity includes following matters

Article 92- Certificate of authenticity must cover:

place and date of the operation (in figures and words),
(Changed: 2/4/1998 – 4358/art. 3) identity, address and tax identity number of the concerned person,
proof of identity , in case the notary public does not know the concerned person,
declaration if it is signed in presence or if it is signed outside and the concerned person accepts the signature belongs to him/her
the signature of the involved parties and the seal and the signature of the notary public

Seal, date, fingerprint and mark authentication

Article 93- the provisions of this part is applied by comparison for notary authentication of the seal, date, fingerprint or marks replacing signatures.

FOURTH CHAPTER

Giving copies

Who can take copies?

Article 94-copies of notary operations shall be only given to the concerned parties, legal representatives or agents or inheritors.

This copy shall be sent from the notary public office of another city by the hand of the notary public of the relevant place with the fee paid.

However, in accordance with the stipulations of the Turkish Civil Code; the copy of the testament shall not be given, unless opened, to persons other than the ones prepared the testament or the ones possess a special authority; the representative that carries the power of attorney authenticated by the notary public, in this regard.

Giving copies with the permission of the judge

Article 95- Giving copies other than those mentioned-above depends upon the permission of the first judge or individual judge of peace.

According to the first section, if the documents to be given belong to the documents prepared in the consulates, the court of last residence in Turkey shall give the permission to the person that request the copy, in case the last residence is not determined, The Court of first instance shall give the permission

This permission is not subject to any expenditure or tax.

Giving a copy of a specified part

Article 96- if the person concerned requests a copy of all or part of the documents he/she brought, the notary public shall write down all or a part of the requested document under the condition of protecting its original form and gives as man copies as the work owner requests.

Copy kept in the notary public office

Article 97- one of the document copies is signed by the concerned person and shall be kept in the notary public office.

The copy kept shall be written in the copy to be given to the concerned person. By this way the returned copy shall be sealed and annotated.

Taking a copy by means of photocopying and by using similar methods

Article 98- a copy can be taken by means of photocopying or by using similar methods. If there is any distortion on the original one, an explanation shall be made in certificate of authenticity

A copy of the document in foreign language

Article 99- if the requested copy of the document is in a foreign language, at first it is translated; then copy is taken in accordance with the provisions of this part and translation is attached to each copy and by this way put an annotation.

FIFTH CHAPTER

Other operations

The extent of this chapter

Article 100- notary operations excluding the first, the second and the fourth one is executed in accordance with the provisions of this chapter.

Minutes

Article 101- the notary public minutes shall include following documents:

date and place of the minutes (in figures and words)
(Changed: 2/4/1998 – 4358/art. 3) identity, address and tax identity number of the concerned person,
proof of identity , in case the notary public does not know the concerned person,
subject of the minutes
the signature of the involved parties and the seal and the signature of the notary public

Taking and giving entrust conditions are shown in the trust minutes

Operations recorded in minutes

Article 102- the operations mentioned in the Article 61 and 62 of this law, are recorded in minutes.

Translation operation

Article 103- notary public puts an annotation on the documents when translating from one language to another or one writing to another.

The identity and the address of the sworn translator must be included in this annotation and the notary public must write down the date, sign and seal the bottom of the document.

Translation outside the notary public office

Article 104- if translation is not available in the notary public office where the person concerned is present, he/she can bring the document to a translation office in another place via the notary public office.

Commercial protest

Article 105- non acceptance and nonpayment protest is in accordance with the provisions set out in the Turkish Commercial Law.

Official warning and written notice

Article 106- in any kind of legal operations, official warning and written notice include as follows:

name, surname and address of the demandant and other party
subject of the warning and notice
signature of the demandant
notification annotation, sign and seal of the notary public, date (in figures and words)

The demandant can either write the official warning and written notice then take it to the notary public for notification or he/she can ask it from the notary public.

Approval of the book

Article 107- notary publics approve the books as shown in the private law.

In cases where there is absence of consideration in private laws, total pages of the book are counted from the beginning until the end and each page is numbered and sealed regarding the book approval.

Official registration

Article 108- in officially registered operations; date and number of the operation, name and surname of the concerned parties and the quality of the operation are written below the sequence number in the register book.

PART TEN

Revenues to be Distributed in Operations

Joint current accounts of the notary public offices

Article 109- (Changed title of the tenth chapter with the title 16/11/1989 – 3588/art.6)

If there is more than one notary public office in the adjudication environment of the Court of first instance or if there is more than one adjudication environment of the Court of first instance in a municipal border of the city;

Under condition not to exceed %15 of any kind of fee and notary share amount gained from notary operations; the value of which is subject to charge and seal tax of each year is more than the amount resulted by multiplying indicator number 30.000 coefficient of officer salary as shown in Budget Law of the relevant year, the Notary Chamber Board shall deduct the fixed ratio then, the relevant notary public office shall trust the remaining amount in an (Joint current account of the notary public office) account in a national bank by within (5) days following the operation date at latest.

Joint current accounts of the notary public offices shall be trusted by the relevant chamber board therein, where the notary public offices are related to, before the beginning of the calendar year and this situation shall be notified to The Notaries Union of Turkey.

Notary publics can not avoid notary operations as shown in the above-mentioned section in any ways without legal reasons

Joint current accounts in notary public office

Article 110- (Repealed.

16/11/1989 – 3588/art. 17)

Distribution of the revenue

Article 111- (Changed clause 1. 16/11/1989 – 3588/art. 7) According to the Article 109 money trusted in the joint account shall be paid equally every three months to the relevant notary public or to the representative of the notary public therein, if any, charged with this duty. Payment conditions shall be fixed in annual statutory meetings.

Before the completion of the three months period as shown in the above-mentioned section, the share of the notary public; resigned for any kind of reasons and appointed notary public; transferred to another notary public office, shall be paid immediately to himself or to his inheritors without the completion of the period.

PART ELEVEN

Collecting Methods of Notary Fee, Tax, Charges and Duty

FIRST CHAPTER

NOTARY FEE

Fee tariff

Article 112- notary operations fees calculated over charge and fees regarding; testament and deed of foundation preparation, writing, translation from one language to another or from one writing to another, comparison, official registration, entrust and operation exempt from charge, tax and duty mentioned in their law, and fees regarding authenticate the books and other charged operations as stipulated by law, amount of transportation fee of authorized representatives to sign with the notary publics shall be fixed in a tariff prepared by The Ministry of Justice after the decision of Notaries Union of Turkey.

In cases when notary operations have been executed via another notary public, the fee of the intermediary notary public shall be shown on the fee tariff.

Certificate of authenticity and testimony annotation are free of charge.

(Changed last clause 16/11/1989-3588/art. 8) All necessary changes in fees are made in March each year. Until the new tariff came into force the former tariff is valid.

Page count

Article 113- page count fees are calculated according to the provisions of the charges law.

Paying expenses as advanced payments

Article 114- notary expenses are collected as advance payments from the person concerned and deducted from the accrued amount. When the payment is not paid immediately, an unstamped receipt shall be given to the person concerned in return for advance payment.

Collecting final expenses

Article 115- (Changed: 16/11/1989-3588/art.9)The transcript of the final expenses shall be written on the original and copies of the operation documents in the notary public office and on the original copy of the document submitted to the person concerned. If the original copy is left at home then, the transcript of the final expenses shall be written on one of the copies submitted and two copies shall be prepared from the private receipts with sequence number issued by The Ministry of Finance and Customs. The transcript of expenses is separately shown as the original and the copies.

First page of the receipt shall be given to the person concerned who paid the expenses. The second page of the receipt shall be kept in the notary public office.

Apportionment of expenses

Article 116- unless a legal prevision to the contrary or an agreement between the two parties exist, expenses of the operation shall be equally apportioned between the parties concerned.

Extra charges

Article 117 (Changed clause 1: 16.11.1989-3588/art. 10) Within the limitation period regarding charges, if it is understood that, the notary public charged extra fee or charged extra notification fee; by multiplying relevant year of forty indicator number taken extra from each person with coefficient of officer salary as shown in Budget Law; any fees exceeding the equaled amount shall be returned to the person concerned by The Ministry of Justice and the said ministry shall inform The Union upon the notification to be sent to notary public for payment. If the person concerned is not paid within a month, despite the notary public charged the notification fee or the share of each person that is extra charged is same charged or less charged than the above-mentioned fee, it shall be sent to Notaries Union of Turkey. If the fee is not sent, The Union shall decide according to the stipulations regarding the execution of court order on the Execution and Bankruptcy Law.

Application of stipulations of the above-mentioned sections shall not hinder to award a disciplinary punishment.

SECOND CHAPTER

Collecting Methods of Charges, Tax and Duty

Notary public share in return for receipt

Article 118- prices of the charges, tax, and duty and paper holdings dues for notary operations and notary papers in accordance with the private laws (Changed expression: 30.12.2004-5281/art. 43-10-a) shall be collected in return for receipt.

Notary publics take a notary public share of three percent for charges, tax and duty they collect.

This share is paid to the notary public in accordance with the stipulations regarding the payment of notary contribution.

Payment of charges, tax and duty

Article 119- (Changed clause 1: 16/11/1989-3588/art. 11) notary publics are obliged to notify the relevant tax office with a declaration on -prices of the charges, tax, and duty and paper holdings- that they collect in accordance with the Article 118 (Changed expression: 30.12.2004-5281/art.43-10-b) within the above-mentioned time period and pay it within the same time .

Declarations are prepared for two periods; first one starts from the 1^st until the 15^th and second one starts with the 16^th until the end of the month. Declarations are submitted to the relevant offices following 7 working days of the 15^th and last day of each month.

(Changed clause 3: 16/11/1989-3588/art. 11) -collecting prices of the charges, tax, and duty and paper holdings –separate sums of declarations that belong to a relevant period (Changed expression: 30.12.2004-5281/art. 43-10-a), first and last daily fee number of the operations on the relevant dates must be written so as to show the total sum and must be prepared as three copies.

(Clause four: is repealed with 16/11/1989-3588/art. 17)

Notary public shall send the money that he/she is obliged to pay, via post office or bank post remittance to the relevant office within the period specified in the second section. In that case, remittance receipt shall be presented to the relevant office with the copies of the declaration.

A copy and attached receipt copies of the two declaration copies that, the notary public shall submit to the relevant office, shall be kept in the said office. The other copy (covering costs shall be paid to the cashier) or (the receipt, covering the cost, sent by post office or bank post remittance shall be presented) annotations shall be returned to the notary public after it is signed and sealed. Notary public shall send this copy with the monthly work schedule, in accordance with the Article 71, to the Notaries Union of Turkey. Receipt for his payment from the relevant office shall be kept in his notary public office.

