What Is KAP? Why Does KAP News Matter?

What Is KAP?

KAP stands for "Kamuyu Aydınlatma Platformu", the Public Disclosure Platform. It is the electronic system on which companies listed on Borsa Istanbul, and other capital markets institutions, publicly announce information that may affect investment decisions. Its official address is kap.org.tr. The platform is operated by the Central Securities Depository of Türkiye (MKK) and has been in use since 2009.

Companies submit their announcements with an electronic signature. Every published disclosure is visible to everyone at the same time, without registration. KAP is therefore treated as the first and official source of company information. Most "KAP news" offered by news sites, brokers and data vendors is based on a disclosure that was first published on KAP.

A company's short market code is called a ticker, for example THYAO. People who search for a "KAP stock" usually want the disclosures published for one specific ticker. The ticker is the most practical way to gather all KAP announcements about one company.

What Is the Public Disclosure Platform For?

Transparency and equal access to information are core principles of capital markets. Company management is the first to know about an important development that has not yet been announced; if that information reached only some investors, the market would not function fairly. KAP is designed to reduce this information asymmetry.

The platform serves these purposes:

• It is the official channel through which companies meet their legal disclosure obligations,
• It delivers information to all investors at the same time and free of charge,
• It archives past announcements so a company's history can be followed,
• It records publication times, documenting which information became public and when.

Disclosure obligations are set by the Capital Markets Law (Law No. 6362) and the communiqués of the Capital Markets Board (SPK). For example, special-circumstance disclosures fall under the Communiqué on Special Cases (II-15.1) and financial statements under the financial reporting communiqué (II-14.1). For details see the current regulation on the SPK and KAP websites.

What Is KAP News?

KAP news is the readable, summarised and usually categorised form of company disclosures published on the Public Disclosure Platform. In everyday speech, "KAP news" and "KAP announcements" are used interchangeably. Technically, the official record is the disclosure on KAP; the news item is a secondary piece of content that presents it more clearly.

The distinction matters: a news site or social media post may lose detail when shortening or interpreting a disclosure, make mistakes or add a misleading emphasis. For certain information the original KAP disclosure should always be the reference. On KAP Bildirim every news page links to the official KAP source.

KAP announcements cover a wide range of topics: financial results, dividend decisions, capital increases, new business and contract relationships, share buybacks, management changes, lawsuits and administrative sanctions, mergers and acquisitions. KAP Bildirim groups them on category pages.

What Is a KAP Disclosure?

A KAP disclosure is a single official announcement a company publishes on the Public Disclosure Platform. A disclosure usually contains:

• The company and its ticker,
• The disclosure type (for example a Special Case Disclosure or a Financial Report),
• A title with its publication date and time,
• The text of the announcement and any attachments (tables, reports, documents).

One of the most common types is the Special Case Disclosure, which a company uses when a development may affect investment decisions. Financial Report disclosures contain quarterly and annual financial statements. Announcements on general meetings, profit distribution and share transactions are published under other disclosure types.

After publication a company may issue an additional or corrective disclosure. Corrections do not change the original publication time, so it is normal to see several disclosures on the same subject.

Why Does KAP News Matter?

KAP news contains information directly from the company about its operations and outlook, which makes it a primary source for investors, analysts and employees. Its importance rests on several points:

• Official and verifiable: the information is published under the company's own responsibility, separate from rumours and indirect sources.
• Timely: developments are often made public for the first time on KAP.
• Comparable: disclosures of the same type can be compared across companies and periods.
• Risk visibility: lawsuits, sanctions and debt restructuring are also disclosure topics.
• Historical record: the archive lets you examine how consistent a company's decisions have been over time.

Not every disclosure carries equal weight, though. A routine administrative notice should not be read with the same importance as an acquisition announcement that could fundamentally change a company's activities.

How Does KAP News Affect Share Prices?

A share price reflects investors' expectations of a company's future performance. If new information changes those expectations, the price may change too, which is why the effect of KAP news on stocks is a common question. The relationship, however, is rarely as direct as it seems.

What matters is the gap to expectations

Market participants try to anticipate most developments. If a dividend or earnings announcement matches expectations, there may be no visible move; if it deviates, a reaction may follow. The same disclosure can be met positively by one stock and with indifference by another, depending on what came before.

