Arrested in Türkiye: the first twenty-four hours, and what decides them.

Turkish criminal procedure distinguishes between being yakalanan — apprehended and held by the police — and being tutuklu, remanded in custody by a judge. They are different stages with different rules, and confusing them is the most common reason people misunderstand their own position.

The first stage is a judicial protective measure: custody is ordered by the public prosecutor and is open to review by the sulh ceza judge — short, but not an administrative formality. A record is opened, your identity is established, and a period begins running that the police cannot extend at will. The second stage only follows if a judge decides it should, after the prosecutor has asked for it.

The clock, as the Code actually sets it

Under CMK 91, custody may not exceed twenty-four hours from the moment of apprehension, excluding the time strictly necessary to bring you before the nearest judge or court — and that transfer time may not itself exceed twelve hours.

Custody is also not automatic. It is lawful only where the measure is necessary for the investigation and there is concrete evidence indicating that the person committed an offence (CMK 91/2). Both limbs have to be there.

Where longer periods come from

For offences committed collectively, and only where the collection of evidence is difficult or the number of suspects is large, the public prosecutor may extend custody by written order, each extension no more than one day, for up to three days in total. The extension order must be served on the person immediately — and where neither ground is recorded, the extension is open to challenge.

A separate regime applies in flagrante cases for a specific list of offences (CMK 91/4), where police chiefs designated by the civil administrative authority may order custody of up to twenty-four hours — or up to forty-eight hours where the offence is committed collectively during social disturbances capable of seriously disrupting public order through the spread of violence. Both limbs have to be present for the longer period. The person must be brought before a judge within forty-eight hours at the latest, or within four days for collectively committed offences.

You can challenge the custody itself

CMK 91/5 gives a right that is routinely unused: the person held, their counsel or legal representative, their spouse, or a first- or second-degree blood relative may apply to the sulh ceza judge to secure immediate release. The judge examines the file on the papers and must conclude the application without delay and in any event within twenty-four hours.

And once someone has been released — whether because the period expired or because the judge ordered it — they cannot be apprehended again for the same act without new and sufficient evidence and a prosecutor's decision (CMK 91/6).

The statement — ifade — is not a conversation. It is the creation of a document. Months later, in a courtroom you may not be sitting in, a judge will read that document and form a first impression of you from it.

The right to silence — and its one limit

CMK 147 lists what must happen before a statement is taken. Among them: the alleged offence must be explained to you, and you must be told that not making a statement about it is your legal right. Exercising that right is not evidence of anything.

There is one limit worth knowing, because getting it wrong looks like obstruction. Questions about your identity must be answered truthfully (CMK 147/1-a). The right to silence covers the alleged offence, not your name. Give your identity; say nothing about the allegation until counsel is there.

A right almost nobody uses

CMK 147/1-f requires that you be reminded you may ask for concrete evidence to be collected in order to clear the suspicion, and that you be given the opportunity to remove the grounds of suspicion and put forward the points in your favour. CCTV that has not yet been requested, a phone record, a witness who was present — asking early, and having the request recorded, is worth far more than arguing about it a year later.

If you will not sign

The record is read by you and by counsel and then signed (CMK 147/1-i-4). Refusing to sign is a recognised position, not defiance: the Code expressly requires that the reasons for refusing be written into the record (CMK 147/1-i-5). If you cannot read what you are being asked to sign, say exactly that and have it recorded.

The right to counsel

CMK 154 is unusually clear: you may meet your lawyer at any time, without a power of attorney, in a setting where what is said cannot be heard by others, and correspondence with your lawyer may not be monitored. If you are not in a position to appoint one and want one, a lawyer is assigned through the bar association (CMK 147/1-c).

There is a narrow exception. For a defined group of offences — those defined in Chapters Four to Seven of Part Four of Book Two of the Penal Code (offences against the security of the State, against the constitutional order and its functioning, against national defence, and against State secrets and espionage), offences within the scope of the Anti-Terror Law, and drug manufacture and trafficking committed within the activity of an organisation — the right to meet counsel in custody can be restricted for twenty-four hours by a judge's decision on the prosecutor's request (CMK 154/2). The same provision states that no statement may be taken during that period. If you are told you cannot see a lawyer yet, that is also the period in which you should not be answering questions about the allegation.

The right to an interpreter

Where you cannot express yourself adequately in Turkish, an interpreter must be provided. In practice the quality of interpretation varies. If you do not understand a question, say so and have it recorded; a note that a question was not understood is worth far more later than a confident answer to the wrong question.

Notifying someone

A relative or a person of your choosing is to be informed of your apprehension. If you are a foreign national, CMK 95/2 provides that your consulate is notified of your apprehension or custody unless you object in writing. Notification is the default, not something you have to request — and if you do not want it, the objection has to be written down and recorded. Do this early — a family that knows where you are can instruct counsel; a family that does not can only wait.

• Establishes what is actually recorded. The offence written on the record decides which custody regime applies and what the prosecutor can ask for.
• Attends the statement. Presence changes how questions are put and what is written down.
• Checks the interpretation. Whether the question you answered is the question that was recorded.
• Prepares the position for the prosecutor and the judgeship, where release, judicial control or remand is decided.
• Keeps the family informed in English, so that decisions are made by people who understand them.