The form and arrangement style of this declaration and application of this article shall be defined in the regulation that will be jointly prepared by the Ministry o Justice and the Ministry of Finance.

Additional charged payment

Article 120- if the notary publics fail to pay the prices of -the charges, tax, and duty and paper holdings-to the relevant office within the period shown in Article 119 (Changed expression: 30.12.2004-5281/art. 43-10-c) or fail to transfer to the relevant office via post or bank within the specified period, they shall pay an additional charge of 10%, following first 30 days upon the completion of the last payment day and an extra additional charge of 2% subsequent each 30 days. This additional charged payment shall be paid to a national bank shown by the Notaries Union of Turkey; one of the 2 copies of the receipt shall be presented to the relevant office and prices of -the charges, tax, and duty and paper holdings- due (Changed expression: 30.12.2004-5281/art. 43-10-c) shall be paid. Unless the notary public can not present the receipt the collecting officer shall notify the state to the Notaries Union of Turkey.

PART TWELVE

Responsibilities of the Notary Public’s Offices

CHAPTER ONE

General Clauses

Supervision and control authority

Article 121 – The notary public’s offices are under the supervision and control of the Ministry of Justice and the Notaries Union of Turkey.

Inspection of the notary public’s offices

Article 122 – The notary public’s offices are under perpetual control of the Republic prosecutors and are inspected one time in a year at least. The notary public’s offices next to the individual civil court of peace are subject to the inspections of the Republic Attorney General of the court of first instance to which those individual civil courts of peace are related.

(Changed clause 2: 16/11/1989 – 3588 / art. 12) The notary public’s offices are also inspected by the justice inspectors. The inspection is executed in accordance with the method and principles shown in the Regulation of the Inspection Board of the Ministry of Justice.

If necessary, the justice inspectors and the Republic prosecutors can take the documents, registries and volumes in the notary public’s offices under protection in office.

(Additional clause: 16.11.1989-3588/art. 12) The Notaries Union of Turkey executes its duty of supervision and control through a qualified union and the president or members of the board of directors of the Notary Public Chambers or the controlling committee that it will set up.

Constraining work ceasing

Article 123 – (Changed: 13.06.2000 – 4579 / art. 4)

In case of an act that constitutes a crime, the notary publics who are subject to an inquiry or a prosecution directed by the Justice inspector, Republic prosecutor, examining magistrate or the criminal court are, if considered necessary by the Ministry of Justice for the safety of the inquiry or prosecution, constrained to cease work until the conclusive decision of the said inquiry or prosecution.

If the notary public who was constrained to cease work during the inquiry or prosecution is condemned, in the end of the prosecution, with one of the crime cited in the second clause of the article 7, then, the constrained work ceasing continues until the conclusive decision.

The notary public who in accordance with the first clause was constrained to cease work during the inquiry or prosecution and who in the end of the prosecution is condemned for one of the crime showed in the second clause is constrained to cease work without waiting the conclusive decision. The provision of the second clause is also applied in this case.

The mode of prosecution

Article 124 – In cases during which an investigation appears necessary concerning the notary public, the Minister of Justice get the inquiry done by the justice inspectors or Republic prosecutors.

If a complaint is made to the Justice inspectorships or to the Republic Attorney General or if those authorities are aware of an illegal operation of the notary public, then they will proceed to the necessary inquiry and will send the document they prepared to the Ministry.

The third clause of the article 122 is also applied in case of inquiry.

One sample of the parts of the said document, prepared in accordance with the hereinabove mentioned clauses, which cover actions which do not constitute a crime but require a disciplinary prosecution is sent to the Disciplinary Committee of the Notaries Union of Turkey by the Ministry of Justice.

CHAPTER TWO

Disciplinary Penalties to be imposed upon the Notary Publics

General points

Article 125 – In order to get a notary public service as required, the notary publics who act contrary to the seriousness and the honor of the profession or who fail to fulfill their duties or who fulfill their duties imperfectly or who commit actions that undermine the confidence necessary for their duties are punished with the penalties indicated in the following article in accordance with the quality of the situation and the degree of importance.

The disciplinary penalties

Article 126 – The disciplinary penalties to be imposed upon the notary publics are as follows:

A) Warning: Consists of a paper that indicates to the notary public to be more attentive.

B) Censure: Consists of a paper that indicated to the notary public that he/she is defective in his/her duty or action.

C) Fine: Is between 250 liras and 5000 liras.

D) Temporary dismissal: Consists of a dismissal which is between one month and six months. The notary public’s quality is reserved.

E) Get out of business: To dismiss for the purpose of no reappointment.

The effect of the previous penalties

Article 127 –If the notary public is condemned two times by the article 157 and in other cases where the law orders, it is imperative to impose “the penalty to get out of business” to the notary public.

If a notary public, who has received a disciplinary penalty, commits in five years an action or behavior which requires the same disciplinary penalty, then the heavier penalty of the list indicated in the article 126 is imposed.

In so far, except the clause 2, the Disciplinary Committee freely appreciates the penalty without being tied by the order. Also, in case of second clause, a heavier penalty is still possible.

Right of Defense

Article 128 – At the disciplinary prosecutions concerning the notary publics, it is imperative to notify the imputed matter clearly and in written, to demand of the written defense and to give for this defense at least ten days.

Actions and behaviors before becoming a notary public and situation of those who have quitted the notary public’s offices

Article 129 – The actions and behaviors of a person before his notary public do not require a disciplinary prosecution if they do not require the penalty to get out of business.

The departure of the notary public from the notary public’s office cannot prevent the disciplinary prosecution proceeded upon his actions during his notary public service.

Prosecution authority and prosecution’s decision

Article 130 – The disciplinary prosecution concerning the notary publics is performed by the Disciplinary Committee of the Notaries Union of Turkey.

Upon the complaints made concerning the president or members of the committee, the concerned can not assist to the committee’s works regarding this prosecution. For this reason, the missing memberships will be completed by their substitutes, in case of obstacle, by the most senior notary public without obstacle who is charged in the Board of the Notaries Union of Turkey.

Upon the arrival of the complaint, the committee will firstly decide whether the complaint or denouncement is worth to prosecute.

Operation to be done after the decision

Article 131 – If the Disciplinary Committee of the Notaries Union of Turkey decides whether the complaint or denouncement is worth to prosecute, it notifies this decision to the Republic prosecutor of the place where the notary public is working and to the complainant, if any.

The Republic prosecutor or the complainant can make an objection to this decision via a petition which is addressed directly or through the Notaries Union of Turkey to the Ministry of Justice in 15 days which follows the notification. The Notaries Union of Turkey immediately transfers all the received petitions to the Ministry of Justice. Upon objection, the Ministry examines the disciplinary record to be brought and makes a decision. This decision of the Ministry is definitive.

If the Committee has decided to prosecute the complaint or the denouncement, or the decision which indicated that there is no need for prosecution is undone by the Ministry of Justice, it is proceeded to the prosecution of the notary public who is complained about.

If the decisions that indicate that there is no ground for prosecution are rendered definitive, the reexamination of the same subject depends upon the availability of the new evidences and the fact that a three-year deadline is not exceeded starting from the date of the definitive decisions.

Prosecution method

Article 132 – After the decision to begin a prosecution, the Disciplinary Committee of the Notaries Union of Turkey designates one of his members for examining the affair.

This member collects evidences, takes the testimony on oath of whom he considers necessary and after demanding the pleadings, addresses the file together with a report to the Committee. It is imperative that this report be given in three months at maximum. However, if it is convinced that this is necessary, the Committee can prolong this time by two months.

The Committee must conclude the affair at the latest in two months which follows the entrusting the report.

Trial

Article 133 – Following the completion of the examination made by the prosecuting member and his consigning of his report to the Disciplinary Committee of the Notaries Union of Turkey, if the notary public has demanded, the Committee decides that the examination be performed together with a trial. The trial is executed secretly.

In spite of the invitation notification, if the notary public does not come or send a deputy to the trial, he continues to trial in contumacy. In so far, it is imperative to write on the notification that in case of no appearance the trial will be performed in contumacy.

The trial starts by the hearing of the report read by the member himself who made the first examination.

Presentation of the evidences, estimation and majority rule

Article 134 – The Disciplinary Committee of the Notaries Union of Turkey appreciates and designates in which manner the evidences will be shown and examined without being tied by demands, abandons and the previous decisions.

The decisions are made by the absolute majority.

Hearing of witness and expert

Article 135 – The calling of the witnesses or experts to the trial, or the hearing of them by a member, or to be contented with the reading of their written deposition is decided by the Disciplinary Committee of the Notaries Union of Turkey.

However, if the evidence of the examined matter depends uniquely upon a person’s knowledge, this witness is heard in any case.

Trial Record

Article 136 – The trial record is composed by a member designated by another person. The records concerning the persons who were heard before or out of the trial must be read at trial.

Execution of the rogatory letter

Article 137 – The rogatory order is executed by the president of the notary public chamber which is the closest to the person to be heard or by a deputy designated by him.

Writ of summons for witnesses and experts

Article 138 – The witnesses and experts are called in accordance with the provisions of the Law of Notification.

Concerning the one who does not appear in the court though duly called, or who keeps clear of testimony, expertise or swearing without a legal reason, it can be demanded from the court of first instance situated in the same place of the said person’s domicile to impose him/her a fine between 20 liras and 200 liras, excluding the fees. Additionally, upon demand, penal court of peace of Ankara decides to bring the witnesses by force.

The witness who is punished in accordance with the provision of the hereinabove clause and who is recalled in order to not being brought by force and the expert who is recalled after being punished are punished again if they do not appear.

The justice of the peace decides both to fine or to bring by force in accordance with the record sample of the Disciplinary Committee.

Also, the member who in accordance with the article 132 was designated by the Disciplinary Committee of the Notaries Union of Turkey has the authority to request from the penal magistrate to bring by force the witness who did not appear.

Rejection and refusal of the President and members of the Disciplinary Committee of the Notaries Union of Turkey

Article 139 – The President and the members of the Disciplinary Committee of the Notaries Union of Turkey can be rejected and refused because of the reasons indicated in the Code of Criminal Procedures.

The demand of rejection is examined with the participation of the members other than the one who the demand is about.

If the Committee can not convene about the rejection or the refusal, then the operation in pursuant of the clause 2 of the article 130 is performed.

