Speakers

Başak Abidin

legal director, Toros Tarım San

Başak Abidin, received her undergraduate degree from the Faculty of Law at Istanbul University and her graduate degree from the Department of Economics Law at Galatasaray University. Abidin completed her law internship at Nurol Holding International Law Department. After studying in England for a while, she worked at Öz&Öz Law Firm for the first four years of her legal career. Abidin continued her career at TTNET since 2011 and as a Senior Lawyer at Türk Telekomünikasyon between 2015 and 2019. Within Türk Telekom Group, she took part in the processes including establishment and structuring of domestic and foreign companies, M&A, start-up and strategic investment projects, compliance with capital market regulations, corporate legal processes of capital companies and partnerships, shareholder change. Başak Abidin, who joined Toros Tarım in June 2019, currently serves as the Legal Director of Toros Tarım / TEKFEN Agri Industry Group.

Furkan Akıncı

,

Oguzhan Arslan

head of commercial legal, Türkiye & Adriatics (non-EU), Microsoft Corporation

Oguzhan Arslan is a principal corporate counsel for Microsoft Central, Eastern Europe, Middle East and Africa (“CEMA”); part of Corporate, External and Legal Affairs (“CELA”) team. During his 10+ years tenure at Microsoft, he first assumed responsibility for providing support to Microsoft Türkiye on commercial legal matters, mainly focusing on strategic agreements, IP, privacy and digital crimes. In 2018, he joined Microsoft’s Middle East and Africa HQ organisation and providing an extensive legal support around responsible use of Artificial Intelligence, privacy, digital transformation, strategic partnerships and while leading the commercial legal function for Microsoft Türkiye. In 2023, he joined CEMA regional commercial legal team and became the Head of Commercial Legal for Türkiye and Adriatic countries. Prior to Microsoft, he worked in automotive and FMCG industries as an in-house legal counsel between 2006 and 2013. Oguzhan holds LL.M. degree and currently based in Istanbul, Turkey.

Adem Aslan

Member of the 3rd Civil Chamber, Court of Cassation

Zeynep Ayata

PhD, assistant professor and Jean Monnet Chair,

Dr Zeynep Ayata is assistant professor and Jean Monnet Chair. She holds a BA in Philosophy, Politics and Economics from the University of Oxford, an LLB from Université Paris 1 Panthéon Sorbonne and an LLM from College of Europe (Bruges) and a PhD in private law from the University of Ankara. Her research interests are European Union law; European and Turkish competition law; law and economics; law, technology, innovation, and digitalisation. She has been a visiting scholar at the Max Planck Institute for Innovation and Competition, at the British Institute of Comparative and International Law and a visiting researcher at the Cambridge University Centre for Law, Medicine and Life Sciences in 2019. She was a review panel member for COST Action for two years. She is currently conducting a Jean Monnet Action funded by the EU Commission and a research project funded by the Scientific and Technological Research Council of Turkey. She has also worked in three research projects on social enterprises funded by the British Council, the European Union and the World Bank.

Dr. Çiğdem Ayözger Öngün

Founder and managing partner, SRP-Legal

Nazan Diri Bal

partner, Diri Sevi Mergen

Diri Bal mainly specialises in corporate law, mergers & acquisitions, IT & data protection and competition law – with a significant experience in advising both local and international investors. She has excellent knowledge of regulated sectors and their needs, as well as a strong background in drafting and reviewing a broad range of contracts related to complex transactions. Her experience includes advising companies in different sizes and sectors ranging from insurance to life sciences. Now with a total of 18 years of experience, she led teams in a remarkable number of deals and also advised finance institutions in connection with complicated loan transactions and securities.
She is also a trusted advisor on daily business matters of companies with a deep knowledge of regulations and practice. She is described by her clients as being a great communicator, a pleasure to work with and always responsive, as an exclusive winner of Client Choice Awards 2022 for Corporate Governance.
She worked at Birsel Law Offices for more than a decade, which was one of the oldest and top tier law firms in Turkey. She was also a lecturer at Istanbul Bilgi University, School of Law for 8 years and a national representative of Turkey at International Client Consultation Competition.

Bahadır Balkı

managing partner, ACTECON

Bahadir Balki is the managing partner of ACTECON and the head of competition practice. He holds an LLM degree in European economic law from Europa-Institut at Saarland University, and is admitted to the Istanbul Bar Association.
Bahadir is known for his excellent work discipline and his compelling and effective defences. He has been involved in virtually every significant cartel and abuse of dominance investigation launched by the Turkish Competition Authority (TCA). Of late, Bahadir Balki has successfully represented clients in various full-fledged TCA investigations in matters related to no-poach, e-commerce, online platforms – digital advertising, automotive, soft-drinks, consumer electronics, eyewear and lenses, FMCG, chemicals, fertilisers, transportation, media auditing, iron and steel, corporate banking – syndication loans, cement, port services, poultry, and reinsurance/coinsurance.
Clients have also benefited from Bahadir’s extensive experience in global merger transactions. These transactions have occurred in a variety of industries, including aviation, e-mobility, rail industry, digital music distribution, non-metallic and composite materials, chemicals, accommodation services, pharma, payment services, insurance, eyewear and lenses, electrical car/lithium-ion batteries, titanium dioxide, crop protection, iron and steel, FMCG, hygiene products, machinery, and port services/ro-ro transportation.
Beyond successfully leading leniency applications, he contributed to the creation of the first precedent in the Turkish competition law practice in which a leniency applicant may obtain immunity even if the nature of the violation is not considered a hard-core cartel by the TCA. He further led the team during the investigation against the Circle of Five, as a result of which the TCA concluded that there is no jurisdictional effect in Turkey and thus it did not impose any administrative fine on the basis of the effects doctrine. He also led one of the first commitment offerings to the TCA that successfully terminated an abuse of dominance investigation into Turkey’s leading online flower marketplace. Additionally, he successfully assisted to the soft-drinks giant in the abuse of dominance case, which was closed with the commitments.
He is recognized and called upon for his expertise by many antitrust institutions. He was invited to the ICN’s annual meeting as a resource person to speak on remedies, commitments and cooperation. He is a lecturer in the corporate ethics and compliance management programme organized by the Ethics and Reputation Society of Turkey. He is the co-author of ‘Merger Control in the EU and Turkey – A Comparative Guide’, published by WoltersKluwer.
This book, which draws on Bahadir’s wide-ranging experience in multinational transactions, presents for the first time a description and analysis of the relationship between the EU and Turkish merger control law and practice.
Bahadir has been selected by Global Competition Review and WWL as one of the world’s highest ranked competition lawyers (2015-2023).

