Amendment of pleadings (ıslah)

Amendment (ıslah) allows a party to correct its own procedural acts without the opponent's consent. It is the main exception to the prohibition on changing the claim and the defence: raising the amount claimed, altering the pleaded facts and expanding the relief sought can all be achieved this way.

Each party may resort to it only once in the same case, and it is available until the close of the evidentiary stage, subject to paying the opponent's resulting costs. Its most common use is increasing the claim after an expert report reveals the true amount, a facility of critical importance where no indeterminate-claim action was filed.

The moment at which limitation is interrupted for the amended portion has been contested, and the risk that the period is assessed as of the amendment date makes structuring the case correctly from the outset all the more important. Bad-faith amendments attract damages and a fine.