Öz
The crime of fraud is regulated in article 157 of the tenth chapter titled Crimes Against Property of the Turkish Penal Code numbered 5237. According to this clause, fraud refers to “deceiving a person with fraudulent behavior and gaining a benefit to oneself or another, to the detriment of such person or another.” It is controversial whether or not silence could constitute a fraudulent behavior for the purposes of the crime of fraud. In the legal literature, there are scholars who think it is not possible as much as those who argue that this is possible. Even if not all silence, the silence, which appears in the form of omission of a legal obligation to disclose, may constitute a fraudulent behavior for the purposes of the crime of fraud. This obligation may stem from law, contract or a non-contractual trust relationship, or the good faith principles. It should be noted that all contractual relationships, trust or good faith principles should not be interpreted as rules providing such a general obligation to disclose. Here, a balance must be established between the freedom of contract, practices stemming from commercial customs and daily life relations, on one hand, and the requirement that such principles and practices should not be considered as a ground for a freedom to deceive others or an open check to deceive others, on the other hand.