Decision and objection

Article 140 – One sample of the decision that the Disciplinary Committee of the Notaries Union of Turkey takes in the end of the examination with our without trial is notified to the concerned and to the Republic prosecutor situated in the place where the notary public is.

The concerned or the Republic prosecutor can make an objection to this decision via a petition which is addressed directly or through the Notaries Union of Turkey to the Ministry of Justice in 15 days which follows the notification.

Objection examination authority and approval of the decisions

Article 141 – The Disciplinary Committee of the Notaries Union of Turkey addresses the entire file by the end of the objection period to the Ministry of Justice; if it is objected to the Committee’s decision, the objection petition is also addressed to the Ministry.

The decision becomes absolute with the approval of the Ministry of Justice.

The Ministry notifies the decisions to be taken in accordance with the clauses mentioned hereinabove to the concerned and the Notaries Union of Turkey and addresses the file to the Notaries Union of Turkey.

The concerned or the Notaries Union of Turkey can make an objection to the Council of State against the decision of the Ministry.

The Committee must agree with the decision to quash of the Ministry. Even after the decision on annulment, the provisions of the first and second clauses are applied. If, in spite of the annulment, the Committee takes an insistent decision based on the old decision, then the Ministry takes the necessary disciplinary decision ex officio. This decision is definitive. In so far, those who are showed in the forth clause can make an objection to the Council of State against the decision. The provision of the article 164 is reserved.

The Ministry can examine, if it considers necessary, the disciplinary records to be brought from the Notaries Union of Turkey.

The influence of the penalty inquiry and prosecutions upon the disciplinary penalties

Article 142 – The condemnation or acquittal of the notary public at the end of a prosecution does not represent an obstacle to impose him/her a disciplinary penalty.

However, the disciplinary prosecution concerning the notary public is kept waiting until the inquiry about the act that requires a disciplinary operation or decision reaches a definitive decision or a verdict.

The application of disciplinary penalties

Article 143 – The disciplinary penalties are not applied until they become absolutes.

Witness and expert fees

Article 144 – In return of the time wasted and the effort made, an adequate payment can be provided to every witness and expert called by the Disciplinary Committee of the Notaries Union of Turkey. Travel fees and a daily wage are provided to the ones who have to travel because of the writ of summons.

Those fees are recovered from the party that is unjust. The fees which cannot be charged to anyone are in the responsibility of the Notaries Union of Turkey.

Execution of the disciplinary penalties, mode of payment of fines and various depenses

Article 145 – The penalties other than fine are executed by the Ministry of Justice.

The decisions of the Disciplinary Committee of the Notaries Union of Turkey that concern the payment of fines and fees are executed by the Notaries Union of Turkey in accordance with the provisions of the Execution and Bankruptcy Law that are clarify about the execution of the sentences. Those payments are income to the Notaries Union of Turkey.

Debt enforcement is executed by a lawyer to whom the President of the Union will give a proxy in accordance with general clauses.

CHAPTER THREE

Disciplinary penalties to impose upon notary public interns

Disciplinary penalties

Article 146 – The disciplinary penalties to impose upon the notary public interns are as follows:

A) Warning: Consists of a paper that indicates to the intern to be more attentive.

B) Censure: Consists of a paper that indicated to the intern that he/she is defective in his/her duty or action.

C) Wage cut: Consists of a cut which is no higher than the half of the intern’s wage.

D) Get out of the internship: Consists to get the intern out of the internship in order to not get him back to the internship and to the notary public profession.

The provision of the article 127 is also relatively applied to the notary public intern.

Committee to impose the disciplinary penalty and objection

Article 147 – The disciplinary penalties concerning the notary public interns are also imposed by the Disciplinary Committee of the Notaries Union of Turkey.

The provisions regarding to the disciplinary acts and decision of the notary publics are also applied exactly to the interns. In so far, get out of the internship penalty of this section fulfills the get out of business penalty of the notary publics.

CHAPTER THREE

Disciplinary penalties to impose upon

the notary public clerks and clerk candidates

Disciplinary penalties

Article 148 – The disciplinary penalties to impose upon the notary public clerks and the clerk candidates are as follows:

A) Warning: Consists of a paper that indicates to the notary public clerk and candidate to be more attentive.

B) Censure: Consists of a paper that indicated to the clerk or candidate that he/she is defective in his/her duty or action.

C) Wage cut: Consists of a cut which is no higher than the half of the clerk or candidate’s wage.

D) Get out of the business: Consists to get the clerk or candidate out of the internship in order to not get him back to the internship and to the notary public profession.

The provision of the article 127 is also relatively applied to the notary public clerks and clerk candidates.

Authority to impose the disciplinary penalty

Article 149 – The notary public clerk or candidates receive disciplinary penalties from the notary public with whom they work.

Notary public must demand the pleadings of the clerk or candidate before taking the decision.

Objection

Article 150 – Notary public notifies the decision made concerning any clerk or clerk candidate to the concerned one and the Republic Prosecutor.

Concerned clerk or candidate and the Republic Prosecutor can make an objection to the Disciplinary Committee of the Notaries Union of Turkey against this decision in fifteen days. Even if there is no objection, notary public addresses the file concerning the decision to be examined to the Disciplinary Committee of the Notaries Union of Turkey at the end of the objection period. The decisions of the Committee are definitive.

The concerned ones’ right to apply to the Council of State is reserved.

CHAPTER FIVE

Offences to be Committed by Notary Public, Notary Public Assistants with Temporal Authority, Notary Public Deputies and Clerks and Clerk Candidates or Committed Against Them

Offences relating to duty

Article 151 – The offences that Notary Public, Notary Public Assistants with Temporal Authority, Notary Public Deputies and Clerks and Clerk Candidates have committed during their duty in the notary public’s office or that Notary public who were in charge in the organs of the Notaries Union of Turkey have committed during or because of those duties are subject to be penalized in accordance with the provisions of the Turkish Criminal Law concerning the Civil servants and the quality of their acts.

If a person who is no notary public is elected to the General Secretarial of the Notaries Union of turkey or to the accountancy, the provision of the clause mentioned hereinabove is also applied to those persons.

Offences committed against the officers

Article 152 – The offences committed against the persons mentioned in the article hereinabove during or because of their duties are be penalized in accordance with the provisions of the Turkish Criminal Law concerning the offences committed against the Civil servants.

Authorization for prosecution

Article 153 – The ability to prosecute the notary publics due to the offences they committed during or because of their duty depends upon the authorization granted by the Ministry of Justice.

The mode of prosecution

Article 154 – The file which is prepared by the Justice Inspectors or Republic Prosecutors is entrusted to the General Directorate of Penal Affairs of the Ministry of Justice. If at the end of the examination, it is considered that there is need for prosecution, then the file is addressed to the Republic Attorney General of the Heavy Penal Court which is the closest to the Heavy Penal Court of the place where the offence is committed.

In five days, the Republic Prosecutor issues his/her indictment and addressed the file to the Heavy Penal Court who will decide whether the case is need of final inquiry.

In accordance with the Turkish Criminal Law, one sample of the indictment is notified to the notary public about who the prosecution is. Upon this notification and in the time indicated at the law, if the notary public demands the collection of some evidences or makes an acceptable will, those claims are taken into consideration. If necessary, the inquiry is deepened by the President.

The trials of the notary publics concerning whom the final inquiry decision is taken are executed in the Heavy Penal Court where the offence is committed.

Right to objection

Article 155 – In accordance with the general clauses, the Republic Prosecutor or the accused can make an objection against the decision made by the courts indicated in the article 154 and which decides that there is no need for arrest or release or the final inquiry.

This objection is examined by the Heavy Penal Court which is the closest to the one that made the objected decision, excluding the Heavy Penal Court where the offence is committed.

Red-handed case that requires heavy penalty

Article 156 – In case of red-handed activity which requires heavy penalty, the preparation and the first inquiry is executed in accordance with the general clauses.

Acting against prohibitions

Article 157 – The notary publics who act against the provisions of the clause 3 of the article 50 receive, for the first time, a heavy fine between 1 000 liras and 5 000 liras. In case of recurrence, the fine cannot be less than 3 000 liras.

He who intervenes in the hereinabove written act of the notary public receives a heavy fine between 500 liras and 2 000 liras.

If the mediator is a person who is considered as an officer by the application of the Turkish Criminal Law or is a notary clerk or a clerk candidate, he/she is punished in accordance with the clause 1.

Those who act and behave in such a way to create a competition between notary publics, who execute their notary operations at the notary public who ensures him/her or the institution of which he/she is a member of certain benefits or, especially, those officers or various charged who are charged in public and private foundations which are part of the protocol arranged in pursuant to the paragraph 12 of the article 166 of this law but who act and behave against the essential of the said protocol and the notary publics who are a party to this crime are punished in accordance with the first clause of this article if their acts and behaviors do not require a heavier penalty.

Fraudulent acts of the notary publics

Article 158 – The notary publics, notary clerks and clerk candidates who arrange documents with an old date, reserve numbers in the daybook, commit fraudulent acts in the declarations which constitute the basis of the tax, stamp tax, contract or various fees or in the quittances which are attached to those declarations receive an imprisonment between three years and five years and a heavy fine between 1 000 liras and 3 000 liras.

Acts against the provisions of the tenth section

Article 159 – (Changed clauses I and II: 16.11.1989 – 3588/art. 13)

I – The notary publics who do not transfer in the indicated time limit the part of the income generated from the joint operations which should be transferred in the joint account in accordance with the first clause of the article 109 are, for the first time, punished as needed in paragraph (B) of the article 126 and the total amount of the fees and shares gained by the said criminal operation are re-collected and transferred to the joint current account of the Notary Publics.

II – a) Concerning the president and members of the Notary Chamber Board who do not execute the duties fixed in the first clause of the article 109, it is proceeded to the application of the articles 230 and 240 of the Turkish Criminal Law in accordance with the degree of culpability.

b) The notary public who acts against the last clause of the article 109 is punished in accordance with the clause (I),

III – The notary publics who are designated by the Chamber Board to pay the fees to the notary public in charge, to proceed a bank withdrawal in order to divide the account balance to the notary publics or to pay necessary obligations and to execute other duties relating to this are punished, in case of deficiency acts, with an imprisonment between one year and three years and a heavy fine between 500 liras and 2 000 liras if their acts do not require a heavier punishment by the other laws.

Penal responsibility rising from observance and control

Article 160 – The notary who is not a party to the crimes committed by the clerks or clerk candidates working in the notary public’s office is responsible in accordance with the provision of the article 230 of the Turkish Criminal Law if it is fixed that he did not accomplish his duty of observance and control on those persons.

