Violation of the right to be heard as an obstacle to the recognition and enforcement of foreign judgments

The right to be heard consists of several different rights which ensure that the parties are able to have an influence on the decision to be made about their case, and it is a fundamental principle of the procedural law, that represents the essence of the legal proceeding. The right to be heard; requires the parties to obtain information about the case, to be able to make explanations and for these explanations to be considered by the courts. The right to be heard is an important procedural right; it is protected under the Constitution of the Republic of Turkey and the European Convention on Human Rights. Therefore, foreign court decisions rendered in violation of the parties' right to be heard cannot be allowed to have any effect in Turkey. The basic regulation and conditions regarding the recognition and enforcement of foreign judgments in Turkish law is stipulated in the Law No. 5718 on International Private and Procedural Law. Making use of comparative law; our study deals with this regulation, and it deals specifically with the right to be heard as a condition for recognition and enforcement of foreign judgments in Turkey. Through evaluation of the existing regulation and examination of various court decisions, our study proposes suggestions for both the correct understanding and improvement of the law.