Bilge Baykurt

Information security and privacy governance manager, Paycell

Selahattin Bilgen

CEO, Istanbul Airport

Selahattin Bilgen was born in 1981. He completed his undergraduate studies at Bilkent
University in 2003, followed by an MBA at Boğaziçi University. He is married with two children.
He has been appointed by the Board of Directors as the new CEO of iGA Istanbul Airport in September 2023, while continuing his role as the Chief Financial Officer of the companies established under iGA Istanbul Airport since January 2018. Prior to being the CFO of the airport, he worked in the fields of Corporate Banking, Corporate Finance, and Project Finance from 2003-2018 and served as the Finance Coordinator of Cengiz Holding, as well as the Executive Director of UniCredit Türkiye Financial Advisory, and the Corporate Project Finance Director of Yapı Kredi Bank.
Bilgen, who undertook important roles in the provision of financing and refinancing for the
iGA Istanbul Airport project, largest project financing in Türkiye to date, was listed among the
’50 Most Influential Financial Leaders of Türkiye’ by BMI Business School and DataExpert in 2022.
Furthermore, he is leading the establishment of related group companies, enhancing their
operational capabilities and setting key corporate functions such as Finance, Budgeting, Financial
Reporting and Planning, Revenue Management, Accounting, Contract Management, Taxation and
Insurance.

Okan Çan

Partner, attorney at law, Deris Attorney

Okan Can counsels market-leading companies in the protection and enforcement of IP rights. His expertise extends to IP litigation, strategy, transactional intellectual property, technology licensing, data privacy and publicity rights.
Mr Can has achieved notable results in IP disputes and has represented: a leading technology market player in an extensive project to license and litigate its technology; a multinational firm in complex multi-jurisdictional IP litigation, in which he achieved one of the highest compensation awards for an IP conflict in Turkey; and a multinational tobacco firm during the acquisition of the IP assets of a Turkish state monopoly,In 2016 the Turkish Patent and Trademark Office invited Mr Can to participate in and work on the commission established for the preparation of the current IP Code of Industrial Property, which is in force since 10 January 2017. He was also invited to participate the IP Commission for preparation of the related chapter at 12th State Development Plan.
Mr Can was the first Turkish attorney to be selected for the International Trademark Association (INTA) Board. Mr Can was also nominated to be the first member from Turkey of the Global Intellectual Property Alliance (GLIPA), as created out of the United States IP Alliance. He is listed in the IAM Patent 1000, Managing Intellectual Property’s IP Stars, The Legal 500 and the WTR 1000 (2016 through 2023) in the gold tier for litigation and enforcement. In 2022. He has recently been selected among World Leading IP 300 strategists by IAM.
Mr Can was selected as Patent Litigator of the Year: Biotech by LMG Life Sciences accross EMEA Region

Tuna Çolgar

Partner, Erdem & Erdem

Tuna Çolgar is a partner at corporate affairs department of Erdem & Erdem. He has deep experience in a variety of corporate matters including national and multijurisdictional complex M&A, investments, joint ventures and share transfer transactions.
He focuses on corporate structuring including M&A, international commercial contracts, the spin offs, option rights and group company managements. He also specialises in cross-border strategic business transactions project finance, structured finance, acquisition finance, privatisations and private equity investments.
He advises and coordinates all aspects of energy projects including drafting and negotiating EPC and its supplementary contracts. Including FIDIC and ICC contracts, he provides advice on the drafting of a variety of national and international contracts. He is also experienced in advising, drafting and negotiating agency and distribution contracts and cross-border representation agreements.
He is also the leader of the Gulf Countries Desk of the firm. He advises companies active in the Arab states of the Persian Gulf in their transactions such as forming franchise, distribution and agency relationships between the investors from Türkiye and Gulf countries.

Serra Coral

Partner, attorney at law, Deris Attorney

Serra Coral is managing partner of Deriş Attorney-At-Law Partnership. She has implemented a number of progressive litigious strategies that have significantly advanced IP practices.
Fluent in French and English, Ms Coral is regarded as an international and local expert in the establishment of industrial and IP rights for companies. She also has experience in the granting and tracking of licences. An active litigator in numerous fields, including IT, media, advertising, competition and telecoms, Ms Coral advises renowned brands in the food and beverage and consumer sectors. Ms Coral has been recognised for her expertise in filing strategies, genericness and litigation.
The highlights of Ms Coral’s career to date include: contributing to a landmark court decision regarding unfair competition and trademark protection, which was published in the International Trademark Association’s (INTA) Annual Review; leading notable consumer brand cases for anti-counterfeiting and customs representation with multi-jurisdictional conflicts associated with trademarks and patents;counselling patent litigation for 3D-printing technology; andrepresenting a leading pharmaceutical and chemical company in patent litigation.
Ms Coral, as managing partner, strives to excel in her leadership skills and has been selected as an INTA Leadership Committee member.
She has pioneered the building of the mentoring system and career path for Deris lawyers, which aims to help the team to succeed personally and set career goals. Ms Coral is a mentor to many associates in this programme, as a certified coach. She has implemented a balanced scorecard system that integrates client satisfaction with process and productivity.
Ms Coral is listed in IAM Patent 1000 and WTR 1000 and recognised by leading individual by LEGAL500 and IPSTARS. She was listed amongst the Top 250 Women in IP by Managing Intellectual Property in 2023. She has been awarded by the Women in Business Law Awards for Trademark Lawyer of the Year.

