You may have received one short call, a message from an airport, or no direct information at all. Your spouse, child, friend or colleague has been arrested in Turkey, and you do not know where they are or what happens next.
This is frightening. But you are not powerless.
As a criminal defence lawyer in Turkey representing foreign nationals, I first establish where the person is being held, when the custody clock began, whether a lawyer and interpreter have been provided, and whether the prosecutor intends to release them or bring them before a judge. The first hours can shape the statement, the evidence and the release decision.
In the First Hours: What to Do Right Now
The first thing I tell a family is: do not argue with the police from abroad, do not guess, and do not let the detained person sign what they cannot understand.
- Ask for a lawyer immediately. The person should say clearly: "I want to speak to a lawyer before giving a statement." A suspect has the right to defence counsel from the investigation stage. Depending on the case, counsel may be appointed through the local bar association.
- Remain silent until legal advice and proper interpretation are available. Silence is not an admission. Turkey's Constitution protects a person from being compelled to incriminate themselves or their close relatives. Identity information should be accurate, but the person should not improvise a defence under pressure.
- Do not sign a document that is not fully understood. This includes a statement, waiver of counsel, search or seizure record, property inventory, consent form or translated text. Ask for a lawyer and a qualified interpreter. If a record is inaccurate, ask for the objection to be written into it before signing.
- Ask for a relative and the consulate to be notified. Give the contact details and say: "I want my consulate informed." Turkish constitutional safeguards require prompt notification of next of kin, while international law protects consular communication.
- Write down the exact place and time. Record the police station, airport unit, gendarmerie post, prosecutor's office or courthouse; the time of apprehension; the alleged offence; and any file or investigation number. The legal clock normally runs from actual apprehension, not from the family's first call.
- Preserve evidence and disclose medical needs. Save messages, photographs, receipts, flight records, hotel bookings, location data and witness names. Identify CCTV cameras immediately. Report essential medication, injury, pregnancy or serious illness and ask for it to be formally recorded.
Send me the person's full name, date of birth, nationality, passport number if available, last known location, time of apprehension, suspected allegation and medical needs. Incomplete information is often enough to begin tracing the file.
What "Being Detained" Means in Turkey: Gözaltı
English speakers often use "arrest" for several different Turkish procedures.
Yakalama is apprehension: the moment the person is physically taken under control. Gözaltı is police or gendarmerie custody under prosecutorial authority while urgent investigative steps are taken. It is temporary. It is not a conviction and not yet court-ordered pre-trial detention.
For an ordinary individual case, Article 91 of the Code of Criminal Procedure—commonly referred to as the CMK—generally limits custody to 24 hours, excluding the time genuinely required to take the person to the nearest judge or court. That transfer period cannot exceed 12 hours.
For a collectively committed offence, defined in the CMK as an offence committed by three or more people, the prosecutor may extend custody by written order for one day at a time, up to three additional days, where evidence collection or the number of suspects makes this necessary. The total can therefore reach four days. It is not an automatic four-day period.
The Constitution requires a detainee to be brought before a judge within 48 hours in an individual case and within four days for collectively committed offences, excluding necessary transfer time. The CMK's 24-hour rule is the ordinary statutory limit in a standard individual file. Separate provisions apply in certain defined flagrante delicto and public-order situations, so the apprehension record, custody order and every extension must be checked in the actual file.
The person must also be informed promptly of the reason for the deprivation of liberty and the allegation against them. I check the apprehension report, custody order, medical records, notification records and the exact time entered into the official documents. A few unexplained hours can matter.
Detained Versus Formally Arrested: The Difference with Tutuklama
In Turkish law, tutuklama means court-ordered pre-trial detention in prison.
If the prosecutor does not release the suspect, the person may be brought before the Criminal Judgeship of Peace — Sulh Ceza Hâkimliği with a detention request. The judge is not deciding guilt. The question is whether continued deprivation of liberty is legally necessary while the investigation proceeds.
Pre-trial detention requires concrete evidence creating strong suspicion and a lawful ground, such as a real risk of flight, evidence tampering or pressure on witnesses. It must also be proportionate.
For specified catalogue offences — katalog suçlar, a detention ground may be presumed if the required degree of suspicion exists. But detention is not automatic simply because the alleged offence appears on the catalogue list. The judge must still consider the evidence, the individual circumstances and whether a less restrictive measure would be sufficient.
