For a debtor who has received a payment order, or a creditor who wants to collect a receivable, the first question is often practical: Which enforcement office is the file in, which building is that office in, and to which account is payment made? Because the structure of enforcement offices in Istanbul has changed in recent years, office names on old notifications may no longer correspond to anything today. In this article we bring together, as of October 2026, the information on the official website of the Istanbul Courthouse and the relevant provisions of the Enforcement and Bankruptcy Law (İİK).
The enforcement office and the enforcement court are not the same place #
The enforcement office (icra dairesi, or enforcement directorate) is the administrative unit that conducts the proceedings: it sends the payment order, carries out attachment and sale, and pays the collected money to the creditor. The civil enforcement court (icra hukuk mahkemesi), on the other hand, is the judicial body that hears complaints against these acts, requests for the removal of an objection and similar disputes; the criminal enforcement court tries the offences under the İİK. An objection to a payment order is made to the enforcement office; a claim that an act is unlawful is raised before the enforcement court.
Enforcement offices at the Istanbul Courthouse: the Çağlayan Additional Service Building #
Following the provision added to the İİK by Law No. 7343, Enforcement Offices Directorates have been established in places with a heavy workload. According to the Istanbul Courthouse’s website, the jurisdiction of the Istanbul Enforcement Offices Directorate includes the following:
- Istanbul 1st–14th and 18th–37th Enforcement Offices (34 enforcement offices)
- Istanbul 1st, 2nd and 3rd Bankruptcy Offices
- Istanbul Real Estate Sales Enforcement Office, Bank Receivables Enforcement Office and Subscription Contracts Enforcement Office
- Gaziosmanpaşa Enforcement Office as an attached (mülhakat) enforcement office
All of these offices, except the Gaziosmanpaşa Enforcement Office, operate in the Istanbul Courthouse Additional Service Building in Çağlayan; the Gaziosmanpaşa Enforcement Office is in the Gaziosmanpaşa Courthouse Additional Service Building. The additional building also houses the enforcement offices’ front office and the document scanning and distribution offices.
The enforcement directorates attached to the Bakırköy, Küçükçekmece and Istanbul Anatolian (Kartal) courthouses are listed on the “Enforcement Directorates” pages of these courthouses’ official websites; for other courthouses, too, the website of the courthouse concerned should be checked. You can find which district falls within the judicial district of which courthouse on the Istanbul courthouses and their districts page.
Closed former enforcement offices and their new counterparts #
If old notifications or file covers mention the Beyoğlu, Eyüp, Fatih, Sarıyer or Şişli enforcement office, these offices have been closed and their files transferred to Istanbul’s numbered enforcement offices. The correspondence published by the Istanbul Courthouse is as follows:
| Closed office | Office to which the files were transferred |
|---|---|
| Beyoğlu 1st Enforcement Office | Istanbul 32nd Enforcement Office |
| Beyoğlu 2nd Enforcement Office | Istanbul 35th Enforcement Office |
| Beyoğlu 3rd Enforcement Office | Istanbul 34th Enforcement Office |
| Beyoğlu 4th Enforcement Office | Istanbul 21st Enforcement Office |
| Beyoğlu 5th Enforcement Office | Istanbul 20th Enforcement Office |
| Eyüp 1st Enforcement Office | Istanbul 25th Enforcement Office |
| Eyüp 2nd Enforcement Office | Istanbul 28th Enforcement Office |
| Eyüp 3rd Enforcement Office | Istanbul 22nd Enforcement Office |
| Fatih 1st Enforcement Office | Istanbul 18th Enforcement Office |
| Fatih 2nd Enforcement Office | Istanbul 37th Enforcement Office |
| Fatih 3rd Enforcement Office | Istanbul 33rd Enforcement Office |
| Sarıyer Enforcement Office | Istanbul 19th Enforcement Office |
| Şişli 1st Enforcement Office | Istanbul 24th Enforcement Office |
| Şişli 2nd Enforcement Office | Istanbul 26th Enforcement Office |
| Şişli 3rd Enforcement Office | Istanbul 27th Enforcement Office |
| Şişli 4th Enforcement Office | Istanbul 29th Enforcement Office |
| Şişli 5th Enforcement Office | Istanbul 23rd Enforcement Office |
| Şişli 6th Enforcement Office | Istanbul 31st Enforcement Office |
| Şişli 7th Enforcement Office | Istanbul 36th Enforcement Office |
| Şişli 8th Enforcement Office | Istanbul 30th Enforcement Office |
For a transferred file, the docket number given by the new office is used; a payment or petition made with the old number may be recorded in the wrong file. You can find the new number through a UYAP or e-Devlet query or from the office’s front office.
In which enforcement office can proceedings be brought? #
- In proceedings without a judgment, İİK Art. 50 refers to the jurisdiction rules of the HMK: the enforcement office of the debtor’s place of residence (HMK Art. 6) and, for a receivable arising from a contract, of the place where the contract is to be performed (HMK Art. 10) has jurisdiction. The enforcement office of the place where the contract on which the proceedings are based was concluded also has jurisdiction.
- In proceedings based on a judgment, enforcement of a court decision may be requested from any enforcement office (İİK Art. 34).
- An objection to jurisdiction is made together with the objection to the debt and is decided first by the enforcement court (İİK Art. 50/2).
An important convenience for the debtor is in İİK Art. 62: an objection to a payment order may also be filed with an enforcement office other than the one conducting the proceedings; that office collects the cost and forwards the objection immediately to the competent office. In this way, a debtor living in Istanbul can object in time to proceedings in another city through the enforcement office where he or she is located. For the seven-day time limit for objection and its consequences, see our article on objecting to enforcement proceedings.
File number and file query #
The payment order shows the name of the enforcement office and the file number in the form “2026/1234 Esas”. The current status of the file, the amount of the debt and the steps taken can be viewed, with identity verification, in two ways:
- Enforcement file query via e-Devlet
- UYAP Citizen Portal
The query is open only to a person who is a party to the file; third parties cannot access file information in these ways.
To which account is payment made? The official source of IBAN details #
Payments into an enforcement file are made not to the personal account of the creditor or their lawyer but to the official account opened in the name of the enforcement office; in proceedings based on negotiable instruments, the payment order also contains a warning that the debt must be paid into the bank account of the enforcement office (İİK Art. 168). Each office has a separate deposit account (for debt payments) and fee account.
The account and tax numbers of the offices attached to the Istanbul Courthouse are published on the “Enforcement and Bankruptcy Offices Bank Account and Tax Numbers” page of the courthouse’s website. This article deliberately does not include IBAN numbers: the numbers may change and a payment made to the wrong account is not recorded in the file. When making a payment, writing the office name, the file number and the debtor’s name in the description, and submitting the receipt to the office or the file after payment, ensures that the collection is recorded correctly. Care should be taken with people who ask by phone or message for payment into a personal account; account details should always be confirmed from the official page or from the office itself.
In enforcement proceedings with an amount of up to 56.250 TL, the attorney’s fee is the fixed fee of 9.000 TL in the tariff and cannot exceed the principal receivable; if the debtor pays within the payment period, three quarters of the fee applies (AAÜT Art. 11). For details, see our article on the Minimum Legal Fee Tariff 2025-2026.
Contact details #
The telephone numbers of the enforcement and bankruptcy offices attached to the Istanbul Courthouse are on the “Enforcement and Bankruptcy Offices Contact Details” page; the enforcement directorates of other courthouses are listed on their own websites. Because the numbers change from time to time, they are not repeated here.
For closing a file and salary attachment, see our articles on how to close an enforcement file and how to lift a salary attachment.