Kaan Demir

Partner, Namlı Kayum Demir

Kaan Demir specialised mainly in merger and acquisitions, corporate governance and litigation. He has been actively advising foreign and local investors and assisting them in their transactions.
Kaan Demir has numerous experiences in advising clients on cross- border and local transactions, joint ventures, private equity investments, strategic investments on a wide range of sectors including but not limited to with media, e-commerce, retail, manufacturing and energy. His experience covers all aspects of the transactions starting from the due diligence phase to structuring, contract drafting, and negotiating the terms of the transaction documents, as well as rendering day to day advice on all types of corporate law related matters. He has been involved in some of the significant merger and acquisition projects in Turkey in the above listed sectors.
He also acts as a litigator, representing clients in complex commercial disputes and provides assistance to his clients in all fields of dispute resolution.

Eren Dündar

Senior associate, head of governmental affairs department, regulation department and real estate department , Kılınç Law & Consulting

Eren Dündar has gained experience in the fields of dispute resolution and litigation, governmental license and permit process follow-up, real estate law, commercial law, malpractice law, and education law throughout his career and has specialised in execution of litigation processes, creation and follow-up of processes from the application of licenses and permits to their conclusion, management of the preparation processes of administrative contracts and tenders, preparation of all kinds of commercial contracts and execution of negotiation processes.

Prof. Dr. H. Ercüment Erdem Erdem & Erdem

Founder and senior partner, Erdem & Erdem

Prof. Dr. H. Ercüment Erdem is the founder and senior partner of Erdem & Erdem. He has more than 35 years of experience in international commercial law, M&A, banking and finance, privatisations and arbitration. He serves international and national clients in a variety of industries including energy, construction, finance, retail, real estate, aerospace, healthcare and insurance.
He is one of the most distinguished M&A attorneys in Turkey and abroad. He specialises in domestic and cross-border mergers and acquisitions, as well as the formation of private equity funds such as venture capitals, venture loans, and buy-out funds, in ongoing activities and investment transactions.
He has considerable experience in complex M&A, having represented bids and targets, public and private corporations, private equity funds, and leveraged acquirers throughout his career. He is a commercial law professor lecturing in leading universities such as Galatasaray University in Turkey and Fribourg University in Switzerland.
Prof. Dr. H. Ercüment Erdem, who is also one of the world’s leading arbitration lawyers, is the Chair of ICC Commercial Law and Practice Commission and a member of the ICC Court of Arbitration, ICC Institute Council, ICC Incoterms Expert Group, ICC Turkish National Committee Arbitration Council and a member of several ICC task forces.

Dr. Duygu Erten

PHD, Boğaziçi University

Duygu Erten has been working at Boğaziçi University, Sabancı University, Koç University, İstanbul Teknik University and Medipol University as an Associate Professor. She mainly works on sustainability and climate change as a professional focusing on the integration of sustainability into professional practice to address changing environmental, social, and economic conditions ethically and responsibly and as an academics in architecture and construction management and she create courses in multidisciplinary topics around sustainability in AEC sector.
She has a deep expertise in adaptation and mitigation dedicated to developing sustainable built environments. Her academic career is focused around sustainable design and construction management. She is an accredited Living Building Challenge expert as well as many other green business/building certifications . She bridges sectors and disciplines to make climate proposals actionable.
She completed her BS degree in Civil Engineering from Boğaziçi University in İstanbul and received MS and Ph.D. degrees from Rutgers University in USA in Civil and Environmental Engineering. While working for AECOM and BOVIS Lend Lease in their Los Angeles offices, Dr. Erten lectured as an Adjunct Faculty at USC. She later completed the executive program at Harvard University on Leadership in Sustainability. She served as the City Director of İstanbul for Clinton Foundation as C-40’s implementation partner.
She has been teaching sustainability related courses at several Universities with ENVISION and LEED metrics. She served as the Vice Director of İKLIMER between 2018-2022 -a research center working on climate change research at İMU and served as the Chairwoman of Climate Change, Energy and Health Program. Her research interests are green design, construction and standards, circular economy, sustainability and resilience in the built environment and green finance.

Necip Fazıl Kaymak

vice president, Presidency of the Republic of Türkiye Finance Office,

Baran Gen

Partner, Gen Temizer Ozer

Baran Gen is one of the founding partners of Gen & Temizer | Özer and the co-head of the M&A, Corporate and Private Equity service line. She has experience for over 20 years handling the full range of corporate/M&A transactions. She has represented clients in a wide range of sectors, in particular in the oil and gas, media, retail, real estate, retail, banking and energy sectors. Baran has acted on various M&A transactions for both domestic and international investors, ranging from small and mid-cap to big-ticket transactions, including on leveraged buy-outs and leveraged recaps.

Bilal Gezer

Partner, Firat Gültekin&Partners Law Firm

Bilal Gezer, who graduated from the Dicle University Faculty of Law in 2010 and joined Fırat Gültekin & Partners Law Firm the same year, is currently working as the Executive and Bankruptcy Unit Director (Managing Partner). He started Maltepe University Private Law Master’s Programme in 2021 and is still continuing this programme. Subject of ‘Internet Domain Names Conflicts and Resolution Mechanisms’ was chosen as the thesis topic.
As a consequence of the training he underwent at TOBB UYUM (Mediation and Dispute Resolution Center), he is entitled to be an arbitration arbitrator before TOBB UYUM.
Gezer provides legal support and advocacy services with his expertise in all kinds of business and disputes arising from enforcement and bankruptcy law, such as the follow-up and collection of receivables, execution of concordat and bankruptcy processes, and the representation of clients before institutions and courts in cases arising from enforcement and bankruptcy law.
He earned his Trademark and Patent Attorney license in 2011. With more than 10 years of experience in the profession and his expertise in Intellectual and Industrial Rights Law, Gezer provides all kinds of legal support to his clients in areas such as applications for the registration of trademarks, patents, utility models, designs; stopping infringement on intellectual and industrial property rights; following a processes of legal cases such as sequestration, pecuniary and non-pecuniary damages, unfair competition; and conducting investigation and prosecution within the scope of combating counterfeiting.