The judge may:
- release the person without a measure;
- release them subject to judicial control — adli kontrol; or
- order tutuklama and transfer them to a remand prison.
A detention order is not a conviction. The presumption of innocence continues. The order can be challenged, release can be requested during the investigation, and continued detention must be reviewed.
Lawyer, Interpreter and Consular Rights
Defence Counsel from the Outset
A criminal defence lawyer is called a müdafi in Turkish procedure. The suspect may receive legal assistance throughout the investigation and prosecution. In practical terms, they should ask for counsel before giving a substantive statement.
I meet the detained person, explain the allegation and procedure, attend the statement, identify evidence that must be preserved and prepare for any hearing before the Sulh Ceza Hâkimliği.
Questioning is particularly dangerous where someone is frightened, exhausted or relying on informal translation. A sentence that sounds harmless in everyday conversation may carry a very different meaning once written into a criminal statement.
In certain cases, defence counsel is compulsory. In others, the suspect may be asked whether they waive or decline a lawyer. A foreign national should not make that decision without fully understanding its consequences.
The Right to a Qualified Interpreter
A foreign national who cannot adequately understand or express themselves in Turkish is entitled to interpreter assistance for procedural acts affecting the defence, including the explanation of rights, the statement, judicial questioning and trial.
Conversational Turkish is not enough to understand a criminal allegation, a legal waiver or a verbatim police record.
The person should not accept "a friend can translate" or sign a Turkish document based on a rough oral summary. If the interpretation is incomplete or inaccurate, the objection should be placed on the record immediately.
Consular Notification and Access
Under Article 36 of the Vienna Convention on Consular Relations, if the detained foreign national requests it, the authorities must inform the relevant consular post without delay and tell the person of this right.
Consular officers may communicate with and visit their national, correspond with them and help arrange legal representation.
A consulate cannot cancel the investigation, order release, replace defence counsel or instruct a Turkish prosecutor or judge. It can help confirm welfare and location, contact family members, provide lawyer information and raise consular concerns.
That support can be valuable. But it is not a defence strategy.
Situations That Commonly Put Foreign Nationals in Custody
Fights and Late-Night Incidents
A bar, hotel or street dispute may produce allegations of intentional injury, threat, insult, property damage or possession of a weapon.
Medical reports, CCTV and independent witnesses should be secured before accounts harden and recordings disappear. Who first used force, whether there was self-defence, the nature of any injury and what happened immediately before the incident can completely change the legal assessment.
Drug Allegations
The distinction between personal use, possession and supply is decisive.
Quantity matters, but so do packaging, messages, money, travel patterns, access to the location and forensic findings. A visitor should not try to explain another person's bag, hotel room, apartment or vehicle before counsel has examined the search and seizure record.
Warrants Discovered at Passport Control
A person may be stopped while entering or leaving Turkey because of an old investigation, arrest warrant, compulsory appearance order, final judicial decision or identity match.
I identify the issuing authority and establish whether the person is being taken for a statement, brought before a court or placed into custody. "There is a warrant" is not enough information. The type and legal basis of the warrant determine what must happen next.
Financial, Cheque and Fraud Files
A private debt by itself does not justify criminal custody.
Allegations of fraud, breach of trust, forgery, misuse of banking instruments or cheque-related judicial orders can, however, lead to an airport stop or police action. Contracts, payment records and communications should be reviewed before a statement is given.
Social-Media and Speech Cases
Posts, messages, reposts, videos and voice notes may trigger allegations involving insult, threat, incitement, unlawful disclosure of personal data or terrorism legislation.
Context, authorship, account access and the exact content matter. Deleting material after learning of an investigation can make the evidential position worse.
Detention at Istanbul Airport or Another Border Point
An airport detention may arise from a criminal warrant, customs issue, immigration decision, document concern or international alert. These are different procedures.
A criminal file may also run alongside an entry refusal, deportation decision or travel restriction. I first establish which authority is acting and under what written decision. See my guide to travel bans and entry restrictions in Turkey for the separate administrative side of these cases.
How I Act Fast — Even When the Family Is Abroad
You do not need to board the next flight before legal work can begin.
