Category: Turkiye

The slowdown in global growth and the Turkish economy as well as the depreciation in the Turkish lira in 2018 created financial instability and payment difficulties for companies, in particular regarding foreign currency debts.

Most companies hit technical bankruptcy thresholds and the previously-common postponement of bankruptcy, which saved companies from ultimately becoming bankrupt, was abolished in March 2018.  So what legal concepts are left to companies needing to restructure their debts? 

Restructuring Mechanisms Introduced in Turkish Legislation

1. Concordato

Amendments were made to the concordato regime in early 2018, and postponement of bankruptcy was abolished. Following these amendments, concordato became the most popular restructuring mechanism, and more than 1500 concordato applications were filed in 2018.

Concordato allows debtors who are in liquidity shortage to pay their debts by extending the due dates or reducing the debt amounts to evade a potential bankruptcy. This mechanism gives the debtor the opportunity to propose a project to restructure its debts to be approved by the court, and gives time to the debtor to realize this project by temporarily stopping possible enforcement proceedings by the creditors.  

Debtors should apply to the court with a preliminary concordato proposal along with necessary documents to obtain a temporary period of three months to assess the project, which can be extended for a maximum period of an additional two months. At the end of this period, if the court is satisfied with the plan and reaches the conclusion that the concordato project will be successful, then the court can authorize a one-year fixed period (which can be extended for a maximum period of an addiitonal six months) during which the concordato project should be negotiated with and approved by creditors. The approval of the project requires the vote of (i) half of the registered creditors and receivables or (ii) one fourth of the registered creditors and two thirds of the receivables. The concordato project should be approved by the court as well. 

2. Amicable Restructuring

Amicable restructuring requires that some or all of the creditors who will be affected agree to an “out of court” debt restructuring plan. The affected creditors are defined as creditors whose receivables, rights, or interests will be restructured. If the out of court restructuring plan is approved by at least half of the creditors and the voting creditors holding at least two-thirds of the entire receivables, then the restructuring agreement is submitted to the court for approval. The ability to include various creditors and different auditing options during the restructuring provides flexibility to create an effective plan. Please note that any creditors who are outside the scope of the amicable restructuring are free to continue to exercise all of their creditor rights, except that if such an amicable restructuring qualifies as a default under the contracts executed between those creditors and the company, such default provisions are not applied.

3. Financial Restructuring under Banking Regulation and Supervision Authority Legislation

Regulations issued by Turkey’s Banking Regulation and Supervision Authority and the Restructuring Framework Agreement signed and put into force by the credit-finance organizations in September 2018 provide another extrajudicial mechanism for restructuring of those payment obligations to credit institutions which cannot be honored due to a temporary imbalance of income and expenses. Debtors who owe more than TRY 100 million to credit institutions will be eligible to benefit from this Agreement.

The restructuring methods which may be deployed are flexible and include extending maturity, providing additional facilities, refinancings, reduction or waiver of receivables, etc. Credit institutions may also demand that debtors take specific actions including capital increase, public offering, and discontinuation of activities which are not related to the debtor’s main activity.

If the restructuring agreement is signed by credit institutions consisting of a two-thirds majority of the total debts, then the restructuring agreement becomes binding on all other creditors. However, to be able to sign the restructuring agreement, creditors should expect that the debtors would regain the ability to repay the debts after the restructuring. The debtor and its shareholders are required to make certain undertakings and commitments to ensure that the such ability is preserved. 

Conclusion

For companies in financial instability, multiple restructuring mechanisms are made available under Turkish law. In practice, companies may also simply negotiate the restructuring of their debts or finance documents with their creditors. Restructuring of debts is expected to be a fundamental highlight of 2019 as well.

By Begum Durukan Ozaydin, Founding Partner, Durukan + Partners.

This Article was originally published in Issue 6.2 of the CEE Legal Matters Magazine. If you would like to receive a hard copy of the magazine, you can subscribe here.

The accelerating growth of the global digital economy has yielded new challenges for international taxation, an issue that has pervaded the agenda of the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) in recent years. Published in 2015, the OECD’s Base Erosion and Profit Shifting (BEPS) Action Plan 1 regarding the taxation of the digital economy primarily focused on the challenges arising from the distribution of the right of tax collection among the states from revenues derived from cross-border activities.

