Turkey Requires English Disclosures from 1 October

What Happened

The Capital Markets Board published the decision in its weekly bulletin, widening the scope of English-language use in material event disclosures.

Scope widened

The requirement previously applied only to companies in the first group under corporate governance rules. From 1 October it covers all listed companies.

Simultaneous publication

Disclosures must appear in English at the same time as the Turkish version. There is no option to add a translation afterwards — a point that reshapes the internal process rather than merely adding a task.

Liability stays with the issuer

Companies remain responsible for the accuracy of the English text. A disclaimer stating that the Turkish version prevails must be included, but this does not transfer liability.

Six weeks to prepare

Companies newly brought into scope are expected to complete technical and operational preparation by 1 October. For a firm starting from nothing, that window is short.

Why It Was Introduced

This is not an isolated compliance step. It responds directly to how Turkey’s market has been assessed internationally.

The index provider criticism

In earlier assessments of the Turkish market, the adequacy of English-language disclosure practices was raised as a shortcoming. The regulation targets that criticism specifically.

Speed of access, not just availability

The aim is not translation as such. Publishing both languages together allows foreign investors to reach company disclosures faster and in a standardised form.

Delay is a pricing disadvantage

When a disclosure appears in Turkish and its English version follows a day later, foreign readers learn the information last. In a traded market that becomes a measurable inequality.

Standard precedes quality

The regulation does not assess how well the text is translated. It requires every company to release the same information at the same moment, which is what makes comparison possible.

Who This Affects, and How

The rule binds listed companies directly, but its effect travels down the chain.

Those positioned well

Companies already producing English disclosures face no change and no preparation cost. Firms with established investor relations functions can treat the measure as a visibility opportunity: the same disclosure now reaches a wider audience simultaneously.

Those exposed

Smaller listed companies newly in scope face a genuine burden in building technical and operational capacity within six weeks. Companies without an investor relations function will depend on external providers for every disclosure — which sits uneasily with a simultaneity requirement.

Those not directly affected

Private companies fall outside the obligation. They meet the same expectation through a different channel, however: their buyers and partners also look for English-language information.

The indirect chain

Translation, investor relations and content providers face a new wave of demand. Suppliers to listed companies should also expect rising documentation standards to reach them.

What to Do About It

If you are in scope, the calendar is tight. If you are not, the measure still marks a threshold.

Build a process, do not buy translations

Commissioning an external translation for every disclosure is both slow and expensive. Preparing templates for recurring disclosure types reduces the turnaround on repeat content to minutes.

Create a terminology list

Where the same concept is rendered differently across disclosures, readers perceive inconsistency. A company-specific glossary closes that risk from the outset.

If out of scope, ask the same question

How much of your business can a foreign buyer, partner or supplier understand in English today? The obligation does not bind you, but the expectation is moving in the same direction.

Update corporate information first

Field of activity, capacity, certifications and contact details. These four are what an external party checks first, and in most companies they are either missing or outdated.

The Digital Side

The technical response to this regulation is a publishing architecture question rather than a translation one. Confusing the two raises both cost and delay.

Simultaneity requires infrastructure

Publishing two languages at once means content managed from one place and pushed to two outputs. A process run by copying between systems fails on the first busy day.

Site and disclosure must agree

Where the company name, activity description or product naming differs between a disclosure and the website, credibility erodes. That consistency comes from a glossary, not from attention.

An English page is not a translated page

Foreign readers look for information in a different order: activity and scale first, then management, then financial position. A literal translation of the Turkish page does not meet that sequence.

Visibility is a separate task

English content that is not technically marked up as a distinct page produces no result in search. Corporate English content infrastructure addresses both sides together.

A Solid Digital Foundation

The time to 1 October is short. But the real question is not meeting the date — it is running a sustainable process afterwards.

One-off compliance creates permanent load

A temporary fix built only to meet the deadline requires manual intervention on every disclosure. Six months later that becomes a hidden staffing cost.

Technical foundation and search visibility

Correct markup of language versions determines which content is served to which audience. Google’s criteria are set out in the Search Central documentation.

Obligation arrives disguised as opportunity

Hundreds of companies must now do the same work. The gap between doing it minimally and producing genuinely readable English will determine who foreign counterparties take seriously.

The threshold rose for private companies too

As the market’s English standard rises, every company below it looks dated by comparison. Digital consulting treats this as the new baseline for corporate visibility.

Frequently Asked Questions