I work to confirm the location, responsible police or gendarmerie unit, prosecutor's office, investigation number and procedural status. I then focus on the next irreversible event: a statement, identification procedure, search, medical examination or detention hearing.
Depending on the file, I can:
- attend the police station or courthouse and meet the suspect;
- check the interpretation, consular notification and medical records;
- examine the available allegation and procedural documents;
- identify CCTV, witnesses and digital evidence that must be preserved;
- prepare the statement strategy;
- present documents supporting release or judicial control;
- attend the Sulh Ceza Hâkimliği hearing; and
- file an objection or release application where legally appropriate.
A spouse, parent or friend abroad can contact me, send documents and arrange payment. The detained adult remains the client, and I confirm the defence relationship with that person.
Urgent attendance should not be delayed merely because an apostilled power of attorney has not yet arrived.
Where a formal power of attorney — vekâletname is required for later steps, it can usually be issued through a Turkish consulate or a local notary, followed by an apostille or legalisation where applicable and a Turkish translation. The correct route depends on the country, the document and the act involved.
My litigation service for foreign nationals in Turkey explains the wider cross-border document process.
The earlier I am involved, the more I can do before a statement becomes fixed, CCTV disappears or a detention request reaches the judge.
How a Criminal Defence Lawyer in Turkey Argues for Release
I cannot promise release. No responsible criminal lawyer can.
I can make sure the detention request is tested against the evidence, the alleged risk and the principle of proportionality.
Judicial control — adli kontrol is the main alternative to pre-trial detention. Depending on the case, the judge may impose conditions such as:
- reporting to a police station at specified times;
- a prohibition on leaving Turkey;
- not leaving a residence or specified area;
- not entering specified places or regions;
- vehicle-use restrictions;
- treatment or supervision requirements; or
- payment of a security amount where legally appropriate.
Turkey does not operate one universal cash-bail system. Financial security is only one possible judicial-control measure. Money does not buy release.
I address the specific risk said to justify detention. Relevant material may include a confirmed address, residence permit, employment, family responsibilities, return booking, health evidence, willingness to comply with a travel restriction, prior compliance with official summonses and proof that the relevant evidence has already been secured.
Foreign nationality does not itself prove flight risk.
But overseas residence, easy international travel or weak ties to Turkey may be relied on by the prosecution. Those points need a concrete answer supported by documents, not a generic plea for release.
What Happens After Custody
The immediate outcome is usually one of three possibilities:
- Release by the prosecutor or under prosecutorial authority.
- Referral to the Sulh Ceza Hâkimliği with a request for judicial control.
- Referral with a request for pre-trial detention.
The prosecutor may then continue the investigation by gathering statements, expert reports, digital evidence, medical material, CCTV, financial records and other evidence.
The prosecutor may eventually issue a decision not to prosecute or prepare an indictment. The trial stage—kovuşturma—begins when the competent court accepts that indictment.
The Asliye Ceza Mahkemesi, commonly translated as the Criminal Court of First Instance, hears most criminal cases that have not been assigned to another court.
The Ağır Ceza Mahkemesi, or High Criminal Court, hears serious offences and offences specifically allocated to it by law.
The Sulh Ceza Hâkimliği that decides investigative measures is not the trial court.
Custody is measured in hours and days. Investigations may take weeks or months. Complex narcotics, financial, organised-crime or digital-evidence files may take longer. Trial and appeal proceedings may continue far beyond the investigation.
A guaranteed release date or guaranteed case duration given without examining the file is not credible.
For representation after the emergency stage, see my criminal defence services for foreign nationals in Turkey.
Contact Me Now
If someone you care about is detained in Turkey, contact me with the information you have.
You do not need to know the exact charge. And you should not wait for another police call before seeking legal help.
The first hours matter. Statements are taken, records are signed, evidence can disappear and release decisions are prepared.
My role is to identify the authority, reach the person, protect the defence and place the strongest lawful release position before the prosecutor or judge.
Call or WhatsApp: contact me here Email: send details via the contact page Emergency message: Full name — nationality — location — time detained — alleged reason — medical needs
I am a Turkish-qualified lawyer admitted to the Kocaeli Bar. I run a boutique cross-border practice representing foreign nationals in Turkish criminal investigations and proceedings.
When you need a criminal defence lawyer in Turkey because a relative has been arrested or detained, I deal with the emergency first.