Ali Goksu

Chairman and chief legal concept designer, New Mind

Having legal experience of over fifteen years, Av. Dr. Goksu has been heavily involved in corporate and commercial law, international commercial arbitration, international banking law, energy law, privatizations, construction and real estate law. Also, Av. Dr. Goksu has a strong education background including Post Doctorate, Columbia University, New York, USA Ph.D., Norwich Law School, Univ. of East Anglia, in connection with Wayne State University, and Michigan, USA LL.B. He provided legal consultancy on all sorts of legal issues, advising on the merits of Turkish Law to high profile local and international corporate clients, reporting the legal risks in the respective areas of law and negotiating, drafting, reviewing and executing complex legal documents. He has also lectured at numerous universities including Istanbul Technical University, Koc University, and Istanbul Sehir University on a broad range of legal issues.

Ziya Fırat Gültekin

LLM Partner, Firat Gültekin&Partners Law Firm

Ziya Fırat Gultekin is the founder of Fırat Gültekin & Partners Law Firm, one of Turkey’s leading law firms known for its quality, innovative services in the fields of Turkish Commercial and Corporate Law, Enforcement Law, Labour Law, and Intellectual Property Law.
During his career as a lawyer, Gultekin has provided legal consultancy and advocacy services to many public institutions and organisations and private sector companies, including listed companies. He has represented companies in audit, management, and general assemblies; resolved complex disputes for the leading companies in the market; participated in the negotiations of many commercial contracts such as those for export, construction, share transfer, share pledge, sales, distributorship, service, dealership, license, brand transfer and financial leasing required by the contracts of its client companies. Apart from this, he has provided consultancy services to companies with his strategic studies and commercial point of view in many areas such as commercial responsibility, the responsibility of employees and managers, the resolution of disputes between partners, and the implementation of commercial decisions.
Gültekin completed his master’s degree in Economic Law at Galatasaray University Faculty of Law. He has served as a lecturer at many universities and academies, and has given seminars on his fields of expertise to non-governmental organisations operating in the commercial field and businessmen’s associations.

Başak Gürbüz

Regional head of legal, Visa

Başak Gürbüz graduated from Ankara University Law Faculty in 2004 and had her LL.M degree in Ankara University in 2005 on commercial law by focusing on intellectual property and competition laws along with.
After completing her internship in Kasaroğlu and Yazıcı Law Firms in Ankara, she worked in Bayındır Holding temporarily and then moved to İstanbul in 2006, beginning her career in Pekin & Bayar Law Firm. She focused on corporate and real estate laws in the firm and after two years of service, she continued her career in Gün +Partners where she worked for eight years and headed the advertising and media Law department; also focusing on Intellectual Property and Data Privacy.
After leaving private practice in 2015, she became the Legal and Compliance Director at The Walt Disney Company and worked there for 4.5 years. In 2020, she joined the Visa Legal team as Regional Counsel looking after 9 countries in the South- Eastern Europe cluster. Currently, she is the Lead Regional Counsel for South Europe cluster at Visa, focusing on 5 countries including Turkiye

Engin Güvenç

Founder and managing director, SVS Türkiye

She initiated the establishment of the Business Council for Sustainable Development (BCSD), the Turkish branch of the World Business Council for Sustainable Business (WBCSD) and served as the Secretary General for about 10 years. Since 2013, she has been independently consulting, mentoring and coaching on establishing a sustainability management system, developing the competencies of management teams in this field, forming teams and social capital management in order to develop the Sustainable Development approach in organisations. Her sub-fields of work include change management, business development, talent acquisition and development, executive coaching, management of VUCA environments, creation and alignment of sustainability teams, stakeholder dialog and integration. Güvenç has been working with local and international organizations for more than thirty years and holds a certificate from ADLER International Coaching School.
She graduated from Istanbul University, Department of Business Administration. In her previous professional experience, Ms. Güvenç has 17 years of experience in service and project sales, business development, marketing and has worked mainly in IT and Technology, International Trade and Airline industry. He studied finance and marketing in the UK for a year, followed by training on fundraising, business development and sponsorship management in the US in 2002.
She is a founding member of BCSD Turkey and a former member of the Corporate Governance Association of Turkey (TKYD) and the Integrated Reporting Council (IIRC).

Eşref Hamamcıoğlu

board member, Sütaş Group

After graduating from Galatasaray High School and continuing his education in France and the United States of America, the successful career journey of HAMAMCIOĞLU began in 1981 at Tekfen Group. HAMACIOĞLU, who undertook various managerial positions in the agriculture, foreign trade and construction businesses of the company for 11 years.
In 1992, HAMAMCIOĞLU acted as the founding General Manager of Sodexho, the world’s largest food & beverage and integrated service management company based in France, during its entry to the Turkish market and served as the CEO of Sodexho Turkey for 20 years.
HAMAMCIOĞLU, who currently serves as the independent board member of Sütaş Süt Ürünleri San. and Tic. A.Ş., is also providing professional advisory services through Optimal Yiyecek İçecek Hizmet Çözümleri A.Ş. and UP Hizmet Yönetim Danışmanlığı Ltd. Şti. founded by him.
In addition to the successes he has achieved in his working life, HAMAMCIOĞLU is carrying out activities based on economy and promotion between Turkey and France, both under the French Chamber of Commerce, of which he was the president for 2 years, and TÜSİAD, of which he is an active member.

