Protection of investor as a consumer in terms of investment services and activities

The primary objective of this research is to review whether the investors that make use of investment services and activities can be considered "consumers" under the Law No. 6502 on Consumer Protection, dated November 7, 2013 or not; while discussing the extent of protection for the investors that are considered consumers. Within this context, firstly, the mechanisms provided by the capital market regulations on the protection of the investors' rights are examined, and the weakness of them, which are ineffective to protect the investors' rights, is identified. Secondly, it is revealed that which investors can be considered consumers among investors that are classified as professional and general according to customer classifications. Finally, the extent to which the consumer protection regulations are able to be applicable to the users of the investment services and activities once regarded as cunsumer, are put forward. Within this context, for the investors that can be considered consumers, assessments related to applications of regulations on the unfair terms, the defective services and the responsibility for defective services, the distance contracts on financial services, the commercial advertisements and announcements, and the jurisdiction of the consumer courts and the consumer arbitration committee are given.