My Bank Account Has Been Blocked in Turkey: How to Find Out Why and Where to Apply to Lift It

1. Who can block an account?

In most cases the bank does not decide on the block; it carries out another authority's decision. So the challenge is usually brought before that authority, not the bank.

Terms:

• Seizure (haciz): Attachment by the state of a debtor's property or receivables (a bank balance is a receivable) to satisfy a debt.
• Precautionary attachment (ihtiyati haciz): A temporary court-ordered seizure that prevents assets from being moved before the creditor's claim is resolved.
• Confiscation (elkoyma): An order in a criminal investigation, as a rule made by a judge, that freezes property or accounts suspected to be linked to an offence.
• Complaint (şikâyet): In enforcement law, an application to the enforcement court against an unlawful or improper act of the enforcement office.

2. How can you find out why your account was blocked?

1. Ask the bank. Ask the branch or customer service which authority sent the block, its date and amount and, if any, the file number. Try to get the answer in writing; it helps when calculating time limits and making applications.
2. Check e-Devlet. The Ministry of Justice's Enforcement File Inquiry [2] service lists enforcement files opened against you. The Revenue Administration's Electronic Seizures on Bank Accounts [3] inquiry, SGK's Debts Under Enforcement and Electronic Seizures [4] service and the Ministry of Treasury and Finance's Debt Inquiry [5] service help you see your public debts; the Revenue Administration and SGK services also show electronic seizures applied to bank accounts.
3. Request information in writing if needed. The bank is the data controller for your personal data. You may ask in writing which data about you are processed and to whom they were transferred; the bank must reply within thirty days at the latest (Personal Data Protection Law art. 11 and 13 [6]). This right may be limited where processing is needed to prevent or investigate a crime (art. 28(2)).

3. Blocks resulting from an enforcement seizure

If enforcement proceedings have been started against you, the creditor may request a seizure once the period in the payment order has expired (or, if you objected, once your objection has been set aside) (İİK art. 78 [1]). The enforcement office sends the bank a seizure notice, which may also be sent electronically through UYAP; the bank must then pay the balance to the enforcement office, not to you (İİK art. 89 [1]).

In ordinary enforcement proceedings without a court judgment, the time limit for objecting to a payment order is seven days from service (İİK art. 62). In proceedings based on a bill of exchange, promissory note or cheque, an objection to the debt must be made to the enforcement court within five days (İİK art. 168). Once these periods have passed, objecting to the debt itself is generally no longer possible, but the complaint routes below may remain open.

Ways to have the block lifted

• Paying the debt: Once the debt is paid into the enforcement file, the seizure must be lifted. In practice, the enforcement office notifies the bank that the seizure has been lifted. If this is not done, or is delayed without reason, a complaint for failure to perform an act or for unjustified delay may be filed at any time (İİK art. 16(2)).
• Complaint to the enforcement court: If the enforcement office acted unlawfully (for example, the seizure was imposed although the payment order was not properly served on you), you may complain to the enforcement court within seven days of learning of the act (İİK art. 16(1)).
• Excessive seizure: A seizure is limited to the amount needed to cover the claim, interest and costs; it may not exceed that amount (İİK art. 85 [1]). If accounts at several banks are blocked for the same debt in amounts exceeding it, this can be the subject of a complaint.

Funds that cannot be seized, or only partly

Where the money comes from matters:

• Pensions paid by SGK: Income, pensions and allowances paid to insured persons and their beneficiaries cannot be seized, except for SGK's own claims and maintenance (alimony) debts. Without the debtor's consent, the enforcement director rejects a seizure request (Law no. 5510 art. 93 [8]).
• Salaries and wages: A salary cannot be seized in full. The enforcement director deducts what the debtor and family need to live on and seizes the rest; the amount seized may not be less than one quarter of the salary (İİK art. 83 [1]).
• Other protected funds: For example, compensation paid for bodily injury and student scholarships cannot be seized (İİK art. 82 [1]).
• Prior consent: Agreements made in advance that such assets and rights may be seized are invalid (İİK art. 83/a). A general “I consent to seizure” clause in a loan agreement does not, by itself, remove this protection.