Exceptional cases

Article 161 – The provisions of the articles 153 – 155 are not applied to the officers out of the notary public’s offices.

CHAPTER SIX

Legal Responsibilities of the Notary Publics

Article 162 – The notary publics are responsible against those who suffered damage for undone, erroneous or deficient works; even if they are executed by the interns, clerks and clerk candidates.

For the amount he paid in accordance with the first clause, the notary public can take recourse against the intern or notary personal that caused the undone, erroneous or deficient work

PART THIRTEEN

Notaries Union of Turkey

General clauses

Article 163 – In order to ensure that the notary public profession be duly executed and developed, and that the coworkers have a union and solidarity between them, the Notaries Union of Turkey is established with a state-foundation quality and a juridical personality.

(Changed clause 2: 18.06.1997 – 4276/art. 26) Union and its organs can not execute except their institutional aims.

In accordance with the protocol rules, Union attends the official ceremonies.

The Chamber Presidency and the chamber board membership duties are executed freely. The travel and residing fees as well as the other fees relating to those duties are paid by the Union’s budget.

The Presidency, vice-presidency, general secretarial and accountancy duties of the Notaries Union of Turkey are gainful. The members who are not charged in the Presidency Council of the Notaries Union of Turkey as well as the president and members of the disciplinary committee receive attendance fees for the meetings they have attended.

The travel and residing fees as well as the necessary expenditures of those who are selected from outside Ankara are paid from the Union’s budget. The quantities of those elements are determined by the Congress.

Supervision and control by the Ministry of Justice, constrained work ceasing and dismissal of organs

Article 164 – (Changed: 14.02.1984 – 2980/art. 2)

The Ministry of Justice has the right to supervise and control the Notaries Union of Turkey and the Union’s local organs’ chambers. All activities as well as the calculus and operations of the Union and the chambers are controlled by the Justice Inspectors and Republic prosecutors. The control mode is shown in the regulation.

(Changed clause 2: 18.06.1997 – 4276/art. 27) The dismissal and replacement of the presidents and boards of the central organs of the Notaries Union of Turkey as well as of the notary chambers who act contrary to their aims are decided, upon the demand of the Ministry of Justice or the local Republic Attorney General, by the local court of first instance through a basic method and the trial is achieved at last in three months.

In one month, new organs are elected for the ones who were dismissed. The elected ones complete the service time of the old ones.

The central and local organs of the Union must comply with the disposition of the Ministry of Justice concerning the decisions and acts of the Union’s organs. The provisions of the hereinabove clauses are applied to the Union’s organs which, without any legal reason, do not execute or do take an insistent decision based on an old decision that contravenes in one hand the dispositions of the Ministry and in the other hand the decision of stay of execution or the material decision of the administrative tribunals or, in spite of the warning from the Ministry, do not execute the operations imposed by the Law.

The dismissed organ’s members’ penal responsibilities, as written in the law, are reserved. The dispositions that cause the dismissal of those organs in accordance with the hereinabove clause are null.

(By assembling the article 27 of the Law 4276 dated 18/6/1997 with the clause six an seven, this clause is rearranged as the sixth clause) However, in case of urgency where the national security and the public order require the prevention of the perpetration or the continuation of a crime or the seizure, the governor can give the cease and desist order concerning the president and boards of the Union’s central organs and chambers. The decision of cease and desist order is presented for the approval of the judge in charge in twenty hours. The judge declares his/her decision in forty eight hours; otherwise, this administrative decision is automatically repealed.

Membership

Article 165 – The notary publics are the natural members of the Notaries Union of Turkey. The notary publics who are subject to an age limitation become the Union’s honorary members.

The Board of Union can decide the honorary membership of the individuals who have contributed to the profession.

The duties of the Notaries Union of Turkey

Article 166 – The duties of the Notaries Union of Turkey are as follows:

1. Ensuring that the coworkers have a union and solidarity between them,

2. Issuing books and journals, organizing conferences, attending international meetings and executing different necessary works in order to develop the profession,

3. Opening courses to educate notary clerks,

4. Automatically or upon demand, voicing its opinions to the competent authorities concerning the subjects that relate to the notary public profession,

5. Fixing and recommending the professional rules that must be followed,

6. In accordance with the time and quantity indicated in the regulation, lending moneys to the notary public and their clerks,

7. Taking measures in order to ensure that its members be homeowners, educate their children in good environment and take advantage of the different social services,

8. Before the opening of the legal year, presenting report to the Ministry of Justice that concerns its own works and needs,

9. Taking common measures in order to protect and preserve the notary documents,

10. Command and exploit the movable and real estate as well as the money of the Union in accordance with the Union’s aims,

11. Preparing one-type contract draft for the contracts to be done between notary publics and the clerks as well as servants,

12. Ensuring that the notary operations be done in accordance with this law and especially, contacting with the relevant official and private institutions in order to prevent competition between notary publics concerning the protest of a bill of exchange (check, policy and promissory note) or other different subjects and connecting, if necessary, the obtained results to a protocol with which the parties shall comply (The relevant official and private institutions can not abstain from the contact with the Notaries Union of Turkey and the protocol),

13. Defending the general interests of the Notary Publics as well as the moral, order and the tradition of the Notary profession,

14. Indicating the amount of the allocation that the Union will spend to the notary chambers as well as the payment mode; this will be done by taking into consideration the number of the members and the field of activity of the said notary chambers,

15. (Addition: 2/3/2005-5309/art. 5) If there is more than one district in the municipality border of a county, determining in every four year the distribution principles of all-type joint accounts of the notary public’s offices and presenting it to the Ministry of Justice for approval; this procedure takes into account the seniority and the class of the said notary public’s offices.

16. Executing other duties that are specified by the Laws[2],

The organs of the Notaries Union of Turkey

Article 167 – The Notaries Union of Turkey executes its duties through its organs.
The organs of the Union are as follows:

1. The President of the Notaries Union of Turkey,
2. The Conference of Presidents of the Notaries Union of Turkey,
3. The Board of the Notaries Union of Turkey,
4. The Disciplinary Committee of the Notaries Union of Turkey,
5. The congress of the Notaries Union of Turkey,
6. Notary chambers.

The duties of the President of the Notaries Union of Turkey,

Article 168 – The duties of the Notaries Union of Turkey are as follows:
1. Representing the Notaries Union of Turkey before the courts and other authorities as well as the protocols,

2. Presiding the Conference of Presidents and the Board and executing their decisions,

3. In accordance with the authorization that will be granted by the article 172, proceeding in the mane of the Union to the disposal and acquisition, making commitment, receiving the donations and applying the budget,

4. Establishing relations with the foreign notaries unions as well as law institutions,

5. Executing other duties that are specified by the Laws.

The Conference of Presidents of the Notaries Union of Turkey

Article 169 – The President of the Union, Vice President, Secretary General and the Accountant compose the Conference of Presidents.

The Conference of Presidents operates at the moments when the Board is not assembled and its operations are undertaken within the framework of the authorization granted by the Board.

The Secretary General and the Accountant can be a hired outsider.

If one of the members of the Union’s Conference of Presidents leaves his/her duty before the end of his/her service time, a new member is elected in one month for the remaining service time.

At times when the President is absent or, whatever the reason, the Presidency is empty, the execution of the President’s authorities and duties belongs to the Vice President and in the absence of the Vice President to the most senior professional member of the Union Board.

The Secretary General of the Union arranges the record relating to the meetings of the Board of the Union, manages internal works and the typesetting of the Union, gives the necessary directives to the Union’s officer and controls the officer’s works.

The Union’s Accountant is authorized to manage the Union’s assets in accordance with the decision of the Union’s Conference of Presidents, to take and give moneys and to execute every observance relating to the budget application. The Union’s Accountant signs together with the Union’s President all the arranged papers that concern the money actions.

The Board of the Notaries Union of Turkey

Article 170 – The Board of the Notaries Union of Turkey is composed of seven members and is elected by the Congress of the Notaries Union of Turkey for four years. The Board has also four substitutes.

The same notary public can not be elected more than one of the memberships of the Union’s Board, Union’s Disciplinary Committee and the Chamber Board.

In its first assembly following its election, the Board elects with secret vote a President, a vice president and, in case of no appointment from outside, a secretary general and an accountant. The elected president is also the president of the Notaries Union of Turkey.

Election mode and period of the Board of the Notaries Union of Turkey

Article 171 – The Board is elected among the notary publics who have at least five year seniority in the profession.

Those about whom it has been decided to open a final inquiry because of a crime that represents an obstacle to the notary public profession or those who have been punished during last five years by the Disciplinary Committee with fine or temporary dismissal can not be elected to the Board memberships.

(Third clause repealed: 14/2/1984-2980/art. 6)

It is imperative to write on the voting paper at least one more name than the half of the total number of members to be elected. The voting papers that contain fewer names are null. If the voting paper contains more names than the number of members to be elected, the extra names are not taken into account starting from the end of the list.

The candidates are aligned in accordance with the number of votes they received. Those who have been elected as the members and then the substitutes are aligned in pursuant to this alignment. In case of equality of votes, the candidate who is professionally senior, and if the seniority level is equal, the one who is older gains priority. The substitutes are called to the council in accordance with the place they hold regarding the votes they received.

The duties of the Board members who lost the election competency end automatically.

The member whose service time is fulfilled can be reelected to the Board. In so far, half of the member and substitutes is renewed. The members to leave in two years which follow the election are determined via drawing of lots.

The recently elected substitutes are aligned in accordance with their votes and are added below the old substitutes.

The Board member who leaves before the end of the election period is replaced by the substitute who has received the highest vote and a substitute is elected in the first congress to be held.

If a public trial is opened against one of the Board members because of a crime that represents an obstacle to the notary public profession, the said member can not attend to the Board activities until the end of the trial; he/she is replaced by a substitute.

The duties of the Board of the Notaries Union of Turkey

Article 172 – The duties of the Board are as follows:

1. Through examining the budget offers of every chamber, arranging the budget of the Notaries Union of Turkey and presenting it to the approval of the Congress and executing it,

2. Presenting report to the Congress concerning its activities and executing the Congress’ decisions,

3. Managing the estates of the Notaries Union of Turkey and granting authorization to the President concerning the disposal and acquisition activities,

4. Deciding about the resignation of the members of the Board,

5. Preparing the agenda of the Union’s Congress,

6. Arranging and executing the personal affairs of the paid official of the Union,

7. Executing supervision and control upon the notary chambers and notary publics,

8. Selecting the delegates who will attend to the local and foreign congress,

9. Presenting professional report to the related authorities,

10. Without showing the competent authority, executing the duties that are specified to the Notaries Union of Turkey by the Laws,

11. Executing other duties that are specified by the Laws.

Board meetings of the Notaries Union of Turkey and quorum

Article 173 – The Board of the Union holds a regular meeting one time in a month. Upon the demand of the President or one of the Board members, the Board can be convened for an extraordinary meeting in every time when urgency comes up.