In line with the BEPS developments, on September 7, 2016 Turkey adopted a legislative amendment authorizing the President to introduce a withholding tax liability for the delivery of goods and services carried out electronically on the parties to the transaction and those who act as intermediaries.

On December 19, 2018, the President used this newly granted authority to issue Presidential Decree No. 476 (the “Decree”), introducing a new withholding tax limited to advertising services provided online.

What the Decree Says

As of January 1, 2019, payments made to the providers of online advertising services or to those who act as intermediaries for the provision of this service will be subject to withholding tax at the following rates: 15% for payments made to Turkish resident individuals; 15% for payments made to non-resident entities and individuals; and 0% for payments made to Turkish resident corporate income taxpayers.

The Revenue Administration recently published a draft communiqué explaining that if the real service provider is a non-resident entity and a Turkish resident taxpayer acts as an intermediary for the provision of the advertising services, the payments made to the Turkish resident taxpayer will be subject to 0% withholding tax. However, the Turkish resident taxpayer is required to apply a 15% withholding tax on payments transferred to the non-resident entity. The draft communiqué included a fictional example of a company named “GGL Ltd” resident in Ireland that provides advertising services to a Turkish company, “C,” through an advertising agency, “Mr. E.”

What about Double Tax Treaties? 

The Turkish Constitution and Corporate Income Tax Law clearly state that double tax treaties to which Turkey is a party override local tax legislation. The Turkish Revenue Administration has published numerous rulings and communiqués indicating that double tax treaty provisions are excluded, and several Turkish tax court decisions assert the treaty override.

According to the majority of the Double Tax Treaties, business profits derived by a non-resident entity can only be taxed in Turkey if the income is generated through a permanent establishment in Turkey. Under the permanent establishment provisions of double tax treaties and the OECD Model Tax Convention commentary notes, a digital platform or website do not per se constitute a permanent establishment in Turkey. Therefore, the revenue derived by non-resident entities through online advertising services provided to Turkish taxpayers should not be taxed in Turkey if the non-resident entity resides in a country with which Turkey has a double tax treaty.

However, the fictional example in the draft communiqué makes it evident that the Turkish tax authority disregards double tax treaties in the application of this withholding tax liability, and, at least at the moment, we expect the Turkish tax authority to adopt this approach in the final version of the communiqué. 

We believe Turkey’s unilateral withholding tax measure is insufficient to tax the income derived by non-resident entities through their online advertising services, unless the relevant double tax treaties are amended.

Conclusion

Considering the Turkish tax authority’s increasing focus on electronic commerce activities, there is no doubt that the Turkish tax authority expects Turkish taxpayers who receive online advertising services from non-resident companies to declare and pay 15% withholding tax on their payments, despite the treaty override issue.

Therefore, depending on the party bearing the withholding tax burden and whether there is a local intermediary, different legal strategies may be developed on how to address this withholding tax issue, including litigation for the refund of the withholding tax and the inclusion of a mutual agreement procedure in the double tax treaties.

By Erdal Ekinci, Partner, and Ipek Beril Aygun, associate, Esin Attorney Partnership

This Article was originally published in Issue 6.2 of the CEE Legal Matters Magazine. If you would like to receive a hard copy of the magazine, you can subscribe here.

The Diri Law Firm was founded in Izmir in 1990 by Hayri Diri as an independent and full-service law firm. Thirty years later, the firm continues to serve both international and Turkish clients across a variety of different industries and sectors. But the firm is now led by Hayri Diri’s daughter, Nazan Diri Bal, who has rebranded and expanded it. With Nazan Diri Bal in charge, it is full speed ahead at Diri Legal.

Away from the Safe Haven 

“My father is a well-known professional, especially in Izmir,” says Nazan Diri Bal about Hayri Diri, who continues to practice with the firm in western Anatolya. “He is a solution-oriented expert, and the team of the firm has built a strong reputation in Izmir since its establishment.”

Growing up, both Diri Bal and her sister Hamide Handan Diri were asked to help with the family business. “We would go the office or to the courthouse to do something very simple,” she says. “I think he wanted us to get familiar with the business and eventually enjoy it.” Enjoy it she did, and she says she never considered going into a field other than law. “I am glad that it happened like that,” she says, “because law graduates have many keys at hand, as they can do nearly everything. So it is a good option for a university education.” 

