How to search Turkish regional court of appeal (istinaf) decisions with AI (2026)

Short answer: The regional courts of appeal (bölge adliye mahkemeleri, known as the istinaf courts) have no search site of their own; published decisions are found on the UYAP Precedent Search (Emsal Karar) page and in the case-law section of the Ministry of Justice’s Legislation Information System (Mevzuat Bilgi Sistemi). If your AI assistant is connected to Yargı PRO, you can ask it to search istinaf decisions by keyword and date range, run the same query on Court of Cassation (Yargıtay) decisions, and retrieve the full text with a link to the source. Istinaf coverage is partial: an empty result does not prove that no such decision exists.

Why istinaf decisions matter#

In many disputes the regional court of appeal has the last word. Article 362 of the Code of Civil Procedure (Hukuk Muhakemeleri Kanunu) makes the istinaf decision final in cases below a certain monetary threshold and in certain listed matters, and Article 286 of the Code of Criminal Procedure (Ceza Muhakemesi Kanunu) does so for judgments below certain sentences and in listed situations; those files do not go to Yargıtay. In such a dispute, if you cannot find a Yargıtay decision, the place to look is the practice of the regional court and chamber your file will go to. Practice can also differ between regions on the same issue.

Searching the official sources, and their limits#

UYAP Precedent Search and the Legislation Information System work by keyword. Not every istinaf decision is published, and it is not known what share of published decisions enters the system. Decisions appear under the name of the region and the chamber; to see a chamber’s practice as a whole you have to open the results one by one.

What Yargı PRO covers for the regional courts of appeal#

Yargı PRO searches the civil chambers’ decisions of the regional courts of appeal with the same tool as Yargıtay decisions. This coverage is partial; do not assume it includes the criminal chambers, or every decision of a region or a chamber. Each result line shows the regional court and chamber, the docket (esas) and decision (karar) numbers, the decision date, whether the decision has become final (kesinleşme) and a passage containing your search term. You can add Yargıtay and first-instance decisions to the same search.

Decisions are in Turkish. Your AI assistant reads the Turkish text and can translate and summarise it for you; keep the search terms in Turkish.

Searching with your AI assistant#

You can write in plain language; the assistant turns your request into a search query. The basic rules of the query syntax are the same as for Yargıtay:

• Words separated by spaces work like “or”; to make each concept required, prefix it with +: +"kira bedelinin tespiti" +"emsal" (“determination of the rent” and “comparable”).
• A phrase in quotes is searched exactly; - excludes a word.
• Date range and docket/decision number are separate filters.
• In semantic search, you can choose istinaf as the court type.

Example requests:

• “Search regional court of appeal decisions since 2024 on claims for lost rent caused by late delivery of a property; flag the ones that have become final.”
• “Run the same search on Yargıtay decisions and compare the two lists.”
• “Retrieve İstanbul Regional Court of Appeal 43rd Civil Chamber decision E. 2022/1916, K. 2026/771.”
• “My file will go to the Ankara Regional Court of Appeal. Are there decisions on this issue from that region’s civil chambers?”

If you want a particular region or chamber, say so in your request; the region and chamber appear in each result line, so the assistant can filter the results accordingly.

A real search: the same query, two different result counts#

On 3 November 2026 we ran the query +"kira bedelinin tespiti" +"emsal" twice with Yargı PRO’s tools on decisions given after 1 January 2024. On regional court of appeal decisions the tool reported 15 results; on Yargıtay decisions, 88. The numbers prove nothing by themselves, but they are a reminder that istinaf coverage is partial: if an istinaf search returns few results, look at Yargıtay and first-instance decisions too.

The result lines of all of the first five istinaf decisions showed the finality status “KESİNLEŞTİ” (final). One of them:

İstanbul Regional Court of Appeal, 43rd Civil Chamber, E. 2022/1916 K. 2026/771, 16.04.2026. A unit sold under a promise-to-sell contract was delivered late, and the buyer claimed the rent it had lost. The first-instance court set this amount at TRY 57,630.15 on the basis of a court expert’s report built on comparable rents. The Chamber held that the administrative order halting construction had started and ended before the contract was signed, so it could not be added to the delivery period; it dismissed the appeal on the merits and gave its decision as final. Full text of the decision

This decision is not a rent determination case; it appears in the list because both phrases of the query occur in its text. A keyword search finds words, not subjects. Sift the results by checking in the text what kind of case each decision was given in.

What to watch for#

• Verify the citation: An istinaf citation includes the name of the regional court and the chamber number. Check every citation the AI writes against the source link. More on this: AI hallucinations and fake citations.
• Final, or open to appeal? Look at the end of the decision for “kesin olarak” (finally) or “temyiz yolu açık olmak üzere” (subject to appeal to Yargıtay). For an istinaf decision open to appeal, search whether Yargıtay reversed it.
• When nothing comes back: Because istinaf coverage is partial, an empty result does not mean the decision does not exist. Broaden the search; if necessary, check the case file itself through UYAP.
• Regional differences: A decision of one region does not bind a chamber in another. Put the decisions of the region your file will go to first.

To search Yargıtay decisions: How to search Turkish Court of Cassation (Yargıtay) decisions

Which plan?#

Regional court of appeal decisions are in every Yargı PRO plan, together with Yargıtay, Danıştay, Constitutional Court and European Court of Human Rights decisions. Search tools that return a list of results do not count against the monthly usage pool; retrieving the full text of a decision and semantic search do. The 14-day trial includes Pro access and requires no payment details. Your AI subscription is billed separately. Plans and prices: Pricing. To connect your AI: How to connect Claude, ChatGPT and Gemini to Turkish law sources