Dr. Esra Hamamcıoğlu

Associate professor, commercial and company law department, Kadir Has University Faculty of Law

Dr. Esra Hamamcıoğlu is a faculty member in Commercial and Company Law Department, in Kadir Has University Faculty of Law. She is the author of ‘Company Contract in Limited Liability Family Owned Companies’, and co-author of ‘Joint Stock Company General Assembly Meetings’, and Negotiable Instruments Law, commercial law books. Her main interest areas are Commercial Enterprise Law, Partnership Law, and Intellectual Property Law

Mr. Mehmet Fatih Kacir

Minister of Industry and Technology,

Prof. Dr. Ali İhsan Karacan

Former chairman, Capital Markets Board of Türkiye

Ali İhsan Karacan was born in 1951 in Ceyhan/Adana. He completed his primary and secondary education here. He entered A.Ü. in 1968. He graduated from the Faculty of Political Sciences in 1973. Later, in 1984, I.U. He graduated from the Faculty of Law. He completed his doctorate at IU Faculty of Economics in 1978; He became an associate professor in 1988 and a professor in 2018.
Sworn Bank Auditor at the Ministry of Finance (1973-1981); Deputy general manager at Yapı ve Kredi Bankası (1981-1986) and T. Garanti Bankası (1986-1989); In addition to serving as chairman, officer and member of the boards of directors of T. Garanti Bank and many companies within the Doğuş Group, he managed the administrative and financial affairs of the group (1989-1993). He served as Chairman of the Capital Markets Board between 1994 and 1997, and received the best bureaucrat award in a survey conducted by Economist Magazine in 1995. Between 1998 and 2005, he served as chairman, officer and member of the boards of directors of Çukurova Holding and Yapı Kredi Bank and many affiliated companies. Board member of Doğan Holding and group companies between 2006 and 2013; He served as a board member at Fenerbahçe Futbol A.Ş. between 2015 and 2018.
He served as a faculty member at Istanbul University (1985-1999) and Istanbul Commerce University (2018-2021); He gave master’s and doctoral courses at Marmara University Banking and Insurance Institute.
He wrote columns for Dünya, Akşam and Vatan newspapers and the Gazeteport website. He has published more than twenty copyrighted and translated books and many academic articles on Economy, Finance, Banking and Capital Markets.

Hande Karakülah

Legal and scientific director, diversity, equity and inclusion country leader, data privacy officer, L’Oréal

Born in 1978, Hande Karakulah is a graduate of Ankara Atatürk Anatolian High School and Istanbul University Faculty of Law. Having completed her master’s degree in European Union Law, Hande started her legal career in 2001 at Şanver & Esin Law Firm. Later, he worked as a freelance attorney at ADMD Law Firm, of which he was a partner, and as a legal consultant in British American Tobacco Turkey, and then worked as the chief legal counsel in Turkey, Middle East and Africa region of Natura&Co, of which Avon is also a part, for 10 years. Hande is currently working as the legal and scientific director and diversity equity and inclusion coutnry leader and data privacy officer for L’Oreal Turkey.
Throughout her career Hande had multiple roles mostly in legal departments of multinational companies. She had a chance to specialise on marketing and regulations; labour relations and operations; contracts and commercial matters. As her role progresses to oversee all legal matters of the companies she worked for in all the countries she covered, she had an opportunity to handle all legal matters ranging from corporate housekeeping to IP litigation; M&A to ethics and compliance.
She is a member of the Centre for Economics and Foreign Policy Studies, SES Equality and Solidarity Association and the Transparency Association, and a volunteer of the Bir Adım Var Foundation. Hande strives to be a supporter of all kinds of progressive, civic initiatives, especially those related to women, just as she strives to be a good mother to Alp and a good companion to all her loved ones.

Barış Karakullukçu

Next Gen Entrepreneurship President, Türkiye İş Bankası

Dr. Argun Karamanlıoğlu

Assistant professor, commercial and company law department, Kadir Has University Faculty of Law

Dr. Argun Karamanlıoğlu is a faculty member in Commercial and Company Law Department, in Kadir Has University Faculty of Law. He is the author of, ‘Representation of Shareholders in General Meetings by Proxy’ and one of the co-authors of ‘Commercial Enterprise Law’, commercial law books. His main interest areas are Business Enterprises Law, Company Law, Negotiable Instruments Law, Capital Market Law, and Digitalisation of Commercial Law.

Begüm Kayum Ağar

Partner, Namlı Kayum Demir

Begüm Kayum Ağar, is the founding and managing partner of Namlı | Kayum | Demir Attorney Partnership. As one of the youngest Turkish lawyers to qualify for admission to the New York State Bar Association, Begüm Kayum Ağar, practices law admitted to both the New York State Bar Association and Ankara Bar Association. Begüm Kayum Ağar, specialised mainly in merger and acquisitions, litigation, employment, real estate, e-commerce and data protection law. She also focuses on corporate restructuring and bankruptcy law. Begüm Kayum Ağar, has significant experience representing international and local clients from a variety of sectors in their corporate transactional needs. She advises market leader companies in their strategic investments on a wide range of sectors including but not limited to with maritime, construction, telecommunication, e- commerce, retail, manufacturing and transportation. Her transactional experience in the United States and Turkey allows her to provide a particular business-oriented approach to clients during their litigation and arbitration process. She is also experienced in advising international and domestic clients on corporate law matters such as company formations, corporate governance, share transfers, capital increases, and due diligence processes. In addition, Begüm Kayum Ağar, has a great deal of experience in E- Commerce, Data Protection and Privacy Law and Consumer Law advising sector leaders in both their compliance programs as well as their electronic transaction processes and payment systems. Begüm Kayum Ağar, is also a lecturer at Yeditepe University and teaches US Corporate Law.

Muharrem Kazak

Partner, Mustafa TırTır Law Firm

Muharrem Kazak is one of the partners of Mustafa Tırtır Law Firm. He enrolled in Bahçeşehir University Faculty of Law in 2008. After completing his English preparatory education at California State San Bernardino University, he returned to Istanbul and completed his law education. Continuing his profession as a lawyer registered with the Istanbul Bar Association, Atty. Muharrem Kazak is also continuing his master’s education at Marmara University. Atty. Muharrem Kazak provides legal services to our domestic and foreign clients with criminal law disputes.