During her years at Istanbul Bilgi University, Diri Bal spent every summer back at her father’s law firm in Izmir. Naturally, the plan was for her to rejoin the firm after graduating – but Diri encouraged his daughter to apply to other law firms for an internship. “My father wanted me to leave my comfort zone,” she laughs. “Because to be honest, I was a safety queen. He wanted me to really understand what the business world was, without being under the wings of my family.”

Following her father’s advice, Diri Bal ended up spending a summer under the supervision of prominent Turkish lawyer Mahmut Birsel in the Birsel Law Office’s Izmir base. “It was a good firm and a good choice for me back then,” Diri Bal says. Eventually, when the internship concluded in 2007, she moved back to Istanbul for her graduate studies, staying with Birsel in the firm’s office in that city. 

Diri Bal ultimately spent over 11 years with Birsel – for many years regarded as among the very best firms in Turkey – learning both about the practice of law at the highest level and about the mechanics of a family firm. “Birsel was also a family business,” she says, “so in addition to the professional experience I gained there, I also developed a vision of how such a business may grow solidly.” In other words, she says, “I gained a strong understanding of the dos and don’ts in a family business.”

Finally, at the end of December 2017, Mahmut Birsel retired, closing the doors of the 94-year-old firm for the last time. Diri Bal knew what she had to do. “I thought it was about time for me to take over the family business,” she says. “There was already a 30-year legacy and I did not want it simply to fade away. So I decided to get behind the wheel.” 

At the Helm 

The tradition of children taking over family businesses is strong in Turkey. “Turkish people have very close family ties and strong family values, which keep them together,” Diri Bal notes. “I think this is the reason why many Turkish businesses are family-owned.”  

Still, she insists, for a family business to grow, substantial planning and a shared vision with the new generation is key. “Strong next-generation leadership is really important,” she says. “And I think a family-centric culture really helps families and the next generation to keep businesses running.” 

And, once she took charge, Diri Bal thought it was important to provide the Diri Law Firm with a new image and plan. “We needed an indication of a change in vision, because there is a second generation behind the wheel now, so we had to do something new.” And that, she says, “included new team members, so that one could really feel the new generation’s touch.” 

The process did not come without difficulty. “Since we were establishing something very new, it was not easy to rebuild the team, and the corporate identity, and all that,” she says. “But once we had a system up and running then there were no challenges.” 

Turkish Women in Their New Roles 

Diri Bal is part of a new generation of women successfully taking over the reins of Turkish firms started by their fathers or grandfathers, including, among others, Sefika Pekin (at Pekin & Bayar), Eda Cerrahoglu Balssen (at Cerrahoglu), and Selin Ozbek Cittone (at Ozbek). 

Indeed, the Turkish tradition of family-run companies and law firms, according to Diri Bal, blends well with women’s emancipation in Turkey, and although in previous decades there were few women in leadership positions in the country, the picture is gradually changing. According to her, “in the past people thought that female-owned businesses were not a good idea, but fortunately many successful women succeeded in overcoming this myth.” As a result, she says, “the role of women in society has completely changed in Turkey.” 

Besides, she says, “being a woman lawyer is not a new phenomenon in Turkey, as in Istanbul alone the ratio of women to men is about 50/50.” (Indeed, according to the 2017 CEE Legal Matters CEE by the Numbers report, 63.99% of associates and 37.79% partners at major commercial law firms in Turkey are women, compared to only 44.71% of associates and 17.31% of partners in Austria).

A Clear Eye on the Horizon

Ultimately, Diri Bal says, the challenges of taking over at Diri Legal are significant – but, with the appropriate focus, manageable. “When you have a family business, you can’t forget that you have to share, you can’t keep everything to yourself, and you have to stay updated. Of course, you can stay in your shell, and if you choose to do that, then your business will only be as wide as your shell. But if you step outside your safety zone, your business will have a future. I think this is the key to running a successful family business.”  

This Article was originally published in Issue 6.2 of the CEE Legal Matters Magazine. If you would like to receive a hard copy of the magazine, you can subscribe here.

The world, Turkey, and the legal profession are all in a constant state of change.

