General Terms and Conditions within the Scope of Turkish Law of Obligations and Their Application Regarding Merchants

General terms and conditions, which we can refer to as standard contracts, appear frequently in everyday life such as electricity, water, and natural gas contracts, bank loan contracts, transportation contracts, insurance contracts, and many others. The general terms and conditions are regulated in the Turkish Code of Obligations No. 6098 (“TBK”) and stipulating that the interpretation and content of the relevant provisions will be subject to control. However, no specific framework has been delineated regarding the application scope of these provisions for individuals. The applicability of general terms and conditions, particularly concerning merchants, has led to various debates in doctrine and resulted in divergent practices among the Chambers of the Supreme Court. Within the scope of this article, the definition of general terms and conditions and the criteria to be considered regarding whether general terms and conditions will be applied to merchants will be examined in light of doctrinal opinions and case law of the Supreme Court.