Other factors that move prices

• General market and sector conditions, interest rate and currency developments,
• The stock's trading volume and liquidity,
• When the disclosure is published (inside or outside trading hours),
• Other news and macro data released on the same day.

A price change observed after a disclosure therefore cannot be attributed to that disclosure alone. A price reaction is never guaranteed: some disclosures are followed by moves in the expected direction, some in the opposite direction, and some by no reaction at all. A past reaction is not a promise about a future one.

Positive and Negative KAP News

Investors often sort disclosures into "positive" and "negative". This is a useful starting point but not an absolute rule.

Topics generally perceived as positive

• New business relationships or contracts (new business relationships),
• Strong financial results (financial results),
• A dividend distribution decision (dividends),
• A share buyback programme (share buybacks),
• Capacity increases and investment announcements.

Topics generally perceived as negative

• Financial statements reporting a loss,
• Lawsuits and legal proceedings, regulatory sanctions,
• Debt restructuring and financing difficulty,
• Some structural transactions such as capital reductions or asset sales.

Interpretation depends on context. A bonus issue, for example, increases the number of shares and the price is adjusted technically; it does not by itself mean the company is worth more. A price adjustment on the relevant date after a dividend payment is also normal. A "positive KAP news" label therefore does not mean the price will rise.

How to Interpret KAP News

Interpreting KAP news takes more than reading a headline quickly. The steps below can guide a disciplined reading habit.

1. Verify the source and the time

Make sure the disclosure was published on KAP and check its publication time. The time is critical when relating a disclosure to a price move.

2. Understand the type of disclosure

Is it a routine notice or a development affecting the company's structure? A headline alone may not be enough; read the text.

3. Read the figures and conditions

Details such as contract value, duration, preconditions and approvals determine the real weight of the information. "An agreement was signed" is not the same as "talks for an agreement have started".

4. Compare with the company's size

A small amount can be immaterial for a large company and decisive for a small one.

5. Read it together with earlier disclosures

A company's past announcements, commitments and outcomes provide context. On company pages you can see a stock's disclosures on a timeline.

6. Do not rely on a single disclosure

Consider financial statements, sector conditions and your own risk tolerance together. If needed, seek help from a licensed investment adviser. The content on this page is educational and not investment advice.

Where to Follow KAP News

There are several ways to follow KAP news. In all of them the principle is the same: reach the original disclosure whenever possible.

• Official site: on kap.org.tr you can search by company, ticker or disclosure type.
• Brokers and data platforms: many institutions also present KAP disclosures in their own interfaces.
• News sites and newsletters: they give a quick summary; comparing it with the source disclosure is a good habit.
• KAP Bildirim: view disclosures in one feed by category and ticker without registering, and use search.

If you do not want to check constantly, setting up alerts for specific stocks or categories saves time. We cover this below.

AI Analysis of KAP News

KAP disclosures are long, technical and numerous. Artificial intelligence can help manage this volume by classifying and summarising them. KAP Bildirim keeps two separate layers:

• Content assessment: for some disclosures an AI-assisted assessment (such as positive, negative or neutral) is shown. It is not the company's statement, it is labelled separately from the KAP source, and it can contain errors.
• Measured market reaction: for some disclosures the price change at 5, 15, 30 and 60 minutes after publication is measured and displayed. These values are observations; they do not prove that the move was caused by the disclosure. Out-of-session disclosures and windows with missing price data are left blank; no value is invented.

On each disclosure the official statement, the AI assessment and the market reaction are shown separately, so readers can tell which information comes from the source and which from analysis. The method is described on the Methodology and Sources page.

Follow Current KAP News with KAP Bildirim

KAP Bildirim is an independent information service that groups company announcements published on KAP into 22 categories. It is not an official service of the Public Disclosure Platform or MKK. No registration is needed to browse. Current KAP news appears below, on the all disclosures page and on the category pages.

If you want email or in-site alerts for specific stocks or categories, you need to register and verify your email. Alerts are off by default; you choose which stocks and categories to follow and can switch them off at any time.

Frequently Asked Questions

More questions about KAP news → · Methodology and sources →