Learn how foreign energy companies can seek asset freezing, precautionary attachment and interim injunctions in Turkey in 2026. This guide covers bank accounts, real estate, EPC claims, guarantees, arbitration, security requirements and urgent protective measures.

Energy disputes can involve claims worth millions of euros while the underlying assets remain capable of being transferred, pledged, withdrawn, or otherwise placed beyond the creditor’s practical reach. For a foreign investor, EPC contractor, equipment supplier, lender, or project developer, obtaining a favorable judgment or arbitral award may therefore be insufficient if the counterparty has disposed of its assets by the time the proceedings end.

Turkish law provides several forms of provisional legal protection designed to preserve rights before a final judgment or award. Two mechanisms are particularly important: precautionary attachment for qualifying monetary claims and interim injunctions intended to preserve rights or prevent serious harm while the merits of the dispute are being determined.

These mechanisms should not be confused. Selecting the wrong protective measure can delay the case at exactly the moment when speed matters most.

For foreign energy companies in 2026, an asset-protection strategy should therefore begin with three questions: What is the underlying claim? Which assets or rights are at risk? Which Turkish protective measure is legally appropriate?

Why Asset Freezing Matters in Turkish Energy Disputes

Energy disputes often develop while large amounts of capital remain tied to a project.

A foreign company may have claims arising from:

• unpaid EPC invoices;
• equipment supply agreements;
• project development agreements;
• shareholder disputes;
• loan agreements;
• performance guarantees;
• project acquisitions;
• construction defects;
• termination compensation;
• electricity trading arrangements.

Proceedings on the merits may take considerable time. Arbitration can also involve extensive technical evidence and expert analysis.

If the debtor sells valuable assets during that period, the creditor may ultimately hold a favorable judgment against a company with little recoverable property.

Protective measures are intended to address precisely this type of risk.

1. Precautionary Attachment vs. Interim Injunction

The first distinction is fundamental.

A precautionary attachment is primarily designed to secure qualifying monetary receivables before final enforcement.

An interim injunction is broader in function and may be used where preservation of a right or prevention of serious harm requires temporary judicial intervention.

They have different legal requirements.

A claimant should not simply ask the court to “freeze everything.”

The application must identify the correct legal mechanism and demonstrate why its statutory requirements are satisfied.

2. Precautionary Attachment for Monetary Claims

For a creditor seeking payment, precautionary attachment can be one of the most powerful remedies available under Turkish enforcement law.

The principal statutory framework is found in the Turkish Enforcement and Bankruptcy Law, including Articles 257 and following.

The mechanism can allow a creditor, where the legal requirements are met, to secure debtor assets before obtaining a final enforceable judgment.

This can be particularly valuable where a foreign EPC contractor is owed a substantial amount and has evidence that the Turkish debtor may dispose of assets.

3. What Claims Can Support Precautionary Attachment?

The precise statutory conditions must be analyzed in each case.

As a general matter, precautionary attachment is associated with monetary receivables, and the maturity and security status of the claim can be important.

For an energy-sector dispute, potential claims might concern:

unpaid invoices, EPC milestone payments, equipment purchase prices, shareholder loans, termination amounts, contractual compensation, or other monetary obligations.

However, the fact that a claimant demands money does not automatically mean that precautionary attachment will be granted.

The legal nature and maturity of the claim must be established.

4. Unmatured Receivables

Turkish enforcement law also recognizes limited circumstances in which precautionary attachment may become relevant before the monetary receivable has matured.

These situations are exceptional and subject to statutory conditions.

For example, circumstances indicating that the debtor lacks a fixed residence or is acting to conceal or dispose of assets in a manner threatening creditor recovery may become highly significant.

Foreign energy companies should therefore document suspicious asset movements immediately rather than relying on general allegations.

5. Interim Injunctions Under the Code of Civil Procedure

Interim injunctions are principally governed by the Turkish Code of Civil Procedure No. 6100.

