First of all, most of the share transfer agreements (STA) in Turkey are made through a joint stock company rather than a limited liability company. This is due to the fact that, under Turkish law, STA of a limited liability company must be conducted at the public notary office; however, parties are free to negotiate and conclude the STA of a joint stock company without interruption of any governmental bodies, such as public notary and/or trade registry. The Turkish commercial code and code of obligations regulate the commercial companies' activities, including the STA. Under Turkish law, registered shares of a company can freely be transferred to any third party unless otherwise provided in the articles of association of the company or a mandatory article specified in the law. For instance, in the articles of association, it can be stated that the transfer of shares requires that company’s board approval.
The transfer of shares is carried out through the endorsement and delivery of share certificates. One should note that any new shareholder must be registered in the share ledger of the company. In other words, there are no official requirements, such as public notary (unless it is a limited liability company, as explained above), endorsement or any governmental bodies involvement in the STA. Apart from that, some shareholders prefer to publish an announce of the share transfer at the official trade registry gazette, although it is not mandatory.