This is the English version of a Turkish article. The original, with further detail and linked petition templates, is at e-Devlet ve UYAP: Hukuki İşlemlerinizi Takip Etme Rehberi.
The most common cause of losing a right in legal proceedings is not knowing that a document has arrived or that a period has started running. Most of that information is now available online — and one rule matters above all: electronic notification is deemed served at the end of the fifth day after it reaches your address, whether or not you have opened it.
This article sets out which task belongs to which channel and what to watch for.
The National Judiciary Citizen Portal
The Ministry of Justice's national judiciary information system is the electronic backbone of the courts. Members of the public can log in to the citizen portal with e-government credentials.
What can be done there:
- Viewing the files to which you are a party. Civil, criminal, administrative and enforcement files.
- Finding hearing dates.
- Examining documents on the file. Expert reports, interim decisions, service details.
- Filing petitions. Electronic filing is possible for some steps.
- Paying fees and expenses.
- Following the procedural history. A chronology of the steps taken in the file.
A practical point: once an expert report is served, the two-week period for objecting runs. Checking your file regularly lets you see the report arrive early and prepare.
Checking Enforcement Files
Finding out whether enforcement proceedings exist against you is one of the enquiries most often needed.
The e-government portal's enforcement file enquiry service shows the files in which you are a debtor: the file number, the enforcement office, the creditor, the amount, the status of the file and the steps taken.
Why does this matter? Because service may have been made at your address as registered in the population system while you no longer live there. Service is then valid and the periods run.
So: check for enforcement files a few times a year, and particularly after a change of address.
If you find one: look at the date the payment order was served; if the period for objecting has passed, consider whether the service was irregular and whether to complain to the enforcement court.
Auction notices concerning you can also be followed through the electronic auction portal.
Electronic Notification
The national electronic notification system operates under Article 7/a of the Notification Act.
Service must be made electronically on the persons and bodies the Act lists: public institutions, lawyers, notaries, mediators, court experts and capital companies.
The critical rule: electronic service is deemed to have been made at the end of the fifth day following the day it reached the addressee's electronic address.
In other words, even if you do not read it, it counts as served at the end of the fifth day and the periods start running.
So: check your account regularly and keep your notification settings (text message, e-mail) switched on.
Individuals outside the compulsory scope may also obtain an electronic address voluntarily, which prevents notifications from being missed.
Other Enquiries
Documents obtainable through the e-government portal and often needed in legal matters:
- The judicial record certificate. Issued instantly and valid before official bodies.
- Population register extracts and certificates of residence.
- Land registry information. Your own property and the encumbrances noted on it.
- Vehicle and driving licence information, traffic fine enquiries and payment.
- The record of insured employment. The basic document for establishing service and for retirement planning.
- Tax debt enquiries.
- Applications for a certificate of inheritance (through a notary).
- Trade union membership transactions.
- Complaints to public bodies and following them up.
Credit risk reports and credit scores can also be viewed through the national credit bureau's service; checking once a year helps you notice incorrect entries early.
What to Watch For
1. Viewing online is not service. Seeing the file on the portal is not enough to start the periods; as a rule they run from the date of service. But the date you learned of something matters where irregular service is alleged.
2. Not every document appears. Files subject to a confidentiality order and some criminal investigation documents may be restricted.
3. Beware of fraud. Do not click links in messages saying “your e-government password has been compromised” or “proceedings have been brought against you”. Official bodies do not ask for passwords through links.
Always make enquiries by going to the official portal yourself.
4. Do not share your password. Transactions made with your e-government credentials are treated as yours; sharing them creates serious risk.
5. Keep your address current. The whole system rests on the address registered in the population system being up to date. Do not neglect to notify a change of address to the population directorate.
Electronic service is deemed made at the end of the fifth day after it reaches your address — whether or not you have opened it. Keep your notification settings on and check the account regularly; the periods run from that deemed date, not from the day you read it.