Article 389 establishes the general framework for provisional judicial protection where changes in the existing situation could make obtaining the right significantly more difficult or impossible, or where delay could cause serious harm or disadvantage.

The focus is therefore preservation.

An interim injunction can become relevant where the dispute concerns something more specific than an ordinary unsecured payment claim.

6. Energy Disputes Where an Interim Injunction May Matter

An injunction may potentially become relevant in disputes involving:

• project company shares;
• ownership or transfer of equipment;
• contractual rights;
• corporate control;
• disputed transactions;
• certain guarantee disputes;
• project assets;
• other rights threatened by irreversible action.

The requested measure must be connected to the right being protected.

Courts generally require a legally coherent relationship between the underlying dispute and the proposed injunction.

7. Can Turkish Bank Accounts Be Frozen?

Bank accounts may become relevant to protective and enforcement strategies where the applicable legal requirements are satisfied.

However, foreign creditors should avoid thinking of Turkish provisional measures as a universal “worldwide freezing order.”

The claimant must obtain the legally appropriate Turkish measure and proceed according to the applicable enforcement procedure.

Where precautionary attachment is granted for a monetary claim, debtor funds and other legally attachable assets may become targets for preservation.

The practical value of the order depends on locating assets quickly.

8. Can Real Estate Be Protected?

Real estate can be extremely important in high-value energy disputes.

A project company, contractor, shareholder, or debtor may own land, commercial premises, or other property in Turkey.

Depending on the nature of the claim and protective measure, the court may be asked to prevent transactions affecting relevant property or the creditor may seek precautionary attachment over attachable assets.

However, ownership should be verified first.

A project may operate on leased land or land owned by another group company.

The visible project site does not necessarily belong to the debtor.

9. Company Shares

Shareholding disputes can create urgent risks.

Suppose a foreign investor alleges that its Turkish joint-venture partner is attempting to transfer project-company shares to a third party while arbitration or litigation is pending.

A monetary attachment alone may not adequately protect the investor.

An interim injunction aimed at preserving the disputed corporate position may need to be considered.

The exact measure should be tailored to the underlying right rather than drafted as an unnecessarily broad restriction.

10. Energy Equipment and Movable Assets

Energy projects contain valuable movable assets such as transformers, construction equipment, generators, spare parts, battery systems, and other machinery.

Whether these assets belong to the debtor must be established.

Some may belong to an EPC contractor, equipment lessor, lender, project company, or supplier retaining ownership rights.

A claimant should therefore investigate title before seeking protective measures against specific equipment.

11. Evidence Is Critical

Courts do not ordinarily grant substantial provisional restrictions simply because the claimant says it is worried.

The application should contain evidence supporting both the underlying right and the need for urgent protection.

Useful materials may include:

• contracts;
• invoices;
• payment certificates;
• acknowledgment of debt;
• termination notices;
• bank records;
• corporate documents;
• asset-transfer evidence;
• correspondence;
• project records.

Where asset dissipation is alleged, evidence of actual or imminent transactions can be especially important.

12. Approximate Proof

Provisional measures are sought before the merits have been finally determined.

Accordingly, Turkish procedural law generally operates with a reduced evidentiary concept for interim protection rather than requiring the claimant to fully prove the entire merits case at this preliminary stage.

Nevertheless, “approximate proof” does not mean unsupported allegation.

The claimant should present a persuasive documentary narrative demonstrating both a credible substantive right and the urgency requiring protection.

13. Security May Be Required

A claimant obtaining provisional protection may be required to provide security.

This serves an important function.

An asset freeze can cause serious commercial damage if the applicant ultimately proves to have been wrong.

Security helps protect the opposing party against losses caused by an unjustified provisional measure.

Foreign companies should therefore consider the potential security requirement when planning urgent proceedings.

14. Foreign Claimants and Additional Security Issues

Foreign investors may also need to examine whether separate security-for-costs requirements apply because of their foreign status.

The applicable international private-law framework, reciprocity rules, treaties, and claimant structure should be reviewed.

A foreign shareholder and a Turkish project company may face different procedural positions.