Niyazi Koça

Expert global diversity and inclusion, HUGO BOSS

Niyazi was born in 1978 and grew up in Izmir. He completed his high school education at İzmir Karşıyaka Anatolian High School. He graduated from Ege University, Faculty of Textile Engineering.
He started his career at HUGO BOSS Izmir in 2002, where he worked as a specialist in the Pre-Production and Organisational Development departments, and continued as a leader in the Training and Organisational Development and Human Resources departments.
Throughout his career, he has led and consulted many organisational transformation projects, including human resources transformation and production organisation restructuring. He has also worked as an internal trainer in his area of expertise.
He led the ‘Disability’ workstream, one of the employee resource groups under the framework of Diversity and Inclusion at HUGO BOSS Global.
Koçak, whose special interests are accessibility and inclusive design, has been working as the Expert for Diversity and Inclusion at HUGO BOSS Izmir since April 2022

Onur Küçük

Managing Partner, KP Law, Türkiye

Onur Kucuk is Managing Partner of the firm. He leverages his professional and personal skills to be an
inspiring leader for over 55 lawyers and specialists at KP Law.
With 25+ years of experience, Onur is a valued strategic legal advisor to multinational companies listed in
Turkey and abroad. He is a skilled negotiator with proven record of strong leadership.
Onur concentrates his practice on corporate and commercial matters, particularly public and private
mergers and acquisitions, private equity transactions, corporate restructuring and reorganization, and
asset and share deals. He also acts as a strategic partner in all legal aspects of the sale and purchase of
non-performing loans, debt structuring and distressed asset investments.
He is trusted by top executives to advise on critical projects and large-scale, cross-border transactions. He
counsels leaders, multinationals, and investors across many sectors, particularly banking and finance,
manufacturing, technology, media and telecommunications (TMT), fintech, retail, e-commerce and real
estate.

Özlem Kurt

Managing partner, Kurt & Partners

She graduated from Marmara University Faculty of Law in 1999 and completed the Master Program in
Comparative International Commercial Law at London Metropolitan University.
She worked at REKAB, a Competition Law and EU Relations firm, with Assoc. Prof. Dr. Nurkut İnan
(2004-2007). During her time there, she actively participated in legal compliance processes, managed
compliance programs, and provided services to domestic and international clients in their applications
to the Competition Authority (“CA”). She conducted competition analysis in Company Merger &
Acquisition projects and managed the application processes.
From 2007 to 2018, she served as the Managing Partner of the Istanbul Office at Ç&Y Law Firm, an
internationally active law firm. She actively managed corporate law, corporate finance projects, IT law,
and specialized legal compliance services.
Since 2018, as the Managing Partner of Kurt & Partners Law Firm, she leads a team of 22 professionals
providing full-service legal support to both domestic and foreign companies. Kurt & Partners offers
legal consultancy and attorney services to client companies it has been working with for many years,
in accordance with international standards and competencies. Within its international legal networks
and collaborations with well-known law firms worldwide, it provides comprehensive and international
services to client companies.
Özlem Kurt specializes in providing legal compliance consultancy in various sectors, offering legal
services in the fields of technology and IT law, and providing strategic consultancy. She offers legal
compliance services in all areas subject to regulatory legislation. She also has extensive experience in
corporate governance and has regularly requested the application of international corporate
governance rules to Turkish subsidiaries of international companies. She provides support in the
restructuring of acquired and merged companies’ management and participates in all negotiation
processes.
Lastly, she works in the field of sustainability, including data protection, privacy, and environmental
law, and provides training and consultancy services to companies.

Mehmet Kutman

Chairman and CEO, Global Investment Holdings

Mr. Kutman is a founding shareholder, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Global Investment Holdings. Actively involved in business development at the Company level, I:vlr. Kutman also serves on the boards of directors of several of Global Investment Holdings’ operating subsidiaries and affiliates, including Global Port Holdings, Ege Ports, Port Akdeniz, Bod.rum Cruise Port, and energy sector companies involved in natural gas distribution, power generation and mining.
Mr. Kutman also served on the board of directors of Alarko REIT (Alarko Gayrimenln.11 Yatmm Ortakhgi A. .), a BiST listed real estate investment trust. He is a member of TUSIAD (Turkish Industry & Business Association) and DEIK (Foreign Economic Relations Board).
P1-ior to founding the antecessor to the Company in 1990, Mr. Kutman was Project Manager at Net Holding A. ., a Turkish corporate group involved in tourism and other related sectors, from 1989 to 1990. Between 1984 and 1989, he resided in the United States, where he served as Vice President at North Carolina National Bank, Sexton Roses Inc. and Philip Bush & Associates. Mr. Kutman holds a BA (Hons.) from Bogazi<;:i University and an MBA from the University of Texas.
Mr. Kutman plays a vital role in Yale’s Brain Tumor Research, a program which aims to gain further understanding on the formation of brain tumors and development of improved therapies, as well as various cancer research activities worldwide through the Gregory M. Kiez and Mehmet Kutman Foundation.

Esma Gül Nalbantoğlu Kocaman

Vice president legal, Mastercard

Esma Gül Nalbantoğlu Kocaman is the legal head for Eastern Europe countries at Mastercard, where she has demonstrated exceptional leadership for the past nine years. Prior to her role at Mastercard, Ms. Kocaman gained her legal expertise during a distinguished nine-year tenure at top-tier law firms in Turkey. She is an alumna of Istanbul Bilgi University, holding a Master’s degree in Business Law from the same institution. Ms. Kocaman actively contributes to fostering diversity and inclusion, she shows her commitment to this as a mentee candidate under the Woman on Board Association’s programme. Her extensive legal background and commitment to professional development make Ms. Kocaman a valuable asset in the corporate landscape.

