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General Information and Conditions of Validity with respect to
Surety Agreements
Pursuant to TLO Art. 581, surety agreements are agreements in
which the surety undertakes to be personally liable to the creditor for
the consequences of the obligor’s non-performance of his obligation.
This agreement also imposes an ancillary obligation to the surety. The
surety agreement is concluded between the creditor and the surety. The
conditions of a surety agreement are: the existence of a valid main
obligation and a surety agreement, the intention of being a surety and
the form requirements.
These conditions are listed below:
Form Requirement
Pursuant to TLO Art. 583/1, agreements which are not concluded
in writing, and which do not bear the hand writing of the surety with
respect to the maximum amount, the date and joint suretyship in case
there is joint suretyship, shall not be valid.
Capacity for Being a Surety:
Real Persons’ Capacity for Being a Surety
Establishing a surety agreement is forbidden for minors and per-
sons with limited capacity.
Persons with a legal advisor cannot be a surety without the per-
mission or approval of their advisors.
A person who is not a surety during the period running as of the
announcement of the term given for a bankruptcy agreement is speci-
fied as an example of a situation which limits the capacity for being a
surety.
Legal Person’s Capacity for Being a Surety
The Ultra vires principle is effective for legal persons; thus, surety
agreements must serve the purpose of associations or foundations.
By stating that, “
Trading companies, pursuant to Article 48 of the
Turkish Civil Law, may take advantage of all the rights and undertake
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