4. E-attachment for tax, SGK and other public debts

Public receivables such as taxes and SGK premiums are collected not by the enforcement office but by the creditor authority's collection unit under Law no. 6183 on the Collection of Public Receivables. The collection unit may send the bank an electronic attachment notice (Law no. 6183 art. 79 [9]).

• Tax debts: A payment order can be challenged within 15 days of service on the grounds that no such debt exists, it was partly paid or it is time-barred (Law no. 6183 art. 58). The statute refers to an “objection commission”; this means the tax court (Law no. 2576 art. 6 and 13 [10]). The general time limit for suing in the tax court against the seizure itself is thirty days (Administrative Procedure Law art. 7 [11]).
• SGK debts: SGK receivables are also collected under Law no. 6183; disputes arising from this go to the labour court where SGK's creditor unit is located. Applying to the court does not by itself stop collection (Law no. 5510 art. 88 [8]).
• Limits on salaries and pensions: For public debts, the amount seized must be between one quarter and one third of salaries and pensions; no more than one tenth of monthly income not exceeding the minimum wage may be seized (Law no. 6183 art. 71). For pensions paid by SGK, Law no. 5510 art. 93 described above also applies.
• Instalments: If the debt is deferred and paid in instalments (tecil), existing seizures may not be lifted immediately; the law provides that seized assets remain as security and seizures are reduced in proportion to payments (Law no. 6183 art. 48).

5. A court's precautionary attachment order

Even before any enforcement proceedings are final, a creditor may obtain a precautionary attachment order from a court for a money claim that is due and not secured by a pledge (İİK art. 257 and 258 [1]). Such orders are often issued without hearing the debtor and are applied to the bank through the enforcement office.

The debtor may object to the court that issued the order, regarding its grounds, the court's jurisdiction and the security provided by the creditor, within seven days of the attachment if present when it was carried out, or otherwise from service of the attachment record. Third parties affected by the attachment may also object within seven days of learning of it (İİK art. 265 [1]).

6. Blocks linked to fraud suspicion and criminal investigations

Temporary suspension by the bank

Since 25 December 2025, banks, payment service providers and crypto-asset service providers may suspend an account used in the offence for up to 48 hours where there is reasonable suspicion of aggravated theft committed using information systems (Turkish Criminal Code art. 142(2)(e)), aggravated fraud committed using information systems, banks or credit institutions as a tool or by the offender posing as a public official or as an employee of a bank, insurer or credit institution (art. 158(1)(f) and (l)) or misuse of bank or credit cards (art. 245) (CMK art. 128/A [12]).

• The suspension is reported immediately to the chief public prosecutor's office and is also notified to the account holder.
• The account holder may apply to the chief public prosecutor's office to lift the suspension; the prosecutor decides within 24 hours.
• During the suspension, the proceeds of the offence in the account may be confiscated by a judge's order or, where delay would be harmful, by the prosecutor's written order. A confiscation by prosecutor's order is submitted to a judge within 24 hours; if the judge does not decide within 48 hours, it lapses automatically.

Confiscation by a judge

For certain offences listed in the law, bank accounts may be confiscated where there is strong suspicion that the assets derive from the offence; only a judge may order this (CMK art. 128 [12]). An objection against the criminal judgeship of peace's confiscation decision may be filed within two weeks of learning of it (CMK art. 267 and 268).

Other administrative measures

• MASAK suspension of a transaction: The Minister (named “Minister of Finance” in the statute; today the Minister of Treasury and Finance), or a deputy minister to whom the power is delegated, may suspend a transaction suspected of being linked to money laundering or terrorist financing for seven business days to confirm the suspicion and analyse the transaction (Law no. 5549 art. 19/A [7]).
• Asset freezes: Asset-freezing decisions concerning the financing of terrorism are published in the Official Gazette. Transactions needed for the minimum living costs of the person and their dependants may be made with permission; a request to lift a freeze of assets in Turkey is made to the Assessment Commission (Law no. 6415 art. 7 and 13 [13]).

