This is the English version of a Turkish article. The original, with further detail and linked petition templates, is at Terk Nedeniyle Boşanma: İhtar Şartı ve Altı Aylık Süre.
Your spouse has left the home and is not coming back. You do not have to wait indefinitely to divorce — but you do have to take the steps in the right order.
Desertion is a specific ground of divorce under Article 164 of the Civil Code, with a procedure of its own. This article sets that procedure out.
What Counts as Desertion?
Desertion is one spouse leaving the matrimonial home with the intention of not performing the obligations arising from the marriage. Failing to return to the home without good reason also counts.
What matters is the intention. Living in another city for work, medical treatment, military service or study is not desertion. Equally, a spouse who leaves because of violence or coercion has not deserted: that is living apart with good reason.
One further situation matters: a spouse who drives the other out of the matrimonial home, or prevents their return, is themselves treated as the deserter. The party who stayed in the house can be the one in default.
The Three Conditions
All three must be satisfied together:
- The separation has lasted at least six months and is still continuing.
- A proper notice has been given. The notice is sent through the judge or a notary.
- The spouse has not returned despite the notice — that is, has not returned within the two months allowed, and without good reason.
The order matters as much as the content: the notice may be requested only after the fourth month of the separation has elapsed. A notice sent earlier is invalid, and the whole sequence has to be started again.
What the Notice Must Contain
A large proportion of desertion claims fail because of the notice. It must contain:
- an invitation to return to the matrimonial home, and the two months allowed for doing so
- a warning of the consequence — that a divorce claim will be brought if the spouse does not return
- the full address of the matrimonial home
- a statement that travel expenses will be met, and, where necessary, the money made available
The notice must be genuine. The home must actually be one the spouse can return to: the locks not changed, and conditions in which they can live there. A notice sent only in order to start proceedings, where the sender does not in fact want the spouse back, is invalid.
The courts examine this closely: emptying the home after the notice, or moving someone else into it, is treated as evidence that the notice was not genuine.
The Defence of Good Reason
The respondent may say they were justified in leaving the home or in not returning. The grounds accepted in practice include:
- physical or psychological violence
- insults and degrading treatment
- interference by relatives, met with silence from the spouse
- breach of the duty of fidelity
- the home being uninhabitable
Where good reason is proved, the condition of desertion is not satisfied and the claim is dismissed. So for the respondent the defence turns on establishing why they left: protection order records, hospital reports, messages and witness evidence decide it.
Desertion or the General Ground?
If the conditions of desertion are not all met, the case is not necessarily lost: most files also rely on irretrievable breakdown of the marriage under Article 166.
The difference between the two routes matters:
- Desertion (Art. 164) is a specific ground: once its conditions are proved the judge has no discretion and must grant the divorce. But the procedure is rigid.
- The general ground (Art. 166) is more flexible, but fault is assessed — and the finding on fault feeds directly into compensation and maintenance.
In practice both grounds are commonly pleaded together, and which is put forward depends on the evidence and on where the fault lies.
The commonest reason a desertion claim is dismissed is a notice sent too early. It may be requested only after the fourth month of the separation, and proceedings may be brought only after the two months given in the notice have also expired. Break the sequence and it starts again from the beginning.
Frequently Asked Questions
How long must I wait to divorce for desertion?
The separation must have lasted at least six months. The notice is requested after the fourth month, and the two months given in it must also expire before proceedings are brought.
Who sends the notice?
It is sent through the judge or a notary. A letter or a message is not enough.
My spouse won't let me back into the house — who has deserted?
A spouse who drives the other out of the matrimonial home, or prevents their return, is themselves treated as the deserter.
I left because of violence. Have I deserted?
No. Living apart with good reason is not desertion; protection orders and medical reports are the core evidence for that defence.
What if the conditions for desertion are not met?
A divorce may still be sought on the general ground of irretrievable breakdown under Article 166, where fault is assessed and affects compensation and maintenance.