Globally, each day, there is a transformation – economically, politically, and financially.  There are credit crunches, rises of radical movements, trade wars, collapses of nations, and changes in government systems. Globalization now means every jurisdiction is affected by developments in others and by relations between nations. Turkey, too, has seen its share of good times and bad times. Over recent years, it has seen floods of investment, then slowdowns; banking crises and then stability; changes in investment trends and hot sectors; political turbulence; and even a failed coup attempt and change in its governmental system. 2018 was not an easy year for Turkey, with a sharp depreciation in the Turkish lira and fears of more severe economic regression. 

However, despite this turmoil, Turkey still strives to be the world’s 12th biggest economy in 2019. It still has many big-scale infrastructure projects on its agenda, many reforms it has yet to accomplish, and still another election to go through. 

The way we lawyers do business is also changing. If you go not too long back in time, you land in the days of the telex … then the fax, then emails; now you see correspondence taking the shape of WhatsApp messages.  Gone are the days of lengthy memos, citations from scholars or codes, and theoretical discussions. Gone are the days of reactive lawyering and risk spotting; these days clients want short responses, a proactive approach, and creative solutions. Gone are the days of in-house counsel whose work was really only to outsource work and coordinate outside counsel; now you see in-house teams acting like law firms, tackling issues on their own. Gone are the days of billable hours presented with no questions from clients; now the fees are expected to match the value added to the matter. Gone are the days of a few good law firms dominating the market; now there are many of them, both big and small, global and local. Gone are the days of only a few lawyers capable of cross-border work; now there is an army of law students graduating each year with ever-increasing skills. 

The legal profession is also being disrupted by the introduction of artificial intelligence and other technologies being used not only in the legal sector but all fields affecting our lives. It is said that more than half of the professions of the near future have not yet even been invented. While this disruption has not been felt so severely yet in Turkey, its arrival and effect on us are not far off.

The one thing that does not change is change itself. Some say the legal profession will become extinct. Would change go so far? I doubt it. I believe that the legal profession is here to stay, but there is certainly a need to adapt. First, obtaining information is now easier than ever before. We need to be tech-savvy and understand, use, and make available the benefits of technology. We obviously have to accept that the luxury of spending hours on contracts and due diligence exercises will soon be a thing of the past. We need to polish our communication skills so that we understand the needs of our clients and manage their expectations. Lawyers with a deep knowledge of law, a broad perspective on transactions and issues, and the ability to think about business and not legal theory will survive. Clients are more and more looking for lawyers not only with knowledge, but with the ability to manage such knowledge and exercise good judgment. We will need to take a business perspective, think and be creative with our solutions, and come up with legally sound structures to address the ever-growing challenges of our clients. 

We also need to be flexible in terms of being able to follow trends, adapt to different practice areas and sectors, and serve changing needs. Especially in Turkey, where things move fast, change occurs rapidly and there is always a need for law and lawyers to either cherish the good times or find cures for the bad times. 

So irrespective of who tries to steal the show, I believe the lead role will always be the lawyer; but we have to adapt.

By Begum Durukan Ozaydin, Founding Partner, Durukan + Partners.

This Article was originally published in Issue 6.2 of the CEE Legal Matters Magazine. If you would like to receive a hard copy of the magazine, you can subscribe here.

Translation works, which were created by transferring the intellectual artwork created in one language into another one, are preserved and considered as a work in today’s laws. This is undoubtedly due to the fact that translation works are results of intensive work and labor. Although translators are working on the basis of the original work, they are adapting the original work to another language by transferring information from their previous experiences. In this regard, it is an undeniable fact that translations should be evaluated as a separate work independently from the original work.

National and International regulations regarding translation works

Translations are protected at the national level with Law on Intellectual and Artistic Works numbered 5846 (“FSEK”). Translations are considered in “adaptation” category and regulated in FSEK art. 6/1 as “Intellectual and artistic products created by benefiting from another work but that are not independent of such work are adaptations”. In order to summarize, translations should be considered as an idea and art product that carries the labor and works of the creator, which is inspired from a work and the person conducts the work should be considered as adaptor of the work without prejudice to the rights of the owner of the original work.

Translations are protected at the international level with Berne Convention for the Protection of Literary and Artistic Works. Turkey firstly became a party to the convention on 1st January 1952 and secondly to the 1979 amended version on 07.07.1995 with the law numbered 4117. Translations are regulated under Berne Convention in a separate topic and it has been regulated in art. 2 that translations will be protected as original works without prejudice to the rights of the owner of the original work.

