Investment Arbitration and Sovereignity from a Turkish Law Perspective

Abstract

Turkey is party to many Bilateral Investment Treaties2 (“BITs”) and to the Energy Charter Treaty.3 Under these investment treaties, Turkey provides investors with a wide range of rights, such as fair and equitable treatment, full protection and security, non-discriminatory treatment, national treatment and most-favored nation treatment. In addition, under these treaties, Turkey gives its consent to a number of investment arbitration mechanisms, such as International Center for Settlement of Investment Disputes (“ICSID”) and the United Nations Commission on International Trade Law (”UNCITRAL”) for disputes arising out of alleged treaty violation claims of the investors. Investment arbitration is a relatively new concept for Turkey.