Selecting the correct claimant can therefore affect both substantive rights and procedural requirements.

15. Ex Parte Protection

In genuinely urgent situations, giving advance notice to the debtor may undermine the entire purpose of the application.

If the debtor learns that attachment is being sought, assets could potentially be moved before the order is implemented.

Turkish procedural mechanisms can permit provisional relief without first hearing the opposing party where the statutory conditions justify urgent intervention.

However, the affected party has procedural rights to challenge the measure afterward.

16. Speed After the Court Order

Obtaining the order is only part of the process.

The applicant must also comply with the statutory implementation requirements.

A creditor that obtains provisional protection but fails to take the required subsequent procedural steps within the applicable deadlines can lose the benefit of the measure.

For this reason, counsel should prepare the implementation strategy before filing the application.

17. Wrongful Asset Freezing

Protective measures create risk for the applicant as well.

If a creditor obtains an unjustified measure and the counterparty suffers damage, compensation exposure may arise under the applicable legal framework.

This is another reason why aggressive asset-freezing applications should be evidence-based.

A creditor should seek the protection genuinely necessary to secure the claim rather than using provisional measures merely to create commercial pressure.

18. Asset Freezing and EPC Disputes

EPC disputes frequently involve substantial payment claims.

A foreign contractor may be owed EUR 15 million for certified works while the project owner asserts EUR 20 million in delay damages.

Before seeking precautionary attachment, the contractor should anticipate the owner’s defenses.

The court may need to understand why the contractor’s receivable remains sufficiently credible despite the counterclaim.

Strong progress certificates, employer approvals, payment acknowledgments, and contractual documents can become especially important.

19. Employer Claims Against EPC Contractors

The same mechanisms may be relevant in the opposite direction.

A Turkish project company may have substantial claims against a foreign or domestic EPC contractor for defective construction, abandonment, delay, or termination.

Where the contractor has assets in Turkey and the legal requirements are satisfied, protective measures may be considered.

The claimant should distinguish between quantified monetary damages and requests intended to preserve particular assets or rights.

20. Performance Guarantee Disputes

Bank guarantee disputes can require extremely urgent intervention.

A contractor may argue that a beneficiary is about to make an abusive or otherwise legally objectionable demand under an on-demand performance guarantee.

Because payment may occur rapidly, waiting for ordinary litigation can make the dispute practically irreversible.

Whether an interim injunction is legally available depends heavily on the guarantee, underlying contract, evidence, parties, and alleged abuse.

An ordinary disagreement concerning EPC liability should not automatically be assumed sufficient to stop an independent bank guarantee.

21. Arbitration Does Not Automatically Prevent Court Protection

This point is particularly important for foreign energy companies.

The existence of an arbitration clause does not necessarily prevent a party from seeking interim protection from Turkish courts.

Article 6 of the Turkish International Arbitration Law No. 4686 expressly provides that requesting an interim measure or precautionary attachment from a court before or during arbitration does not violate the arbitration agreement.

This can be crucial where the arbitration is seated abroad but relevant assets are located in Turkey.

22. Foreign-Seated Arbitration and Turkish Assets

The Turkish International Arbitration Law is particularly significant because Articles 5 and 6 may apply even where the seat of arbitration is outside Turkey.

Accordingly, a foreign energy company involved in London, Geneva, Paris, Singapore, or another foreign-seated arbitration should not automatically assume that it must wait for the tribunal before seeking protection concerning Turkish assets.

Turkish court assistance may need to be considered immediately.

23. Powers of the Arbitral Tribunal

Article 6 also recognizes that, unless the parties have agreed otherwise, an arbitral tribunal may order interim measures or precautionary attachment and may condition relief on appropriate security.

However, important limitations exist.

Under the statute, tribunals cannot grant measures requiring enforcement through compulsory enforcement authorities or other official authorities, and cannot issue measures binding third parties in the manner reserved to state authority.

This distinction can make Turkish court involvement essential where bank accounts, land records, third parties, or compulsory enforcement are involved.