In this context, works/translations are also considered as works and the translators/adaptors owns all the material (processing, reproduction, propagation, etc.) and nonmaterial (presentation to the public, prohibiting the modification of the work, etc.) rights which the original creator of the work possesses. In this sense, there is no difference between the rights of the translator and original creator of the work.

Being loyal to the work and carrying the characteristics of the original creator (essential requirement)

In order to be able to create a translation work, it is essential that translation to have an original text. Because the translation, also in terms of technical meaning, is the work of translating a work in different language to another language. As such, the translator does not add, modify or extract foreign source to the work and protects the language as much as possible. Thus, “issues that appear as characteristics of the owner of the original work” will be protected. The work which is created without staying true to the characteristic of the original work cannot be considered as a translation, but it will be an imitation of that work or another separate work.

On the other hand, in order for a translation work to be considered as an independent work, the translator who created that work must leave traces on that work. It is an effort to translate the ideas in the original work with the same harmony, style and fluency in translation. Similarly, these traits can be exemplified as the translator’s cult knowledge, a spelling style associated with that person, or adaptation of the foreign language to that language with much excellency. 

Adaptation to be in same category with original work and relation with original work

The law accepts the adaptation in the event that the original work is brought into another framework in its category. In the case of processing of the same subject in separate work categories, any works that will arise as a result of the works, will be considered as original works since there will be no relation between two works. In this respect, since adaptation is putting work in a different category and original works in the source language will also be an artistic work, it is clear that translations also should be considered as artistic works.

Rights of translator, duration of these rights and protection

The translations / adaptations are in the absolute rights category and can claimed against everyone. This is because the translation works (adaptation) are protected as original work, without prejudice to the rights of the original creator. In fact, even the owner of the original work, has to obtain the consent of the translator before the using the translation.

In terms of protection period, the rights of the translator and the rights of the original author are in parallel. Protection period continues during life of translator and 70 years after the death of the translator.

Rights of translators are protected by civil and criminal lawsuits. Civil lawsuits can be filed at the Intellectual Property Rights Courts at the place where the defendant or translator resides. If there is no Intellectual Property Rights Court in the area of jurisdiction, competent court will be the Civil Court of First Instance. For criminal cases, prosecutors and Criminal Intellectual Property Rights Courts and Criminal Court of First Instance where the defendant or translator resides are competent 

Civil and criminal lawsuits that translator may file are:

Civil Lawsuits:

1. Prevention of Infringement Suits: This lawsuit can be filed in case of an infringement on material and nonmaterial rights of translators.
2. Compensation Suits: This lawsuit can be filed in case infringers earn unlawful profit from translator’s works. Nonmaterial compensation also can be claimed with these lawsuits.
3. Return of Income Suits: Translator can claim return of the unlawful profit from infringer with this lawsuit.
4. Determination of Authorship Suits: Translator can file this lawsuit in case there is a conflict regarding ownership of the translation works.

Criminal Lawsuits:

1. Crimes Against Material and Nonmaterial Rights (FSEK art.71): Investigation of these crimes are bound to the complaint of the defendant with complaint period of 6 months after learning the infringement. In this context in case of infringement of material and nonmaterial rights of translators, translators can file a complaint to the prosecutors in accordance with FSEK art.71. 

Although there is no definition of translation work and translators under FSEK; protection can be achieved for translation works and translators in accordance with the regulations regarding adaptations and Berne Convention which also Turkey is a party. On the other hand, if a complete definition of the translation work is regulated in the law and articles regarding translation works are arranged separately from the other works, it will be able to prevent many infringements encountered in the present day and ensure that translators enforce their rights in a more comfortable and functional manner.

By Berk Aras Kula, Attorney and Kaya Kayaoglu, Attorney Sezer & Utkaner Law Firm

Medical intervention is defined as actions taken by medical institutions, physicians and medical personnel in order to diagnose, cure and prevent diseases. Medical intervention notion has a wide variety from curing or preventing an ailment to fulfilling a request relating to an aesthetic matter.

Physicians and medical personnel interfere with physical integrity of patients in accordance with the “medical intervention”. In the context with the Constitution and related laws, intervention to physical integrity of a person is prohibited besides exceptions. Article 17/II of Constitution clearly regulates that; a person’s rights on physical integrity and health are substantial rights and no one can intervene with a person’s physical integrity and force them to attend scientific or medical research without their consent except medical necessities and conditions stated at law.

