FIDIC is recognized as the most widely used standard form of contract for internationally procured construction projects worldwide. This also applies to Turkey, where an important portion of public investments is financed by international institutions with the provision that FIDIC based contracts are used. As public agencies who act as the employer in these projects, as well as the consultants and contractors, face the challenge of administering increasing numbers of projects on FIDIC contracts, studies show that there is a serious deficit of knowledge in the construction sector regarding these contracts and their various procedures such as used when claiming for extension of time and additional payments. This paper reports a qualitative study into comparative analysis of the rights, responsibilities and risks of contractors in the most frequently used FIDIC contracts, namely the Red (Construction), Yellow (Plant and Design Build) and Silver (EPC/Turnkey) contracts. For this purpose, the situations that raise contractor " s entitlement to extension of time and additional payment are identified based on the FIDIC contract type, and associated procedures as well as related contract clauses are identified. Results reveal the importance of the contract type in allocation of risks between the employer and the contractor. While the employer is responsible for most of the high risk contractual situations in the Red Book and the contractor is entitled to extension of time and additional payment in majority of these situations, in Yellow Book some and in Silver Book most of these responsibilities are transferred to the contractor, which results in the lack of entitlement of the contractor to extension of time or additional payment. This paper will help contractors, consultants and public agencies better understand the fundamental principles governing FIDIC contracts and protect their contractual rights in the construction projects.