At the end of each meeting, the date of the next meeting is fixed. The date of the meeting is notified to the members via a call letter. Those who have an obstacle notify this situation to the Conference of Presidents at least seven days ago with a paper.

The member who does not attend three consecutive meetings without any justified and documented obstacle is considered resigned.

The Board of the Union assembles with the absolute majority of the members and takes decision with the absolute majority of attendants. In so far, at least four members should ally for one vote so that the Board can decide. In case of equality of votes, the party of which the President forms a part is considered superior.

The Disciplinary Committee of the Notaries Union of Turkey

Article 174 – The Disciplinary Committee of the Notaries Union of Turkey is composed of five congress’ members who are elected through secret vote by the Congress. Furthermore, three substitutes are elected.

The Committee elects a president among its members in its first meetings which follows the election.

The members of the Disciplinary Committee of the Notaries Union of Turkey are elected for four years. Those whose service time has been achieved can be reelected.

The clauses 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 9 and 10 of the article 171 are also applied here relatively.

The duties and meetings of the Disciplinary Committee of the Notaries Union of Turkey

Article 175 – The Disciplinary Committee of the Notaries Union of Turkey executes the affairs that are granted to it by this law and regulation.

The Committee is holds a regular meeting one time in a month. Upon the demand of the President of the Union or of the President or the members of the Disciplinary Committee, the Committee can be convened for an extraordinary meeting in every time when urgency comes up.

The clauses 2 and 3 of the article 173 are also applied to the Disciplinary Committee relatively.

The Disciplinary Committee assembles with the absolute majority of the members and the decisions are taken if only at least three members agree on one vote. In case of equality of votes, the party of which the President forms a part is considered superior.

The Congress of the Notaries Union of Turkey

Article 176 – The highest organ of the Notaries Union of Turkey is the Congress of the Union.

The Congress of the Union is composed of two notary publics and presidents of notary chambers that are elected by the general assembly of the notary chambers. The notary chambers which have more than 10 notary publics elect a deputy for every 10 notary publics that surpass 10. The President and members of the Board of the Notaries Union of Turkey cannot be elected as a deputy. However, though they cannot attend to the voting relating to the activity report of the Board, they are natural members of the congress.

If possible, the same number of substitutes are also elected.

The notary publics who do not have the capacity to be elected to the Chamber Board can not be elected as deputy.

The Congress of the Union is assembled in the first week of every June. The date, the place and the agenda of the meeting is declared by the President of the Notaries Union of Turkey at least thirty days ago in journals; furthermore, it is also notified to the notary chambers.

Upon the written demand of the Ministry of Justice and of the one tenth of the notary publics being members of the Union, the Congress of the Union is convened to an extraordinary meeting. If the Board of the Union considers it necessary, it can convene the congress to an extraordinary meeting. It is imperative that the demands of the extraordinary meeting include a subject that is appropriate to the duties written in this law.

Meeting and decision quorum of the Congress

Article 177 – In order to get the Congress of the Union assembled, the majority of the delegates must be ready. If there is no majority on the meeting day, the meeting is done with the present delegates on the next day. In so far, there can be no meeting nor interview if at least one quarter of the members does not attend.

If the quorum written in the first clause is not attained, the meeting is left for another day that does not exceed one month. If one quarter of the members does not yet attend to this second meeting, the meeting is left to the one month dates until the said quorum is attained.

(Additional clause 3: 14.02.1984 – 2980 / art. 3) It is imperative to attend the meeting regarding the election of the Congress of the Union and vote; those who do not attend or vote without any valuable reason are punished by the Disciplinary Committee of the Union.

The Conference of Presidents of the Congress of the Union is composed of a president, a deputy president and four clerks. The President and members of the Board of the Union can not be elected to the Disciplinary Committee of the Union.

The Congress of the Union decides with the absolute majority of the attendants. In so far, the decisions which are related to the topics that are shown in the paragraph 10 of the article 166 can be taken only by the absolute majority of the full members of the Congress of the Union. . In case of equality of votes, the party of which the President forms a part is considered superior.

The duties of the Congress

Article 178 – The duties of the Congress of the Union are as follows:

1. Examining and accepting the activity report of the Board and, if not approved, proceeding to a reelection,

2. Discussing the budget and approving,

3. By virtue of the agenda and upon the proposal of the members, discussing and deciding the other affairs that are among the duties of the Notaries Union of Turkey,

4. Electing the members of the Board and Disciplinary Committee of the Union,

5. Fixing the entre fees and the dues to be paid by the notary publics,

6. Fixing the amount and the payment mode of the wages of the President, Vice-President, Secretary General and the Accountant of the Union as well as the attendance fees that will be granted to the members of the Board and the Disciplinary Committee,

7. Executing other duties that are given by laws.

Notary chambers

Article 179 – A notary chamber is established for every municipality border in which there are three or more notary public’s offices.

The Ministry of Justice determines to which chamber will be related the notary publics situated in places where there is no notary chamber and can relate the notary publics situated in places where there are less than 10 notary publics to a different chamber, if necessary.

The obligation to subscribe to a chamber

Article 180 – The notary chambers are the regional organs of the Notaries Union of Turkey.

Every notary public has the obligation to subscribe to the notary chamber which is in his/her region.

The duties of the notary chambers

Article 181 – The duties of the notary chambers are as follows:

1. Taking the necessary measures for the development of the profession,

2. Upon the request of the one of the concerned parties, trying to resolve the disagreements between the notary publics and the clerks, clerk candidates and the servants regarding service applications,

3. Submitting its opinions to the Ministry of Justice concerning the determination of the place where the new notary publics will be opened as well as the change of place of an existing notary public,

4. Aiding to ensure that the internal order of the notary public’s office is appropriate to the clauses of the regulation,

5. Taking the necessary measures during the cession and the reception of a notary public’s office with regard to protect the rights of the heritors of the deceased notary publics,

6. Sending delegates to the Congress of the Union,

7. Executing the duties granted by the Notaries Union of Turkey,

8. Executing other duties that are given by laws.

Organization of the notary chambers

Article 182 – The notary chambers compose of:

1. The president of the notary chamber,

2. The board of the notary chamber,

3. The general assembly of the notary chamber.

The duties of the president of the notary chamber

Article 183 – The duties of the President of the Notary Chamber are as follows:

1. By virtue of the competence that will be granted by the President of the Notaries Union of Turkey, representing the Union before whatever authorities,

2. Representing the Chamber before the Protocol,

3. Presiding the Board of the Notary Chamber and executing the decisions to be taken.

Board of the Notary Chamber

Article 184 – The Board of the Notary Chamber consists of the president and two members of the notary chamber.

The president and the members are elected for two years with the majority of the votes that are cast by the general assembly. One substitute is elected for the chambers with more than three notary publics; two substitutes are elected for the chambers with more than 10 notary publics.

In order to be elected for the presidency or the regular and substitutes membership of the Board, it is imperative to not have a decision requiring the opening of a final inquiry regarding a crime that pose an obstacle to the notary public profession nor a punishment of temporary dismissal from the notary public profession in the five last years. If the president or one of the members is definitively punished by a temporary dismissal during the election period, then the said duty ends automatically.

In cases where the president is absent or the presidency is empty for any reason, the member of the chamber board who has the highest level of seniority in the profession uses the power and executes the duties of the president. The provisions of the clauses 9 and 10 of the article 171 are also relatively applied to the members of the chamber board.

The duties of the Board of the Chamber Board

Article 185 – The duties of the board of the notary chamber are as follows:

1. Arranging the offer of the expense budget of the chamber and submitting it to the approval of the general assembly,

2. Reporting to the general assembly of the notary chamber regarding its works and executing the decisions of the general assembly,

3. Executing the duties that are given to the chamber without showing any competent authority,

4. Executing other duties that are given by the laws.

General Assembly of the Notary Chamber

Article 186 – The general assembly of the notary chamber consists of notary publics who are registered to the chamber.

(Changed first phrase clause 2: 16.11.1989 – 3588/art. 14) The general assembly assembles in April of the every year. The place, the time and the agenda of thee meeting is notified to the members by the president of the notary chamber at least one month ago.

The general assembly is convened to an ordinary meeting upon the written demand of the Ministry of Justice or one of the notary publics who are registered to the notary chambers. In so far, the number of the notary publics who have demanded a meeting should not be less than two.

If the board considers it necessary, it can convene the general assembly for an extraordinary meeting.

The provision of the last clause of the article 176 is also applied to the general assembly.

The meeting of the general assembly of the notary chamber

Article 187 – To hold the meeting, the majority of the members should be ready. If the majority is not ensured at the day of the meeting, the meeting is held on the next day with the present members.

(Changed clause 2: 14.02.1984 – 2980/art. 4) It is imperative to attend the meeting regarding the election of the Congress of the Union and vote; those who do not attend or vote without any valuable reason are punished by the Disciplinary Committee of the Union.

In order to proceed to the out of agenda election of the president or the members or to negotiate the offers of the members in accordance with the third clause of the article 188, it is necessary that the majority of the registered chamber members be ready.

The conference of presidents of the general assembly consists of a president and two clerks. In so far, the conference of presidents of the general assembly of the chambers that have less than (10) members consists of a president and a clerk.

(Changed last clause: 14.02.1984 – 2980/art. 4) The provision of the last clause of the article 177 is also applied to the general assembly of the notary chamber.

The duties of the General Assembly of the Notary Chamber

Article 188 – The duties of the general assembly of the notary chamber are as follows:

1. Examining and accepting the activity report of the Board and, if not approved, proceeding to a reelection,

2. Negotiating and approving the offer of the expense budget of the chamber,

3. Upon the agenda and the proposals of the members, negotiating and deciding other affairs included by the duties of the chamber,

4. Electing the chamber board,

5. Executing other duties that are given by the laws.

The revenues of the Notaries Union of Turkey

Article 189 – The revenues of the Notaries Union of Turkey are as follows:

1. The entry fees that will be paid by every member,

2. The monthly dues that will be not less than the 1 % of the monthly gross income,

3. The donations,

4. The revenue of the discharged notary publics’ offices.

5. If the notary publics receive the temporary dismissal punishment, the revenues that will be collected,

6. The moneys to be send in accordance with the second clause of the article 117,

7. The interests of the trust moneys of a notary and the relevant different revenues,

8. Salary increases that will be paid in accordance with the article 120,

9. The moneys that will be collected in accordance with the paragraph (C) of the article 126, 146 and 148,

10. The revenues that will be brought by the publications and the real estates of the Union,

11. Other revenues that will be ensured through the affairs that the Notaries Union of Turkey will execute in accordance with the provisions of this law.