In addition to this regulation, this matter is also regulated at Code of Obligations article 46 and 47 with providing a compensation security against material and moral damages directed at physical integrity.

At this point, a necessity regarding compliance to law for intervention of physicians to physical integrity arises.  

Conditions of compliance to law for medical intervention

Conditions which makes intervention compliance with law regulated at Turkish Civil Code art. 24/2. These are;

1. Higher public benefit (For example, vaccinations can be executed in order to prevent spreading of an epidemic),
2. Higher special benefit (For example, intervention to third parties’ physical integrity will be considered legal limited to self-defense circumstance),
3. Executing powers received from law, 
4. Consent of the person whose personal rights are intervened.

 When above conditions are examined from medical intervention aspect, two conditions are met which make medical interventions in compliance with law. One of them is medical intervention with consent of the patient and other one is medical intervention on the grounds of higher public benefit.

Consent of patient at medical interventions

The most common way seen at practice when physicians apply in order to make medical interventions in compliance with law, is to obtain consent of patient.

But single consent is not deemed enough for compliance to law. Consent of the patient should be a consent which is in accordance with the law. Below conditions are needed in order that consent of patient should be legally valid;

1. Patient should have capacity to act,
2. No damage at will of patient,
3. Consent should be in accordance with law and ethics

In order to understand them in a clearer manner, it would be suitable to study each of them in detail.

Patient’s Capacity to Act

In order that patient’s consent to be valid; patient should be at full age and mentally sane.

Consent of minors are received from their parents and guardians have powers to give consent for majors who does not have capacity to act. 

In addition to that, there can be temporary loss at capacity to act sometimes. For example, consent regarding medical intervention taken from a drunken person who lost his ability to act is considered legally invalid. In these cases, if lack of this intervention will not cause loss of life or any of person’s organs; intervention should be postponed and should not be executed.

There Should Be No Damage at Patient’s Will, Disclosure Is Required

Second condition for a consent to be valid is that patient’s will should not be damaged. In this context, physicians, should fulfill requirements regarding preventing patient from making a wrong choice. And this can be done with clearly informing the patient.

Methods and contents of a legally valid disclosure are explained below additionally.

Consent Should Comply With Laws and Ethics

Lastly, patient’s consent should comply with law and ethics. For example, euthanasia is illegal at Turkish law and even though patient has given consent for euthanasia, it wouldn’t make the physician’s intervention legally valid. At this case, patient’s consent will be deemed illegal since it interferes and aims to destroy right to live which is an indefeasible right.

What are the content of a legally valid disclosure?

In accordance with Patient Right Regulation article 15, physicians should receive consent of patient for every procedure and inform the patient regarding intervention and possible complications. This disclosure should include; patient’s medical status and diagnosis, proposed treatment, success rate and duration, risks, usage and possible side effects of medication, results of rejecting the treatment, possible treatment options and risks.

In accordance with the accepted law and medical practice, disclosure should be made at least a day before medical intervention. This duration should be increased at more complication and higher risk medical interventions. If the patient is a minor or does not have capacity to act this disclosure should be made to parent or guardian.

Informed consent is very important for both patient and physician. This process should be conducted correct with much care. 

What should be done at emergency cardiologic cases which it is not possible to obtain this informed consent? Should be waited to obtain consent at emergency cases? Convention on Human Rights and Biomedicine which is an international convention regarding emergency cases, came into force with being published at Official Gazette on 9th December 2003 at Turkey. In accordance with the article 8 of Convention on Human Rights and Biomedicine;

“When because of an emergency situation the appropriate consent cannot be obtained, any medically necessary intervention may be carried out immediately for the benefit of the health of the individual concerned.”

But when this emergency situation comes to an end, consent should be completed and it is advised that consent form should be signed by patient even after intervention.

Conclusion

The medical intervention must withstand a lawful consent if there is no public benefit or an emergency situation concerning life of the patient. This consent should be received in conditions that the patient can share free will with informing patient regarding every possible details and risks regarding medical intervention. Informed consents should be recorded and kept in case of any disputes that may arise in the future, since responsibility to prove that the lawful consent has been obtained will be on physician, the health institution and the health personnel.

By Nazlı Sezer, Attorney Sezer & Utkaner Law Firm