Business world complains code leads to ‘fake divorces’

KONYA - Anatolia News Agency

The new business code requires the approval of both spouses for economic matters.

The business world has recently seen a number of false divorce cases due to a law affecting the loan guaranty system, Nail Oplak, chairman of the Independent Industrialists’ and Businessmen’s Association (MÜSİAD), said yesterday, calling for an urgent change in the code.

The current system is turning the wives and husbands of businesspeople into “finance managers,” Oplak told journalists in the central Anatolian province of Konya. “For every loan application written, the consent of the borrower’s spouse is required. This [practice] will shift the family structure of the society,” he said.

An article in the new Code of Obligations, which was enacted as of June 1, requires the written consent of both spouses to act as guarantors, and has since become the subject of controversy in the Turkish business world. Some businessmen say asking the written consent of their wives to act as a guarantor every time slows the pace of trade and leads to red tape and quarrels between spouses.
“We had pledged that [this regulation] would be corrected, but there is talk of fake divorces in the business world,” Olpak said.

Olpak is not alone in complaining about the practice, which leads businesspeople to be dependent on their spouses for loan guaranties.

Many renowned businesspeople have complained about the code, Mansur Özdoğan, a vice president of the Young Turkish Businessmen’s Association (TÜGİAD) Ankara branch, said yesterday. While praising many conveniences that came with the new Code of Obligations, Özdoğan said there are many problems regarding the practice of requiring spousal consent. His association has received many complaints from businessmen, who have had a hard time getting the consent of their wives to act as guarantor, Özdoğan said.

“This article has begun to create problems in families. This makes us anxious for the future, because these problems have arisen although it has only been two months since the enactment of the new code. This article, which aims to protect a family’s economic assets, may instead cause the dissolution of families. Many renowned businessmen complain about it as well, because consent is needed even for letters of credit,” he said, calling for changes to the regulation.

Ankara University Law School’s Şebnem Akipek agrees that the code is problematic.

“The article protects the economic assets of the family, but there are problems in practice, and it seems to continue to create problems. We may impose a limit depending on our ways of life,” said Professor Akipek, adding that this may partially solve the problem.