Notification mode

Article 190 – The notification of the Notaries Union of Turkey and the chambers are executed in accordance with the Notification Law.

PART FOURTEEN

Notary operations in foreign countries

Authorized body

Article 191- the consulates carry out the notary operations in foreign countries.

Office

Article 192- in accordance with the stipulations of this law, notary operations in foreign countries are carried out in the consulate building.

Invalid stipulations

Article 193- excluding Articles 41, 51, 53, 54, 55, 60, 61, 68 to 70, 72 to 76, 78 to 108, 113 to 116 and Articles in Chapter Fourteen shall not be applied for consulates.

Not receiving a notary public salary

Article 194- person who laws as notary public in foreign countries shall not receive a salary for notary publics.

Signature and seal authentication

Article 195- the consul shall authenticate the signature and seal; found under notary operations belonging to the authorized body of the country concerned, in accordance with the procedure in foreign countries. Private law stipulations are all reserved.

FIFTEENTH CHAPTER

Miscellaneous

Resigning from the duty

Article 196 (Changed: 16/11/1989-3588/art. 15)

Excluding second section of the Article 7, if the notary public fails to possess one of the competence or conditions shown in the article or as a result of the inspections held; that he/she is found incompetent in profession, according to the last two subsequent certificate of good behavior prepared by justice inspectors and if the justice inspection come to the final decision on the third inspection, that he/she is incompetent in profession after six months service following last inspection, he/she shall be discharged from the duty by The Ministry of Justice.

Applying stipulations regarding notary public

Article 197- stipulations regarding notary publics, save for the exceptions and above-mentioned matters provided for, are also applied for the representatives of the notary public and temporarily authorized notary public assistants assigned in accordance with this law.

(Changed second clause: 2/3/2005-5309/art. 6) dismissal of duty punishment imposed on execution manager, deputy execution manager and employees of Justice and temporarily authorized conveyancing clerk, who law on behalf of the notary public also require dismissal of primary duty punishment of the above-mentioned people.

Regarding the intern notary public Article 146 and regarding the notary public’s clerk Article 148 disciplinary action shall be applied.

Substitutes of the notary public shall not make a disposition of any kind that can affect the state of the notary public office and the entire financial status or condition of the notary public, excluding routine notary operations without any written consent of the notary public.

(Changed fifth clause: 2/3/2005-5309/art. 6) the stipulations of this law regarding public appointment, Notaries Union of Turkey, collective insurance, illness and leave of absence shall not be applied for the execution manager, deputy execution manager and employees of Justice appointed as notary public and temporarily authorized conveyancing clerk.

Regulation

Article 198- the regulation that determines the application of the Notary Public Law arranges the following matters:

determine and change the location of the notary public office
interior arrangement of the notary public office
working style of the notary public office
keeping books
protecting papers, documents and books
form and usage style of the seal that will be used in the notary public office
style of the notary public internship
duties of interns
intern book and erasing the registers from the book
signature authorization conditions for interns, head clerks and clerks
banks to trust notary public guarantee
duties of clerk and functionaries
Joint current account of notary publics and distribution of expenses and revenues in the said account.
Inspection ways for notary publics, contents in the report and certificate of good character, notification period for reports to be sent to the ministry of justice that is prepared by the public prosecutors.
lending money to the notary public and his/her employees
legal arrangement left to the regulation or other matters to be arranged in the regulation to assure the application of legal provisions.

Signature and seal authentication

Article 199- the governor’s office of the relevant place shall authenticate the sign and seal of the notary public at the bottom of the document to be used in a foreign country and in accordance with the operation in Turkey.

Operation formulas

Article 200- formulas of the notary operations are prepared by the Notaries Union of Turkey Board with the decision of the Notary Chambers and Ministry of Finance and distributed by the Notaries Union of Turkey to all notary public offices after it is approved by The Ministry of Justice.

The formulas prepared in accordance with the first section shall be valid for four years following its approval date, and revision or remain in effect for same period at the end of this period, shall be decided on the last meeting of the Union before the completion of the period

Obligation for collective insurance

Article 201- notary publics who are uncovered by the article 202 are obliged to be covered by the collective insurance. However disability, old-age and death insurances are obligatory and work accident, occupational disease and disease, maternity insurances are optional for the notary publics.

Regarding the notary publics covered by the collective insurance, Social Insurance Law no: 506 and law no: 228 of 5^th January, 1961, annex and appending stipulations of the above-mentioned laws are applied not contrary to the private stipulations in the said law.

Notary publics uncovered by the collective insurance

Article 202- notaries who benefit from the temporary Article 15 of this law and temporary Article 2 of the advocacy code no: 1136 of 19^th March, 1939 and who get paid retiring pension or old age pension by T.R retirement fund in accordance with the social insurance law no: 506 or who benefit from the funds in accordance with the previsions of temporary Article 20 of this law shall not be covered by the collective insurance.

Type contract preparation and modification

Article 203- type contract that serves as a basis for making a contact between The Notaries Union and The Social Security Organization shall be determined by the meetings held between The Ministry of Labor, Notaries Union of Turkey and Social Security Organization. Same procedure shall be applied for the modification of the type contracts.

Chambers to be established after this law came into effect, shall apply to the Social Security Organization for making collective insurance contract according to the type contrlaw following a month of their establishment. Notary publics, who are registered in the newly established chamber, shall be covered by the collective insurance of the new chamber without prejudice to the rights that they earned by the collective insurance of the previous chamber.

Consequence of non payment of premium debt and notary public contribution

Article 204- the notary public who fails to pay the collective insurance premium within the period shown in the collective contract is discharged from service until he/she pays the due premium debt in accordance with the stipulations in the contract

Notary chamber chairman shall notify the name of the notary public fails to pay his/her premium debt within the specified period to The Ministry of Justice immediately.

Consequence of non payment of premium debt is restricted to the premium debtor notary public personally and any stipulation regarding this consequence including other notary public or notary chamber involved in the same collective premium shall not take part in the contract.

(Additional clause: 16/11/1989-3588/art. 16) notary publics who fail to pay his/her notary public contribution to The Notaries Union of Turkey, despite the notifications of The Union and specified period, he/she shall be discharged from service by The Ministry of Justice until he/she pays total due premium debt with the interest. In case of a discharge from service, after deducting notary public contribution and substitute fee of the relevant period, the net notary revenue shall be used by the substitute for paying due contribution debt and if any left, the sum shall be given to the notary public.

Counting previous duty, subject to retirement, of the notary public as length of service

Article 205- in accordance with this law, a notary public covered by the collective insurance and during his/her insurance appointed or chosen for a duty or service subject to retirement, two third of the notary public period served as a basis for his/her coverage shall be added to his/her length of service and adapted, duty or service salary and his/her salary, serves as a basis for retirement deduction shall be increased.

Change of profession

Article 206- persons put on an old age insurance salary before they are subject to collective insurance in accordance with this law and advocacy code, and if they resign from their notary public or lawyer profession; their insurance on their previous profession shall continue in their present profession. The relevant person shall be subject to the stipulations of collective insurance contract, following his/her new profession date.

The stipulation of the above-mentioned section shall be also applied for the ones who benefit from the temporary article 14 of this law and temporary article 14 of Advocacy Code and those who change the profession before the completion of minimum insured period and premium payment obligation

Amending article of Charges Law

Article 207- Article 72, no 492 of 2^nd July, 1964 Charges Law shall be amended as:

Notary operations carried out by the consulates

Article 72- stipulations of this law on notary charges shall be applied for notary operations carried out by the consulates.

(This amendment embroidered in Article 72, no 492 of 2/7/1964 Charges Law)

Abolished law and stipulations

Article 208- without prejudice to the transition stipulations in temporary articles of this law, notary public law no: 3456 and its amending laws and Article 48 and 51 , no 492 of 2^nd July, 1964 Charges Law are abolished.

Elections

Supplementary article- (supplement: Article 5, no 2980 of 14/2/1984)

According to this law, Notaries Union of Turkey center organs and Notary Chambers board and chairman election operations carried out balloting shall be executed under the supervision of the adjudication according to the above-mentioned fundamental principles.

At least 15 days prior to the conference and general meeting that took place before the election, three copies of candidate notary public list for the election, meeting agenda, place, date, time and writing regarding matters on second meeting, in case there is no majority, shall be committed to the arbitrator, who is the district election board chairman of the relevant place. If there is more than one district election board someplace, appointed judge shall be appointed by the higher election board. Considering other subjects on the agenda, meeting dates shall be organized; so as to allow meetings shall came to a conclusion on a Saturday night and elections shall be held the following day, on Sunday between 9a.m. to 5 p.m.

The judge shall examine the relevant registers and documents in detail, if necessary and if any, provide what is necessary, and then authenticate candidate notaries list and other matters specified in the above-mentioned section. Authenticated list and other matters related to the meeting shall be announced for three days in a legal way by attaching the announcement on the related chamber or union.

During the announcement period, any objection about the list shall be examined by the judge and he shall settle at least in two days.

Final lists and other matters related to the meeting shall be authenticated then sent to the Notaries Union of Turkey and Notary Chamber.

The judge shall appoint ballot box board; consist of a chairman and two members among public officers and notary publics who are not candidates. He shall also appoint three substitute members. In case the ballot box board chairman is not available, eldest member shall law as the chairman.

Ballot box board is charged with execution, management of the elections in accordance with the law and vote classification and they shall execute those above-mentioned duties continuously until the election and classification ends.

Election tools and equipments shall be provided from the district election board and location of the ballot box shall be decided by the judge.

At the end of the election period, election results shall be registered in minutes and signed by the ballot box board chairman and members. Temporary election results shall be announced by attaching a copy of minutes in the election place. Votes and other documents shall be entrusted to the District Election Board Directorate to be kept for three months period with a copy of the minutes.

Operations carries out during the election and objections to elections results following minutes keeping, shall be examined in details by the judge in the same day and he shall make a decision. After the completion of objection period and just after making a decision judge shall announce the final results as specified in the above-mentioned stipulations and shall notify the results to the relevant notary chamber and notaries union of Turkey.