7. Restrictions imposed by the bank itself

Some restrictions are based not on an official decision but on the bank's own practice:

• Outdated identity and customer information: Banks must keep customer information up to date. If identification cannot be completed or the bank cannot obtain enough information about the purpose of the relationship, it refuses the transaction; if doubts arise about information obtained earlier and identification cannot be completed, it ends the relationship (AML Measures Regulation art. 19 and 22 [14]). Such restrictions are often resolved by providing the requested documents.
• Loan or credit card debt: For an overdue debt, the bank may block the account or deduct money from it, relying on set-off, offsetting or pledge clauses in the contract. The validity of these clauses, especially for accounts into which a salary or pension is paid, is disputed; the contract you signed and the consents you gave should be examined separately.

Where to apply

1. Written application to the bank: State your request and reasons in writing and keep proof that you applied.
2. BDDK: Complaints about banks can be filed through the Banking Regulation and Supervision Agency's Electronic Complaint System [15]. BDDK forwards the complaint to the bank and assesses it with the bank's reply, so it recommends complaining to the bank first.
3. Individual Customer Arbitration Board: Only natural persons may apply to this board within the Banks Association of Turkey (TBB). A prior written application to the bank is required; the bank has 30 days to reply (20 days for credit card matters) and may extend this by 10 days if it says so within that period. You must apply within 60 days of the reply, or of the end of that period if there is no reply, and in any event within two years of the transaction. Disputes already brought before a court or a consumer arbitration committee are not reviewed (TBB application information [16]).
4. Consumer arbitration committee and consumer court: In 2026, consumer disputes worth less than TRY 186,000 must be brought before a consumer arbitration committee (Consumer Protection Law art. 68 [17]; 2026 monetary limit communiqué [18]). Above that limit, applying to a mediator is mandatory before suing in the consumer court (art. 73/A).

8. Hypothetical example

This example is entirely hypothetical. C, a retiree, finds that she cannot withdraw money from the account into which her SGK pension is paid. The bank tells her the block came from an enforcement office and gives the file number. Using the Enforcement File Inquiry on e-Devlet, C sees that the proceedings concern an old credit card debt and that the payment order was sent to her former address. Within seven days of learning of the seizure, she complains to the enforcement court: she argues that the money in the account is a pension paid by SGK, that she has not consented to its seizure and that the payment order was not properly served, and she attaches her pension statements. The court assesses the nature of the money and whether service was proper on the basis of the documents in the file.

9. FAQ

I paid the debt. When will the block be lifted?

Paying into the enforcement file rather than directly to the creditor is safer, because the payment is recorded in the file. After payment, the lifting of the seizure is notified to the bank. If the block is not lifted within a reasonable time, first contact the enforcement office; a complaint to the enforcement court for unjustified delay is always available (İİK art. 16(2)).

Does filing a complaint or objection lift the block immediately?

As a rule, no. The application alone does not remove the restriction; the block may remain until the court or authority decides. For example, an appeal against the court's decision on an objection to a precautionary attachment does not stop the attachment from being enforced (İİK art. 265).

How long does a block last?

It depends on the type. A bank's suspension on suspicion of fraud lasts at most 48 hours, and MASAK's suspension of a transaction lasts seven business days. Enforcement and public-debt seizures, as a rule, last until the debt is paid, the seizure is lifted or a court decides otherwise.

I let an acquaintance use my account and now it is blocked. What happens?

If your account was used in someone else's fraud, it may be suspended or confiscated and an investigation may be opened against you. Under a provision in force since 31 July 2026, where a person's participation in fraud is limited to handing over their account or card to another person for unjust gain, the penalty is reduced by half; in other words, this conduct also carries criminal liability (Turkish Criminal Code art. 158(4) [19]). If you are summoned to give a statement, it is important to know your rights.

Do I need a lawyer?

No. A complaint to the enforcement court, an objection to a precautionary attachment or an application to the prosecutor can be made by the person concerned. But because the time limits are short and choosing the right authority directly affects the outcome, you should first establish exactly what the block is based on.