The key anti-bribery and corruption legislation in Turkish legislation is listed below:

• Turkish Criminal Code (Law No.5237) (Published in the Official Gazette dated October 12, 2014 and numbered 25611) (“Criminal Code”);
• Law on Declaration of Property, Anti-Bribery and Anti-Corruption (Law No. 3628) (Published in the Official Gazette dated May 04, 1990 and numbered 20508);
• Law on Public Officers (Law No.657) (Published in the Official Gazette dated July 20, 1965 and numbered 12053); and
• Regulation on the Ethics Board for Public Officials and the Civil Servants Ethical Principles and Application Procedures and Principle (Published in the Official Gazette dated April 13, 2005 and numbered 25785).
   

There has not been any specific anti-bribery and corruption law enacted in Turkey in the last ten years.

Yes. As per Article 252(1) of the Criminal Code, providing, directly or through an intermediary, a benefit to a public officer or another person indicated by a public officer to perform or not to perform a transaction with respect to the execution of his/her duty is prohibited and defined as the crime of bribery. 

Yes. As per the paragraph 9 of Article 252 of the Criminal Code, the provisions regulating the crime of bribery shall also be applicable to the following persons if they provide, offer, commit, demand or accept, directly or through an intermediary, a benefit in order to perform or not to perform a transaction with respect to the execution of their duty or with respect to an international commercial transaction and for the purposes of obtaining or conserving an unjust benefit:

• public officers elected or appointed in a foreign country,
• judges, members of jury or other officers working in international or supranational courts or courts of a foreign country,
• international or supranational parliament members;
• persons who carry out public activities for a foreign country including public institutions or public enterprises;
• citizens or foreign arbitrators nominated within the scope of an arbitration procedure for the resolution of a legal dispute; and
• officers or representatives of international or supranational organizations founded on the basis of an international agreement.

As per Article 252(10) of the Criminal Code, in case the crime of bribery as defined under paragraph 9 above was committed by a foreigner in a foreign country for the purpose of performance or non-performance of a transaction with respect to a dispute to which Turkey, a public institution in Turkey, a legal entity established as per Turkish laws or a Turkish citizen is party; criminal investigations shall be initiated ex officio against any person who provides, offers or commits to provide bribe, who receives, demands, accepts the offer or commitment of bribe, the intermediaries thereof and any person who obtained a benefit due to bribery, if they are in Turkey.
 

Yes. Please be informed that requesting a bribe is defined as a crime as per Article 252(4) of the Criminal Code. As per the relevant Article, in case the request for a bribe of a public officer is not accepted by the relevant person, the sanction to be imposed against the relevant public officer had the counter party accepted such request (imprisonment from four to 12 years) shall be decreased by one-half.

With respect to the applicability of legal provisions regulating crime of bribery, Article 8 of the Criminal Code provides that “Turkish laws shall be applied to the crimes committed in Turkey. Where the act was partially or entirely committed in Turkiye or the result thereof was obtained in Turkey, the crime is deemed to have been committed in Turkey.” Therefore, in cases where the crime of bribery is committed outside of Turkey but its consequences occur in Turkey, the provisions of the Criminal Code shall also be applicable.

Also Article 10 of the Criminal Code titled “Crimes Committed in Relation to Performance of a Duty” provides that “any person who served as a public officer for or who was assigned a duty on behalf of Turkey in a foreign country and committed a crime in relation thereto shall be subject to criminal proceedings in Turkiye even if he or she was already convicted in a foreign country.”

Please also refer to the answer to "Is a bribe payment to foreign government officials prohibited by the legislation?" with respect to foreigners.

Please also refer to the answers to "Is a bribe payment to domestic government officials prohibited by the legislation?" and "Is requesting or accepting a bribe prohibited by the legislation?" with respect to the offender of the crime of bribery.

As per Article 20(2) of the Criminal Code, criminal sanctions cannot be applied to legal entities except for the security measures provided by the law.

Accordingly, Article 253 of the Criminal Code provides that the legal persons who obtained unlawful benefit by way of commitment of the crime of bribery shall be subject to security measures (such as cancellation of an operating license granted by a public authority and confiscation).
 

As per Article 252(1) and 252(2) of the Criminal Code, individuals who give or receive bribe shall be imprisoned from four to 12 years.

In case the individual who received, demanded or agreed upon bribe is a judicial officer, arbitrator, expert, notary public or certified public accountant, the above imprisonment shall be increased from one third to one-half.

It should also be noted that as per Article 252(3) of the Criminal Code, agreement on bribery is penalized as if the crime was accomplished.

As per Article 252/4 of the Criminal Code, in case the demand for a bribe of a public officer was not accepted by the relevant person or the offer or commitment of a person to provide benefit was not accepted by the public officer, the sanction to be imposed against the author shall be decreased by one-half.
 

Please refer to the answer to "Is there criminal liability for corporate entities who have either paid or accepted a bribe payment?".

Since Article 253 of the Criminal Code provides that the legal persons who obtained an unlawful benefit by way of commitment of the crime of bribery shall be subject to security measures, having a compliance program does not constitute a defense if and once such benefit is obtained as a result of the crime of bribery.

N/A. Please be informed that the deferred prosecution agreement is not regulated under Turkish legislation. In addition, there is no specific body established for the crime of bribery in Turkey but the public prosecution offices have special units for crimes committed by public officers and it is not possible to enter into leniency agreements with public prosecution offices.