Voting shall be executed in the basis of balloting open classification. The notary public who is not listed shall not vote. Voting shall be executed after proving the identity of the voter by checking his ID issued by notary chamber, notaries union of turkey, or authorized body and signing the name across the list. Voting shall be executed as, writing on the papers sealed by District Election Board that is given separately for each election by the ballot box chairman and shall be put in to the sealed envelopes. Any votes written on other papers or put into unsealed envelopes shall not be valid.

If the judge cancels the elections as a result of corruption that affects the elections results or illegal application, he shall fix a Sunday for repeating the election for a period that shall be not less than a month and not more than two months, and notify the relevant chamber or notaries union of Turkey. Only the election is held on that fixed date and election operations shall be executed in accordance with this article and other stipulations of the law.

District Election Board chairman shall pay the judge and the ballot box board chairman and members on the fundamental principles specified in “Law on Fundamental Principles of The Elections and Electoral Roll”. This fee and other electoral expenses shall be paid by The Notaries Union of Turkey budget.

Any offenses committed against ballot box board chairman and members during the elections, shall be punished as committing an offense against a public officer.

Those who fail to obey the precautionary measures taken by the judge and the ballot box board for the execution of elections in order and in health shall be punished by a disciplinary action according to this law depending on the aggravation of the action.

Permission for going abroad

Supplementary article 2-(Additional Article 5 no: 2980 of 14/2/1984)

Participating international meetings and conferences to represent the union and chambers is subject to the permission of the Ministry of Justice.

Temporary articles

Temporary article 1- the stipulation of the Article 3 of this law, shall be applied after The Notaries Union of Turkey Board begins to function.

Temporary article 2- three months after this article came into effect, without applying the stipulation on taking the decision of Notaries Union of Turkey, the Ministry of Justice shall classify notary publics according to the article 4 and shall announce the situation.

This classification shall be valid for a year following the establishment of Notaries Union of Turkey until a second classification is made.

Temporary article 3- in accordance with the article 9, no: 3456 abolished notary law the appointed conveyancing clerk still on duty on date this law came in to effect shall be qualified as (the notary public) after this law came into effect and they are subject to all rights and obligations regarding the notary publics of this law.

The appointment of the above-mentioned people to a higher class notary public shall only be possible in case there is no other candidate available that possess the qualifications mentioned in paragraph (3), Article 7.

Persons who possess certificate of competence as notary public or conveyancing clerk and still waiting for the appointment process to be definite before this law came into effect, shall be appointed in accordance with abolished law no: 3456. However, certificate of competence of the above-mentioned persons shall be still valid in accordance with article 12, paragraph 2, no: 3456 abolished notary law.

Those who are still waiting to be appointed on the date of this law came into effect shall be registered in holders of the notary public certificate that shall be kept in the ministry mentioned in the article 18 and shall be appointed upon announcement with respect to the Article 24.

Those who act as conveyancing clerk before this law came into effect, shall benefit from the social security fights provided by this law in accordance with the principles specified in Temporary articles 14, 15, 16 and 17.

Temporary article 4- those who work under contract as notary employees in the notary public office on the date of this law came into effect shall continue to law as a notary public personnel unless they possess the qualifications mentioned in article 44.

Those who resign from their duties, no matter what happens after this law came into effect shall be appointed again as notary public personnel, if they possess the qualifications mentioned in article 44.

Those who made service agreement with the notary public, mentioned in first paragraph, shall be arranged in accordance with the stipulations of this law within six months following the submittal date of the single type contract to the relevant Notary Camber prepared in accordance with the paragraph 11, article 166. Notary publics who fail to apply the stipulation of the above-mentioned paragraph, shall be subject to the paragraph 6, article 45.

Temporary article 5- tariff shown in the article 112, shall came into effect within six months following the establishment of Notaries Union of Turkey Board of Directors began to function.

Until the tariff shown in the first paragraph prepared, last tariff that is prepared in accordance with the abolished no: 3456 law and first paragraph, article 51 no: 492 of 2/7/1964 charges law shall be applied.

Temporary article 6- regulation specified in article 198 is prepared by the Notaries Union of Turkey and is authenticated and came into effect by The Ministry of Justice.

Until the regulation came into effect, operations shall be executed with respects to the abolished no: 3456 notary law and ministry circular principles.

Temporary article 7- Notaries Union of Turkey shall be established upon the notification of The Ministry of Justice following a year this law came into effect.

Date of the establishment of notary chambers and delegates to be elected to participate the first meeting of the Union conference, conference meeting place and date and other necessary matters took part in the notification of The Ministry of Justice

Notary provident fund reserve shall pay the notification, announcement, stationery and print expenses regarding the establishment of Notaries Union of Turkey and meeting room rent held for the first conference completely in accordance with the Notary provident fund regulations. The above mentioned expenses shall not be subject to the Bidding, Underbidding and Procurement Law and visa of The Government Accounting Bureau.

Temporary article 8- within the duties assigned to Notaries Union of Turkey with this law, the ones which are executed by The Ministry of Justice and other Instances and Councils as stipulated by the abolished notary public law no: 3456, shall continue to be executed by the authorized instances and councils in accordance with the stipulations of the abolished law until authorized union organs shall take up the duty.

When the relevant body of the Notaries Union of Turkey, take up appointment, incomplete operations shall be completed in accordance with the stipulations of abolished law.

Temporary article 9- tenth section stipulations of this law shall be applied following the Notaries Union of Turkey Board of Directors take up appointment.

Fixing and announcement mentioned in the second paragraph, article 109 fixing and paying advance payment mentioned in, article 110 shall be completed within a month following the first of the month when the Notaries Union of Turkey Board of Directors takes up appointment and this duty shall continue until the end of the calendar year.

Temporary article 10- article 83 and 88 in class 8 related to the notary provident fund abolished no: 3456 notary law and notary provident fund regulations prepared in accordance with the Article 88, same law shall be in effect until the Notaries Union of Turkey Board of Directors takes up appointment. Any money sent to the Notaries Union of Turkey in accordance with the Article 33, 34, 117 of this law shall be registered to notary provident fund reserve until Notaries Union of Turkey Board of Directors take up appointment.

Within 3 months following this law came into effect, under the condition of a written application to the notary provident fund and transfer expenses are paid on their behalf; notary publics and conveyancing clerks shall be paid in an amount of %50 of their payment due fund with respect to the Temporary article 12, taking it out of accrue due according to the notary provident fund final balance sheet. Payment procedure shall be subject to article 83 and 88 of the no: 3456 notary law and notary provident fund regulations. However, notary provident fund Board of Directors shall consist of five people, two of which are the senior notary publics of Ankara, appointed by The Ministry of Justice in accordance with the fund regulations.

Temporary article 11- The Ministry of Justice shall make a fund accountant prepare a final account, showing notary provident fund passive and active, notary public and conveyancing clerk fund share and notary contribution in respect of those who are present, notary publics employee account, reserve and old age fund, within a month following the transfer period completion; mentioned in first paragraph of the Temporary article 10 and shall authenticate after the inspection of Ministry Inspection Council and shall transfer the passive and active to be fixed in accordance with the fund final account along with fund documents and books and registered moveable property attached to a list authenticated by the ministry to the Notaries Union of Turkey.

Within a month mentioned-above there shall not be any payments made from the fund budget. Within this period, share of the person from the fund, shall be paid by Notaries Union of Turkey following the transfer.

Temporary article 12- regarding their share and contribution transferred to the Notaries Union of Turkey, according to the final account mentioned in Temporary article 11, notary public and conveyancing clerks payment conditions shall be decided in the extraordinary meeting, held on a month following the transfer of present fund to the Union by the Notaries Union of Turkey Conference according to the temporary article 11.

Temporary article 13- the indemnity of notary publics that shall be calculated over their service until the transfer date as mentioned in Temporary article 11, in accordance with the Articles 70, 85 abolished no: 3456 Notary Law and Articles 18, 19 Notary Provident fund Regulation, for the ones who are on duty in notary public offices on the date of this law came into force, shall be paid to the right owners with respect to abolished laws by the Notaries Union of Turkey following the transfer of the present fund without searching the condition of 5 years service.

When calculating the service years of the above-mentioned persons, the indemnity given by the Notary provident fund in their previous service in accordance with the abolished no: 3456 Notary Law shall mot be taken into consideration.

Temporary article 14- the first type contract which serves as a basis for the contract to be made between Notary Chambers and Social Security Organization with respect to the Article 86 of The Social Security Organization law no: 506, shall be fixed between the Notaries Union of Turkey, Ministry of Labor and Social Security Organization within three months following the first meeting of Notaries Union of Turkey with respect to the article 7 of this law on the date of this law came into effect. Notaries Union of Turkey Board shall send the prepared type agreement to all the notary chambers within Turkey in a month period. Notary chambers of the notary publics, who are obliged to participate in the collective insurance, shall apply to the Social Security Organization within two months following the arrival of type contract to the notary chamber to make a collective insurance contract according to the type contract. The contract shall come into effect at least in three months following the application date of the notary chamber.

A) Notary publics who are already 50 years old now and were already 30 years old on the date they are covered in the collective insurance, and fail to fulfill the conditions mentioned in article 60 of The Social Insurance Law and cannot benefit from old age salary and;

a) Those who certify that they are registered lawyers in the notary public or the bar inscribed card for at least 2000 days within ten years, before their insurance starts,

b) Those who pay at least 200 days insurance premium each year on average during their insurance,

c) Notary publics who are insured at least for five years,

Shall benefit from old age salary in accordance with the article 61 of The Social Insurance Law; like the ones already completed their insurance period of 15 years.

The notary public period as mentioned in paragraph (a) shall be requested from the Ministry of Justice and advocacy period shall be requested from the relevant bar within at least two years, following the insurance beginning date of the notary public and shall be fixed with the documents to be submitted to the Social Security Organization.

If the bar fails to arrange those above-mentioned documents, insured notary publics have all the rights to request damages and losses from the chairman of the board and members of the relevant bar.

If the document showing the advocacy period is counterfeit, those who prepared and those who are insured shall be obliged to pay the damages in %50 extra and with the legal interest to the Social Security Organization.

Penal prosecution shall be applied for those above-mentioned persons.

(B) Notary publics who are already 50 years old now and were already 30 years old on the date they are covered in the collective insurance, and fail to fulfill the conditions mentioned in article 60 of The Social Insurance Law and cannot benefit from old age salary and those who are old aged; shall benefit from old age salary in accordance with the article 61, The Social Insurance Law, like the ones who have already completed their insurance period of 15 years and with the sane conditions as in paragraph (A).