24. What If the Other Party Ignores the Tribunal?

If a party fails to comply with a tribunal-ordered interim measure, Article 6 allows the opposing party to seek assistance from the competent Turkish court.

This creates an important strategic distinction.

A tribunal may be well positioned to assess the merits of a complex EPC dispute, but state courts possess coercive powers that an arbitral tribunal does not have.

Successful asset-protection strategy may therefore require coordination between the arbitration team and Turkish court counsel.

25. The 30-Day Rule in International Arbitration

Timing becomes particularly important where court protection is obtained before arbitration begins.

Under the International Arbitration Law, a party that obtains an interim injunction or precautionary attachment from a court must commence the arbitration within 30 days; otherwise, the protective measure automatically ceases.

Recent Turkish arbitration analysis has specifically emphasized this complementary requirement for court-ordered provisional measures in arbitration-related disputes.

Foreign companies should therefore prepare the arbitration request simultaneously with the interim-measure application.

26. Emergency Arbitration

International institutional rules may also provide emergency-arbitrator mechanisms before constitution of the full tribunal.

These can be valuable where the dispute concerns contractual conduct by another arbitration party.

However, an emergency arbitrator cannot necessarily replace Turkish state-court powers where coercive measures must be implemented against assets or third parties in Turkey.

The correct forum should therefore be chosen according to the relief actually needed.

27. Asset Dissipation by Related Companies

Energy investments often use complex corporate structures.

A debtor project company may have limited assets while valuable property sits with a parent, affiliate, shareholder, or sister company.

Corporate affiliation alone does not normally make every group asset available for another company’s debt.

The creditor must establish the legal basis for proceeding against the relevant entity.

This makes pre-litigation corporate and asset analysis essential.

28. Fraudulent Asset Transfers

Where a debtor transfers assets to connected parties to prejudice creditors, separate remedies under Turkish enforcement law may potentially become relevant.

These claims are distinct from the initial asset-freezing application.

The creditor should preserve evidence concerning transaction dates, consideration, related parties, debtor solvency, and circumstances surrounding the transfer.

Waiting until the assets have passed through multiple entities can make recovery considerably more difficult.

29. Cryptocurrency and Digital Assets

Energy-sector debtors may increasingly hold value through digital assets.

Whether particular digital assets can practically be identified, preserved, or attached depends on their legal and technical structure, custody arrangements, and the information available to enforcement authorities.

Foreign creditors should avoid assuming that every blockchain asset is either automatically unreachable or automatically attachable.

The practical enforcement analysis is highly fact-specific.

30. Insolvency Risk

Protective measures become particularly urgent when the debtor shows signs of insolvency.

Warning signs may include:

• repeated unpaid invoices;
• employee-payment problems;
• enforcement proceedings;
• distressed asset sales;
• restructuring negotiations;
• unpaid bank debt;
• requests for repeated extensions.

However, once formal insolvency or restructuring proceedings begin, individual creditor remedies may be affected.

Early action can therefore materially change the creditor’s position.

31. Freezing Assets Before Filing the Main Case

One of the principal advantages of provisional protection is that it may be sought before the underlying dispute is finally resolved and, in appropriate circumstances, before the main proceedings have formally begun.

But obtaining protection before the merits case creates follow-up obligations.

The claimant must comply strictly with the deadlines for commencing or continuing the substantive proceeding.

A provisional order is not a substitute for pursuing the underlying claim.

32. What Should a Foreign Energy Company Do First?

The first 48–72 hours after discovering a serious asset-dissipation risk can be strategically important.

Counsel should immediately identify:

the debtor, claim amount, contractual jurisdiction, arbitration clause, known Turkish assets, evidence of dissipation, security requirements, and correct provisional remedy.

The application should then be supported by a coherent evidentiary package.

Searching for assets only after obtaining an order can waste valuable time.

33. 2026 Legal Position for Energy Investors

For 2026, the core Turkish mechanisms remain based on the Code of Civil Procedure, Enforcement and Bankruptcy Law, and—where international arbitration is involved—the International Arbitration Law No. 4686.

