Most of the periods regulated in the Civil Procedure Law No. 6100 are suspended due to Covid-19 pandemic

As is well known, Corona virus incidents known as Covid-19 are also observed in our country asin all over the World. Corona virus was announced as a pandemic by the World Health Organizationand the global risk level has been raised to “very high”. The increase of the incidents and growth of the global risk triggered the introduction ofmeasures at the national level. Under the scopeof these measures, it was decided to make some amendments on the Civil Procedure Law No. 6100 with the Law No. 7226on the Amendment of Some Laws in order to prevent anyjudicialforfeiture of rights.

It was decided to suspend the periods of time related to the acquisition, exercise and expiry of a right, including the term of litigation, filing a case, initiation of an enforcement proceedings, submitting an application, complaint, objection, letter of warning and written notice and period of lapse of time, periods ofprescriptionand period for compulsory administrative applications, the periods determined in respect of the parties by the Law No. 2577 on Administrative Trial Procedures and the Law No. 5271on Criminal Procedures and other laws containing procedural provisions, and the periods determined by the judge under this scope,as well as the periods granted concerning the proceedings carried out at the mediation and settlement institutions, from 13.03.2020 (inclusive) until 30.04.2020 (inclusive), by the Provisional article 1 of the Law No. 7226on the Amendment of Some Laws that entered into force after being published in the Official Gazette dated 26.03.2020, numbered 31080.

Under the scope of the provisional amendment made by the relevant law, it was decided to suspendthe legal periods determined by the Civil Procedure Law No. 6100 and other laws containing a procedural provision in respect of the parties and the periods determined by the judge under this scope from 13.03.2020 till 30.04.2020. Those periods of time shall resume beginning from 30.04.2020,the date of the expiry of the suspension period. The periods which shall expire after 15 days or before as of the date of the beginning of the suspension period shall be deemed to be extended for a period of 15 days beginning from the date following the expiry date of the suspension period.

Under this scope,the periods of time which shall expire in 15 days or before as of 13.03.2020, the beginning date of suspension period,shall be deemed to be extended for a period of 15 days beginning from 30.04.2020, the expiry date of suspension period, and it is accepted that the expiry date of those periods of time is 15.05.2020.

However, some periods were excluded by the relevant legalregulation. These are:

a) Lapse of time set forth in the relevant lawsin respect of crime and punishment, misdemeanorand administrative sanction and disciplinary imprisonment and preventive detention.
b) Periods concerning the protection measures provided for by the law no. 5271;
c) Periods related to the procedures complementing thepreliminary injunction provided for by the law no.6100.

One of the important arrangements excluded from the scope by the legal regulation is thepreliminary injunction which is one of the provisional legal protection measures provided for by the articles 389 to 399 of the law no. 6100.

As is known,in cases of concerns that the acquisition of the right would significantly become more difficult or become altogether impossibledue to any change that mayoccur in the current situation or that a drawback or a serious harm may arise due to a delay, the court may be requested to rule for preliminary injunction about the subject of dispute.

There are procedures complementing the preliminary injunction. The first one is the payment of deposit. If the court deems the request for preliminary injunction to be justified, the applicant shall be required to provide security against the potential losses that the counter-party and the third partiesmay incur if the applicant’s claimproves to be unjustified.Since the periods granted for the procedures complementing the preliminary injunction are excluded from the regulation introduced,the periodgranted for the payment of the deposit shall not cease. Under this scope, the parties are required to complete the relevant procedural requirements withinthe granted period.

According to the article 397 of the Civil Procedure Law No. 6100, if the preliminary injunction was given before the motion date, the partyrequesting preliminary injunction is required to file the lawsuit as to the accusations withintwo weeks beginning from the date of its request for the execution of this decision. The preliminary injunction shall automatically vanish if the relevant lawsuit was not filed.

Filing the lawsuit concerning the subject of dispute within two weeks as required by the article 397 of the Civil Procedure Law No. 6100 is one of the procedures complementing the preliminary injunction. For that reason, the time of litigation of two weeksprovided forby this Article was excluded from the scope by the relevant legal regulation. By the sametoken, if the decision of preliminary injunction was given before the motion date, the lawsuit must be filed withinthe period of two weeks stated in the article 397 of the Civil Procedure Law No. 6100 with a view to avoidany loss of right.

Furthermore, the above-mentioned legal regulation rules that if the corona virus pandemic persists, suspension period may be extended for maximum six months for once and the scope related tothat period may be restricted by the President.

We wish that everybody recover their health and regain their previous living standards, but it is understood that the suspension period may be extended once more for maximum six monthsif the corona viruspandemic continues.