Defence of extinctive prescription

The rules relating to the extinctive prescription (statute of limitations) are to be found in the Turkish Code of Obligations, a part of the Turkish Civil Code, Arts 146 – 161. The extinctive prescription grants the obligor an exception. Turkish court precedents and scholarly opinions are in agreement that the extinctive prescription gives rise to a defence of substantive law, rather than a procedural defence, which causes the court to refrain from hearing the merits of the case. However, the extinctive prescription is such a powerful defence that, if the court upholds the defence there remains nothing else to discuss on the merits. That is to say, as the obligor does not have to perform in any case, the court shall dismiss the case due to the extinctive prescription without entering into the merits. This characteristic of the extinctive prescription gives rise to a number of procedural issues such with respect to the time limits, being considered ex officio by the court, etc. This book, an essay of master of laws is dealing with those issues.