Dr Can Eken
Partner
London
Locations
United Kingdom
Our London base supports international arbitration, UK–Türkiye matters and cross-border coordination, drawing on counsel qualified in the relevant jurisdictions.

From London, we support international arbitration, UK–Türkiye and UK–Northern Cyprus matters, and the coordination of cross-border work, drawing on counsel qualified in each relevant jurisdiction, so every question is handled within the legal system that governs it.
For clients and families connected to the United Kingdom, London is the natural point to align advice across borders: recognition and enforcement of judgments and awards, private-client coordination, and the management of instructions that run through more than one legal system.
Partner
London
Director of Legal & International Coordination
London

When a Türkiye–UK dispute is brought before courts in both countries, neither is obliged to give way. Turkish courts do not treat a pending English case as lis pendens, while English courts may order a party to stop Turkish proceedings brought in breach of a London arbitration or jurisdiction clause. The outcome usually turns on the clause, on where each party can be reached and on what is done in the first few weeks.

A confirmed Turkish concordat binds creditors in Türkiye, but under the rule in Gibbs it does not discharge a debt governed by English law. For Turkish companies with English-law loans, bonds or guarantees, a restructuring that holds in both countries usually needs an English-law mechanism alongside the Turkish one, and evidence that each order will be recognised where the assets are.

Since 1 August 2025, English law has applied a new statutory rule to the law governing arbitration agreements. In Türkiye–UK contracts, the seat, the institution, the law of the clause and the route to enforcement against assets in Türkiye now need to be decided together, at the drafting stage.

English law now allows qualifying electronic bills of lading to perform legal functions traditionally dependent on possession of paper. In Türkiye–UK trade, however, the carriage contract, the electronic document, proprietary rights in the cargo, the delivery obligation, the financing structure and the P&I position may still engage different legal regimes.

A loss arising in Türkiye may be insured under Turkish law and reinsured through the London market under English law. When the loss reaches the reinsurance layer, the decisive questions may concern governing law, settlement authority, aggregation, allocation and arbitration rather than the underlying insured event itself.

In cross-border fraud, the first question is often not where to sue but where the money went. Funds move through accounts, jurisdictions, structures and substitute assets before a claimant has organised the file, so the legal response must protect evidence, trace assets, create pressure and preserve recovery options before value moves beyond reach.