The international-arbitration framework continues to expressly preserve access to Turkish courts for interim injunctions and precautionary attachment, while limiting arbitral tribunals where compulsory state enforcement or third-party effects are required.

For foreign energy companies, the practical lesson is straightforward: do not wait for the final award before thinking about enforcement.

Asset preservation should form part of dispute strategy from the beginning.

Frequently Asked Questions

1. Can a foreign energy company freeze assets in Turkey before winning its case?

Potentially, yes. Turkish law provides provisional mechanisms including precautionary attachment and interim injunctions where their respective statutory requirements are satisfied.

2. What is the difference between precautionary attachment and an interim injunction?

Precautionary attachment primarily secures qualifying monetary receivables, while an interim injunction is generally aimed at preserving a disputed right or preventing serious harm before final resolution.

3. Can Turkish bank accounts be frozen?

Potentially, where an appropriate attachment or enforcement mechanism has been obtained and the relevant statutory conditions are satisfied.

4. Can real estate be frozen during an energy dispute?

Potentially. The appropriate measure depends on whether the property itself is connected to the disputed right or is being targeted as an asset securing a monetary claim.

5. Do I need to prove that the debtor will definitely hide its assets?

The required showing depends on the measure requested and the circumstances. A creditor should nevertheless provide concrete evidence supporting urgency and the need for provisional protection rather than relying on speculation.

6. Can I obtain an asset freeze if my EPC contract contains an arbitration clause?

Potentially, yes. Article 6 of International Arbitration Law No. 4686 expressly states that seeking an interim measure or precautionary attachment from a court before or during arbitration does not violate the arbitration agreement.

7. Can Turkish courts assist when the arbitration is seated outside Turkey?

Potentially, yes. The International Arbitration Law provides that Articles 5 and 6 also apply where the seat of arbitration is outside Turkey.

8. Can an arbitral tribunal itself freeze assets in Turkey?

Tribunals can order certain interim measures under Article 6, but statutory limitations apply where compulsory enforcement authorities, official bodies, or third parties are involved. Turkish court assistance may therefore be necessary.

9. How quickly must arbitration be started after obtaining a Turkish court measure?

Under the International Arbitration Law, where a party obtains an interim injunction or precautionary attachment from a court, arbitration must be commenced within 30 days or the measure automatically ceases.

10. What should I do if I believe a Turkish energy company is transferring assets?

Preserve the evidence immediately, identify the assets and recipients, review the underlying contract and dispute-resolution clause, and obtain urgent Turkish legal advice concerning precautionary attachment, interim injunctions and any additional creditor-protection remedies.

Urgent Legal Support for Asset Freezing and Energy Disputes in Turkey

In high-value energy disputes, timing can determine whether a final judgment or arbitral award has real economic value. A successful claim may provide limited protection if bank funds, real estate, project-company shares, receivables, equipment, or other valuable assets have already been transferred.

Fırat Fesih Kaya provides legal assistance to foreign energy companies, renewable-energy investors, EPC contractors, infrastructure funds, lenders, equipment suppliers, project developers, and international businesses concerning precautionary attachment, interim injunctions, urgent asset protection, bank-account attachment, EPC receivables, performance guarantee disputes, arbitration-related protective measures, and enforcement proceedings in Turkey.

Where there is credible evidence that assets may be transferred or dissipated, early legal intervention can be particularly important. The protective-measure strategy should be coordinated with the underlying litigation or arbitration from the outset.

For a case-specific assessment concerning an urgent asset freeze, unpaid energy receivable, EPC dispute, shareholder dispute, threatened asset transfer, or arbitration involving assets located in Turkey, you may contact our office.

Phone: +90 312 434 22 22
Mobile: +90 532 769 22 22
Email: info@firatfesihkaya.av.tr
Address: Mevlana Boulevard No: 221, Yıldırım Tower No: 148, 06520 Balgat, Çankaya, Ankara, Turkey