Fırat Namlı

Partner, Namlı Kayum Demir

Fırat Namlı is a partner at Namlı | Kayum | Demir Attorney Partnership and head of our Dispute Resolution practice. He is also specialised in Corporate Commercial, Labour and Employment, Data Privacy and Competition law and is a licensed mediator registered with the Republic of Turkey, Ministry of Justice.
Fırat Namlı represents clients in legal disputes related to their investments involving commercial, company and liability in civil law actions. He has extensive experience across a broad range of court actions for creditors, seizures, liens, insolvency cases and bankruptcy proceedings. Fırat Namlı has represented clients before national courts in commercial litigation, IP disputes, unfair competition, employment law litigation, insolvency, bankruptcy and liability law. In addition, he has in-depth experience in advertisement regulations in sectors such as healthcare, pharmaceutical, education, cosmetics, tobacco and alcohol.
Fırat Namlı has a strong academician background. He is currently pursuing his Ph.D. from Ankara University for Civil and Private Law. Prior to that, he served as the Deputy Faculty Secretary at Çağ University School of Law and Research Fellow at Eastern Mediterranean University School of Law.

Mustafa Nihat Zincirlioglu

Head of legal and compliance, Samsung

After graduating from Law School, Mustafa got master’s degree in Private Law, Labour and Social Security Law with thesis. After working as a freelance lawyer and labour law expert for a while, he began to work in energy sector leading corporate companies and holdings as in-house legal counsel and manager. Currently, he works as head of legal and compliance of Samsung Electronics Türkiye Production Plant since its establishment.

Orhan Öğe

Board member, Information Technologies and Communication Authority

Merve Öney Barlas

Head of legal and compliance, Turknet

After graduating from Saint Joseph High School, Merve Öney Barlas continued her undergraduate education at Galatasaray University Faculty of Law and started her career at Dentons Law Firm, an international law firm. After working there for nearly four years, he moved to New York for graduate education and completed his Master of Laws at Columbia Law School. Barlas then moved to Washington D.C. and worked at Criterion Economics, and simultaneously prepared for the New York Bar Exam. After returning to Turkey, he worked as a lawyer at Hergüner Bilgen Üçer Law Partnership, then as chief legal officer at Mapfre Sigorta and finally at DgPays.
Merve Öney Barlas, who is currently registered with both the New York and Istanbul Bar Associations, will contribute to TurkNet with her knowledge and experience in the field of law and compliance in her new position in the management team.

İbrahim Onur Baysal

Partner and capital markets leader, Erdem & Erdem

İbrahim Onur Baysal is a partner and capital markets leader at Erdem & Erdem. He spent more than 10 years of his career at the Capital Markets Board and worked as legal expert and chief legal expert in various departments.
He has experience in capital markets transactions, company and financial institution reviews and audits, public regulations, mutual funds, collective investment undertakings, stock exchanges, corporate governance, M&As, rights and protection of minority shareholders and other stakeholders, disclosure requirements, sell-outs, squeeze-outs, capital increase/decrease, financial crimes and corporate compliance
He advises national and multinational companies operating in various sectors on their projects seeking financing through capital markets and restructuring. He has extensive experience in corporate matters and specialises in finance, joint ventures, M&A, supply, manufacturing, procurement, intellectual property, dealership/distributorship, agency and contract manufacturing agreements, particularly in the automotive sector.
He also participated in various working groups with both national and international public entities regarding regulation of capital markets, transposition of EU regulations, Islamic finance, sustainable finance and prevention of corruption.

Halim Özgün Alemdar

Legal affairs and compliance, ICA

In 2005, he started his career in Izmir and has been practicing in Istanbul since 2008. Following his experience in the telecommunications sector, he worked as a freelance lawyer and advised many foreign capital companies in the media, e-commerce, fuel, pharmaceutical, and retail sectors. Since 2015, he has been working as legal director and compliance officer at Yavuz Sultan Selim Bridge and Kuzey Çevre Highway.

Pinar Parlak-Koyuncu

chief legal counsel, GE HealthCare Turkiye, Iran and Central Asia

Parlak-Koyuncu holds a Bachelor’s degree from İzmir Dokuz Eylül University Faculty of Law from where she graduated in 1997, as well as a Master’s degree in Business Administration in English from Izmir University of Economics. She is a licensed Trademark Patent Attorney and a mediator. She is also a certified Mediation Lawyer at IMI (International Mediation Institute).
Upon completing her legal internship at Birsel Law Offices, which was one of the leading law firms of Turkey, she continued her successful career as a lawyer, legal manager, legal and compliance director, as well as senior executive and leadership roles in multinational companies. Throughout her 25 years of experience, she undertook high level responsibilities in companies operative in FMCG, construction, energy, cement, tobacco, automotive and healthcare sectors. She has also worked as a lecturer and assistant general secretary at Yaşar University. She still continues to work on joint projects in co-operation with student clubs of law faculties in order to shed light on law students with her experiences.
Throughout her career, she has witnessed the development and transformation of companies she worked at, and has acted as legal leader in essential transactions including merger, acquisition and demerger projects of many international companies. Currently, she is the Chief Legal Counsel of GE HealthCare Turkiye, Iran and Central Asia.

Ali Şir Yardım

,

Turhan Talu

former managing director, Philip Morris International

Talu, who started his career in the field of marketing at İzmir Turyağ A.Ş. / Henkel KGA in 1976, worked for 10 years in various positions in the company’s sales and marketing departments, 3 years of which were at Henkel KGA’s Headquarters in Düsseldorf, Germany.
In 1986, Talu joined the Turkey subsidiary of Philip Morris, a US-based global company, as Marketing and Sales Director, and became the company’s first Turkish General Manager in 1992. TALU, who has achieved many corporate successes such as the establishment of the company’s sales and distribution operations, its rise to first place in market share, and the establishment of a production facility in Torbalı / Izmir in partnership with Sabancı Holding, also carried out studies in the process of establishing regulations regarding the tobacco market.
Talu’s career journey with Philip Morris Turkey continued in Switzerland at Philip Morris International, where he served for 8 years as the Vice President responsible for Turkey and the Middle East-Gulf countries.
At Philip Morris, where he worked for 24 years, Talu most recently served as Philip Morris/Sabancı General Manager and Board Member, responsible for Turkey, Iran and Northern Cyprus.
After completing his career at Philip Morris, Talu served as an independent board member in Yaşar Holding A.Ş., Pınar Entegre Et ve Un Sanayi A.Ş and Pınar Su Sanayi ve Ticaret A.Ş. for 5 years from 2011 to 2016.