Temporary article 15- those who have at least served 15 years at total that serves as a basis for retirement in T.R. Retirement Fund, on the date of this law came into effect;

(A) notary publics who are resigned from their duty or service, no matter what happens, which they pay retirement deduction on the date before this law came into effect, under the condition that they do not benefit from retirement or old age salary, shall owe notary public or actual advocacy period completely or the remaining period that will sum up to 25 years needed for retirement service until this law came into effect as follows:

Those who are not willing to be insured by the T.R. Retirement Fund and who owe notary public or actual advocacy period completely in accordance with the above-mentioned stipulations in paragraph (B) and those who owe notary public or actual advocacy period partly and who increase their retirement service up to 25 years shall be paid retirement salary as follows:

(B) those who are resigned from their duty or service, no matter what happens, which they pay retirement deduction on the date or after this law came into effect, and who are appointed as notary publics shall continue to be insured by the T.R. Retirement Fund without exceeding the 30 years period in total.

The person concerned shall apply to the T.R. Retirement Fund in writing via notary chamber within three months following his/her participation in the collective insurance of the relevant notary chamber for being a debtor with respects to the paragraph (A). The previous deduction paid to the T.R. Retirement Fund by the person concerned following his/her length of service taking into account, minimum promotion period of the said duty or service and counting as promoting every two or three years; the owed amount shall be reduction due (notary share also included) of the complete notary public or actual advocacy period until this law go into effect. However the reduction and the notary share shall be calculated by taking into account the effective T.R. Retirement Fund Law of the relevant date.

Period due and previous duty or service period subject to T.R. Retirement Fund shall not exceed 30 years in total. It is impossible to owe the exceeding part of the notary public period.

Amount Due shall be paid in total or in installments in 10 years according to the request of the person concerned, upon the notification of T.R. Retirement Fund. Those who took their deduction upon resignation from previous duty or service subject to T.R. Retirement Fund shall be obliged to pay it back completely to The Fund with its legal interest within the period to pay the due amount or to pay the first installment. Those who fail to pay within the period mentioned-above shall not take advantage of this stipulation.

Those who owe shall have a right to be paid for retirement salary which shall be calculated by adding the period due to previous duty or service period that serves as a basis for their retirement, following the date they pay the entire amount due. Total period shall be 25 years for having a right to take retirement salary.

Regarding the installment payment; those who die before paying the entire amount or old-aged notary publics with respect to law no: 3454 or right owner inheritors shall benefit from old age or widow and orphan salary within the following month of the death or old age. Each of the annual installments due shall be divided into twelve equal amounts and deducted from old age or widow and orphan salary of the relevant year and the remaining amount shall be paid to the right owners.

Regarding the installment payment; those who fail to pay an installment on time and those who fail to pay upon notification by T.R. Retirement Fund within a month shall be obligor no more and T.R. Retirement Fund Law stipulations shall be applied over the period calculated, by adding the period that corresponds to amount paid to previous duty or service period.

With respect to the above-mentioned paragraphs, persons or inheritors who benefit from retirement, old age or widow and orphan salary, shall be paid bonus from the last place of service or duty which is subject to retirement, over the real duty or service amount before the amount due.

Those who wish to take benefit from paragraph (B) shall apply to the T.R. Retirement Fund with a petition, within a month following the notification date of being appointed as notary public, and shall not be paid retirement salary or shall not have any deduction. Those who take benefit from paragraph (B) by favor of second section of paragraph (A), this period shall commence following the Fund notification date regarding the acceptance of loan request.

Those who wish to apply to take benefit from paragraph (B) shall be obliged to pay deduction to the Fund, within the beginning of month following the Fund notification regarding the acceptance of T.R. Retirement Fund. Reductions (notary share is included) shall be paid directly or via a bank indicated by the T.R. Retirement Fund to the Fund within first week of the month.

Deduction or notary share (organization share) shall be calculated over salary levels promoting in every two or three years according to the minimum promotion period starting from the last seniority he/she acquired from his/her previous duty or service that he/she paid the deduction to the T.R. Retirement Fund

In accordance with the paragraph (B), those who completed their 30 years period for retirement and insured by the T.R. Retirement Fund; request in writing to be uncovered by the Fund, die or got old according to the law: 5434 or fail to pay within a month period given by the fund; shall be no longer insured by the Fund, following the beginning of the month above-mentioned situations came into existence. The above-mentioned persons or their inheritors shall be paid retirement, old age or widow and orphan salary over their total period. Stipulations on due amount shall be applied by comparison regarding the bonus of the above-mentioned people.

With respect to the temporary article 16, people with due amount and retirement service total of 15 years or more shall take advantage of paragraph (B) of this article.

Total period of those persons who take advantage of the stipulation of this article; in debt according to paragraph (A) or still insured by the T.R. Retirement Fund according to paragraph (B), shall be added to their last salary from their duty, subject to retirement or to their senior pay, shall be adapted as if promoted or to be promoted in every 2 or 3 years according to the minimum seniority period of this duty.

Temporary article 16- on the date this law came into effect, those who are on duty or service subject to the T.R. Retirement Fund, the duty or service that they paid retirement deduction for the period that they passed in notary public office, the period that shall not exceed fifteen years along with due periods with respect to other laws under the condition of due amount on condition that in accordance with the principles of Article 5, law no: 545 of 23^rd February, 1965 added to law no: 5434, shall be added to retirement services. Due amount to be registered on behalf of the above-mentioned persons shall be fixed, according to the deducted deductions and amounts paid ratio on the date of the period due.

According to this law and temporary articles 3 and 4 of Advocacy Code no: 1136 of 23^rd march, 1969 in case due requests are made together, due period shall not exceed 15 years in total with previous due period according to other laws.

With respect to the above-mentioned paragraph, two third of the period added to service for retirement as due, shall be adapted to be evaluated in every 2 or 3 years according to minimum seniority period of the duty or service still assigned and by this way, salary as the basis for retirement deduction and duty or service salary shall be increased.

Those who wish to take benefit from the stipulation of this article shall apply to the T.R. Retirement Fund with a letter within 3 months following the date this law came into effect.

Temporary article 17- after this law came into effect, right owner inheritors or notary publics and notary clerks who have no salary in accordance with the stipulations of Social Security Law or T.R. Retirement Fund whom they are subject to, on date of their death or old age, whom are died or old aged shall be paid in total by The Notaries Union of Turkey budget as follows: in case a notary public dies 10000 New Turkish Liras, in case a notary public gets old 7500 New Turkish Liras, in case a notary clerk dies 5000 New Turkish Liras, in case a notary clerk gets old 3000 New Turkish Liras. Shares arising from death or old age situation between the date this law came into effect and Notaries Union of Turkey Board begin to function shall be paid after Union Board begin to function.

Old age certification and persons or shares to be paid in case of death shall be applied in accordance with the insurance organization of the person died or got old, which is either Social Security Organization or T.R. Retirement Fund.

Payments to be made in respect of this law shall be exempt from any tax or charge.

Temporary article 18- those who are graduated from school of political sciences or faculty and passed differentiation examination in faculty of law for the incomplete classes before this law cam into effect shall be accepted as a graduate of faculty of law in the application of this law.

Temporary article 19- in accordance with article 27 of this law, notary publics who wishes to apply for a notary public of a higher class, not inspected before by justice inspectors in accordance with the Article 122, shall be chosen by justice inspectors regarding their competency to the higher class appointment. Justice inspectors shall evaluate professional competence as at least average to reach a final decision regarding their competency to the higher class appointment in the last two certificate of good character, prepared by the previous relevant inspector.

Temporary article 20- before this law came into effect, appointment announcement of open or available notary public office approved by the minister shall be in accordance with the abolished no: 3456 notary public law.

EFFECTIVE ARTICLES

Effective date

Article 209- this shall go into effect 3 month after its publication.

Effective body

Article 210- the stipulation of this law shall be executed by the council of ministers

Stipulations not embroidered to the law no: 1512 of 18/1/1972

Temporary article of law no: 2980 of 14/02/1984

Temporary article- Notaries Union of Turkey center organs and notary chamber board and chairmen and Notaries Union of Turkey Conference delegates shall be elected in 3 months following 1^st December, 1983 without requiring election term and duty period come to an end.

General assembly meetings and conferences and elections executed in according to first paragraph, shall be respected as held in specified months of 1984 in law and legal period shall be calculated in accordance with this.

Temporary articles no: 3588 of the date

Temporary article 1- before this law go into effect, class of notary publics on duty shall be fixed by promoting every four years in service, under the condition their reserved rights shall be reserved. Remaining period shall be counted as passed in the last fixed class. Notary publics whose certificate of good character, prepared by justice inspectors, fails to be competent enough to be promoted to a higher class, from the issue date of negative certificate of good character until the issue date of previous opinion of certificate of good character shall not be considered for fixing the class.

Temporary article 2- in accordance with the last paragraph of Article 112 of Notary Law, necessary amendments shall be made in a month, following this law go into effect and shall be valid until March 1991 that the last amendment shall be made.

Temporary article 3- appointments that shall be made for announced vacant notary publics before this law go into effect, shall be in accordance with the previous same stipulations.

LIST SHOWING EFFECTIVE DATE OF LEGISLATION AMENDING AND SUPPLEMENT LAW NO: 1512

Law No Articles of Different Effective Dates Effective

Date

2258 – 23/02/1980

2980 – 18/02/1984

3588 – 23/11/1989

4276 – 20/06/1997

4358 – 04/04/1998

4579 – 16/06/2000

5134 6 14/04/2004

5219 2 and 3 21/07/2004

5281 118, 119 and 120 31/12/2004

5309 2, 32, 33, 35, 166 and 197 08/03/2005

5378 73, 75 07.07.200

LIST SHOWING LAW AND STIPULATIONS OF ABOLISHED LEGISLATION AMENDING AND SUPPLEMENT LAW NO: 1512

The law and law provisions Date Number Article

Which are repealed Of the Regulation which repeal

The Articles 25, 26, 28 and 110 and, the

Last Phrase of the Second Clause of the

Article 30 and, the Fourth Clause of the

Article 119 of the Law 1512 16/11/1989 3588 17

Second clause of the article 50 of the

Law 1512 18/06/1997 4276 25

[1] Concerning the article 1 of the Law 5309, dated 2/3/2005, when the second clause has been added and the others articulated, this clause which was the third has been articulated as fourth.

[2] Concerning the article 5 of the Law 5309 dated 2/3/2005, the paragraph (15) is added and the actual paragraph (15) is articulated as paragraph (16).