Personality Rights and Bodily Integrity in Non-Pecuniary Compensation

Legal Article · 12 November 2026
Av. Thomas Andreas Di Constantinople

Non-pecuniary compensation aims to remedy infringements of personality interests or bodily integrity within statutory conditions. Experiencing distress is not invariably sufficient for compensation. The interest infringed, seriousness of the event, legal basis of liability, and causal connection must be examined together.

Bodily Injury and Infringement of Personality Rights

Article 56 of the Turkish Code of Obligations permits an appropriate monetary award to a person whose bodily integrity is impaired. In serious bodily injury or death, relatives of the injured or deceased person may also claim. Relatives' claims cannot be treated as rights arising automatically from every minor injury.

Article 58 of the Turkish Code of Obligations applies to infringements of personality rights. Instead of, or in addition to, payment, the judge may consider another form of remedy, such as publication of a judgment condemning the infringement. The claim's scope and the circumstances are important to the suitability of the remedy selected.

The nature, seriousness, and concrete consequences of the infringement are considered when determining the amount. There is no general tariff automatically calculating non-pecuniary compensation as a fixed percentage of pecuniary loss. Claiming pecuniary compensation for the same event does not make non-pecuniary compensation mandatory; its necessary conditions must be established separately.

Source

Turkish Code of Obligations No. 6098, Articles 56, 58.

This article has been prepared for general legal information purposes.