The key facts

  • The ICSID tribunal on October 26, 2026 dismissed all claims by the Turkish claimants against Uzbekistan
  • The dispute, which began in June 2021, lasted more than five years and was based on the 1992 bilateral agreement
  • The decision is final for the parties; a dissenting opinion by one of the arbitrators is attached to it

Tribunal dismissed all claims

On October 26, 2026, the arbitral tribunal of the International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID) issued a decision in the case brought by Turkish citizen Mehmet Zeki Obuz and others against the Republic of Uzbekistan. According to the Ministry of Justice, all claims brought by the claimants against the republic were dismissed. This was reported by Gazeta.uz, Kun.uz and Zamon.uz. The tribunal's decision is final for the disputing parties.

The essence and course of the dispute

The investment dispute arose on the basis of the bilateral agreement between Uzbekistan and Turkey on the mutual promotion and protection of investments, signed in 1992. The case was initiated in June 2021 and lasted about five years. Three Turkish citizens — Mehmet Zeki Obuz, Sevde Yilmaz and Huriye Obuz — as well as the Turkish company Obuzlar Gıda, which is being wound up, filed claims with the arbitration. The dispute was related to a food industry enterprise. As Gazeta.uz notes, it is not known from open materials which specific measures of Uzbekistan the claimants challenged or what amount they sought; the Ministry of Justice also did not clarify the content of the claims or the amount claimed.

How the case was heard

The tribunal was constituted in February 2022, and hearings on the merits of the claims took place in Washington from July 1 to July 10, 2024. Uzbekistan's interests were defended by the Ministry of Justice and the international law firm Curtis, Mallet-Prevost, Colt & Mosle (USA), which opened its office in Tashkent in November 2025. In the ICSID registry, the case is marked as concluded; according to the registry, a dissenting opinion by one of the arbitrators appointed by the claimant's side is attached to the decision. The texts of the decision itself and the dissenting opinion could not be found in open sources — Gazeta.uz points this out.

Context and Uzbekistan's series of victories

Kun.uz links the decision to a series of recent successes for Uzbekistan in disputes with Turkish investors: in October 2024, ICSID dismissed the claim of the company Bursel Tekstil for approximately 700 million dollars, and in 2019, in the Güneş Tekstil case, about 90% of the claims were dismissed. The outlet also recalls the claimant's background: according to a 2007 publication by the newspaper «Halq so'zi», Mehmet Zeki Obuz was sentenced in Uzbekistan to 16 years of imprisonment for evasion of customs payments, VAT and excise tax, misappropriation and embezzlement of budget funds, and other crimes. He arrived in Uzbekistan in 1995, became one of the founders of the JV «Sundus», and in 1998 — its general director.