How to find company information in Turkey

You may access company information on various websites.

The official company website in Turkey is called MERSIS (https://mersis.gtb.gov.tr/) and doesn’t have an English version as regards its search system (all documents are in Turkish). It contains information and documents on companies provided by all the Trade Registries of Turkey.

There are various other websites with company information:

• Turkey Trade Registry Gazette (https://www.ticaretsicil.gov.tr/) (website available in Turkish and English);
• The Union of Chambers and Commodity Exchanges of Turkey (https://www.tobb.org.tr/) (website available in Turkish and English);
• Advert Portal of Turkey (https://www.ilan.gov.tr/) (website available only in Turkish);
• Information Pools of Chambers of Commerce affiliated to the Union of Chambers and Commodity Exchanges of Turkey. (e.g. https://bilgibankasi.ito.org.tr/) (website available in Turkish and English)
  

On MERSIS you have free access to a summary information sheet for companies (identity, date of registration, activity status, tax office the company related to and tax number, trade registry/file number, company type, registry of commerce the company related to, location, total equity, address, digital address for service; some information about board of directors, commissionnaire/restricted subsidiary and concordatum/bankruptcy). You can also find internal directive announcement text from Turkey Trade Registry Gazette (TTRG) if the company has one.

On TTRG, you can access detailed information about changes in companies mandatory procedures to be announced (establishment, capital increase, change of address, opening/closing a branch, assignment of share, company type change, articles of association, board decision, general assembly resolution etc.). You can find information about whether a trade name is used or not, and if so, to which registry office and with which number it is registered. TTRG also provides cargo tracking information regarding the published announcements.

In Turkey, the mandatory registration documents for companies are regulated in the Law and all matters registered by companies with the Registry Office must be announced in the TTRG.

TTRG is the central common database where the contents that need to be registered and announced are regularly stored and can be presented electronically.

On the TTRG, you have access to the binding announcement of registration of a Turkish company or branch office (no other websites provide such a binding announcement for the moment). You can also access TTRG about announcement of articles of association, mandatorily published business title, capital increase, change of address, decisions regarding management and representation, change of company structure etc.). These announcements are only a picture of a company on its date of issuance (since the company can be in the course of filing changes that will appear soon after). However, no changes are enforceable against third parties until they are published through the TTRG. It is thus essential to have current announcements when any binding effect is needed.

 On TTRG, you can download all such company documents for free of charge. In addition to that, anyone can examine the contents of the Trade Registry and all deeds and documents kept in the Directorate, as well as obtain certified copies thereof upon payment of a fee. A certified document may also be requested as to whether a subject is registered in the Registry or not.

Together with, you can also access most of the official announcements about companies such as concordat decisions, invitations to general assembly, bankruptcy and liquidation announcements, tenders, etc. on ilan.gov for free of charge. Therefore, it is an extremely useful way to keep track of official announcements published about companies in Turkey (however, since it is not the official channel of information, it is always useful to double-check on TTRG).

Lastly, you can access detailed information from Information Pools of Chambers of Commerce affiliated to the Union of Chambers and Commodity Exchanges of Turkey about the company data, company statistics and field of activity for free by searching with the company's trade registry number, chamber registration number or MERSIS number.

You can find free information regarding trademarks, brands, patents, designs and geographical indications on the website of the Turkish Patent and Trademark Office (https://www.turkpatent.gov.tr/), which also has an English version.

Regarding real estate owned by companies; All of the real estate related proceedings are done by the related Directorate of Land Registry of the property. To request information about companies said real estate, you have to be an authorized person by the company or have power of attorney. There is no other way of gaining any information about companies’ real estate in Turkey.

There is no public access to information on any stage of litigation in Turkey. But it is possible to obtain some information on pending litigation, as in any other litigation, by the Allocation Office from the related Courthouse. The Allocation Office is only allowed to share the file number of the case and which court the case is located. To access more information about the case, you have to request it from the related courtcase register where the case is located and have power of attorney of the company or be a Turkish lawyer.