Official Gazette / December 22-28, 2025

Following the omnibus law, publicly known as the 11th Judicial Package, which introduced changes to many laws, the following regulations were enacted:

-A regulation was introduced allowing for the direct closure of telephone lines used in the commission of crimes such as theft, fraud, and misuse of bank or credit cards, by court or prosecutor's order.

-The individuals eligible to file a lawsuit for the annulment of an auction following enforcement sales have been restricted. In recent months, there were reports that some auction participants were demanding money from the winning bidder under the threat of filing a lawsuit to prolong the process and create uncertainty.

-The path to considering sales between close relatives and low-value transactions as asset evasion has been facilitated.

-Monetary thresholds in enforcement law have changed again. The finality threshold will be determined based on the year the lawsuit was filed.

-Penalties for organization leaders, as well as for the crimes of establishing, managing, and being a member of an organization, have been increased in cases where the criminal organization uses children to commit crimes.

-In order to prevent the cutting off of vehicles and traffic disputes, which are frequently reflected in the media, cutting off vehicles in traffic has been defined as a crime and added to the law.

-Insult crimes, excluding those against public officials, have been included in the scope of advance payment. Finalized insult crimes also fall under this scope. Convicts of insult crimes can apply to the prosecutor's office for advance payment to have the insult crime removed from their criminal records.

-A regulation has been introduced allowing for the suspension of an account containing funds directly (without any court or prosecutor's order) by a bank, payment institution, or crypto service provider in cases of cybercrime and illicit gain, and for the situation to be reported to judicial authorities. If the funds are transferred before the suspension, a notification must be made to the relevant institution to request a suspension.

-With the enforcement law regulation issued during the pandemic, publicly known as the execution amnesty, the probation period for crimes committed until April 30, 2020, was applied as 3 years instead of 1 year, with some crimes being excluded. With the current enforcement regulation, convicts who committed crimes before July 31, 2023, and have completed a portion of their prison sentence, excluding certain crimes, have been enabled to be released early by applying a 3-year probation period instead of 1 year.

-The collection of all public receivables, such as unpaid general health insurance premiums and their associated delay penalties/interest, dating back to before January 1, 2016, has been waived.

-To prevent crimes committed via telephone, GSM line subscriptions can now only be made with electronic identity verification without any exceptions; otherwise, subscription registration cannot be performed.

-The 7.5% digital service tax levied on revenue obtained from digital advertising services, and the sale of digital content such as films, music, and games (films, music, games, etc.) by digital platforms such as Meta, Google, Amazon, Netflix, TikTok, YouTube, and X in Turkey has been reduced to 5% for 2026 and 2.5% for 2027.

On Tuesday, December 24, 2025, the Agreement on the Conservation and Sustainable Use of Marine Biological Diversity of Areas Beyond National Jurisdiction under the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea was approved by Presidential Decree. The UN Convention on the Law of the Sea, which is the basis of this sub-agreement, contains provisions on broad continental shelves that are contrary to our Blue Homeland doctrine and would cause Greece to turn the Aegean Sea into a Greek lake. For this reason, Turkey is not a party to this convention. This sub-agreement on biological diversity is based on the maritime jurisdiction areas in the convention that we do not accept and covers areas outside these zones. In other words, which area is national and which is international is a problem from the very beginning. Apart from Turkey, the USA, Israel, and Venezuela are also not parties to the agreement. The crash of the plane of the Chief of General Staff of Libya, the only country supporting the Blue Homeland Doctrine, on Tuesday, December 23, 2025, and the approval of this agreement following the alliance summit held by the Prime Ministers of Israel, Greece, and the Greek Cypriot Administration in Jerusalem on Monday, December 22, 2025, are not a good sign.