In Turkish law there is only "sole custody" and term "joint custody" does
not exist. Right of non-custodial parent is limited to visitation rights which
is arranged by the Court in most cases together with divorce verdict.
However if things are not going well for the child, custody can be turned
over to other parent (which is not very usual). To contest custody there
is no specific grounds but every case is considered individually. So as to
turn over custody to non-custodial parent, it should be proven in the
court that prospect of the child is bleak at the moment and non-custodial
parent's having the child under his/her custody will be much better for the
child. The Spouse who marries the custodial parent does not have any
right over the child even after custodial parent's demise. In such cases
non-custodial parent has the custody, not the spouse. Frankly, a foreign
parent has less of a chance in getting the custody of a Turkish Child
especially if taking the child to out of Turkey is planned. In fact there is
no relevant law about this but most judges will consider this action not
beneficial for the child and therefore will decree to give custody to the
counterpart if s/he is Turkish . Custodial parent have to obey the
visitation rights which are declared in the verdict and allowed to refuse
permission for any other undeclared visits or calls. This part of the verdict
can be modified by another lawsuit if necessary. This also includes the
cases in which no visitation right was granted by the divorce verdict. I
hope this helps.