Begüm Taşçioğlu

Responsible business specialist, Garanti BBVA

She has been graduated from Koç University department of International Relations and Business Administration and completed her master degree at University van Amsterdam in Political Economy. She previously worked at prestigious companies as a sustainability consultant and she has been working at Garanti BBVA for two years as a responsible business specialist in sustainability department . She specialises on working on greening the finance industry and building a more inclusive banking sector.

Özlem Tavaslıoğlu

Legal director, Migros Ticaret

Ms. Tavaslıoğlu has been working in Migros Ticaret for more than 22 years. She has extensive experience in the retail sector and provides competition law assistance particularly in that field. She conducts numerous significant M&A transactions, investigations and competition compliance policies while monitoring closely the Retail Sector Analysis, Digitalisation and Competition Policy negotiation processes of the Competition Authority.

Mustafa Tırtır

Partner, Mustafa TırTır Law Firm

Atty. Mustafa Tırtır graduated from Istanbul University Faculty of Law in 1999. Atty. Mustafa Tırtır has been in criminal law for over 24 years. While continuing his profession, Mustafa Tırtır completed his master’s degree with his thesis on the control of communication at Istanbul Ticaret University. Also, He is in the thesis phase of his doctoral studies at Istanbul Medipol University. In addition, he gave lectures at Istanbul Medipol University Vocational School of Justice. He has nearly 30 articles in the field of criminal law. He gives training on criminal law on various platforms. Mustafa Tırtır, with his distinguished team in his office, provides services to local and foreign clients, especially in the field of corporate crimes and white-collar crimes.

Fevzi Toksoy

PhD, managing partner, ACTECON

M. Fevzi Toksoy, PhD is an EU Law specialist and also an economist with master degrees from Istanbul and Brussels (ULB) on European Union law and economics and a PhD in EU Competition Law. Mr. Toksoy is concentrated in EU and Turkish competition laws and international trade remedies. He is the founding partner of ACTECON and offers solutions to clients in competition investigations, merger clearances and preventive competition compliance programs.
He has broad experience in customs union based issues such as parallel trade, customs duties and anti-dumping. He contributed in a variety of anti-dumping investigations conducted in different industries (steel, pipes, HR Steel, ball bearings, polyvinyl alcohol, skid chains, Color TVs, Air-conditioners, Automotive tires, zippers, textiles, glass fiber) by Turkish and other anti-dumping authorities (EU, USA, India, Indonesia, Singapore, China, The Gulf Cooperation Council).
After 1997, the date at which the Turkish Competition Authority became active, he focused on EU and Turkish competition law and advised clients in majority of the investigations conducted by the Competition Authority. Mr. Toksoy also prepared many successful merger notifications, negative clearance and individual exemption applications in a variety of industries.
He combined his competition law knowledge with his broad experience in economic aspects of antitrust matters across a wide range of industries, particularly in mergers and joint ventures, restrictive practices, distribution systems and abuse of dominant position, in areas such as automotive distribution, information technology, environment, energy, FMCG, chemicals, pharmaceuticals, manufacturing, telecommunications, airlines, financial services, sport, media, entertainment, computer software, electrical equipment, chemicals and engineering.
Mr. Toksoy advised multinational companies in Turkish part of their M&A transactions and especially renowned with his experience in complicated merger control cases. He has successfully negotiated remedies with the Turkish Competition Authority in many complex merger cases. He has practical experience in public and private sector competition law related commercial problems in Turkey such as subcontracting, licensing, distribution schemes and intellectual property rights. He currently conducts projects on this area with large multinationals in Turkey. Mr. Toksoy conducts competition compliance programs in different industries and, leads and designs workshops and training sessions in mainly multinationals from different industries. He serves as an expert member of the Competition Law and WTO Committees of TUSIAD, Turkish Businessmen and Industrialists’ Association. He is an Associate Member of ABA and member of the Antitrust and M&A Committees and national reporter of International Antitrust committee.
Mr. Toksoy has been the guest of round tables on the legislative amendments of the Turkish Competition Law hosted by the Competition Authority. He lectures EU and Turkish Competition Law at Marmara University EU Institute and also lectures occasionally M&A, International Trade Remedies and Competition Law Aspects of EU and Turkish Environmental Law.

Mehmet Türkarslan

Director of legal, Paribu

Mehmet started his legal career in 2010 and has been working as an in-house lawyer at Paribu since 2017. Paribu is a leading crypto asset platform, within which Mehmet currently serves as its legal director.

Dr. Bahattin Yalcınkaya

Professor, Marmara University

Oya Yalvaç

Partner, Turkish and European patent attorney, Deris Attorney

Ebru Yamaner

In-house counsel, Ahmet Veli Menger Holding

Atty. Ebru Yamaner was born in Konya in 1985. She graduated from Marmara University Faculty of Law in 2007. She has been working as a legal advisor at Ahmet Veli Menger Holding Anonim Şirketi for approximately 12 years

Bora Yazıcıoğlu

Managing partner, Yazicioğlu Legal

Bora Yazıcıoğlu started his career at Yarsuvat & Yarsuvat Law Firm, established by Prof. Dr. Duygun Yarsuvat. He then worked for DentonWilde Sapte (SNR Denton) as an associate and as a partner in Gokce Attorney Partnership. He founded Yazıcıoğlu Legal in 2016.
He has over 15 years of experience advising national and international clients on several aspects of Data Protection, IT Law, Corporate and Commercial Law and representing them before courts, arbitral tribunals and regulatory bodies. During his career he has advised Zoom, Acer, WB Discovery, Danone, UiPath, Bosch-Siemens (BHS), Sony PlayStation, Facebook, Spotify, T-Systems, Mavi Jeans, Boyner and Hopi.
He is listed as a leading individual in IT and Telecoms Law in The Legal 500. He is also listed as a Ranked Lawyer in Technology, Media Telecommunication (TMT) in Chambers and Partners.
The Legal 500 referred to him as “Yazicioglu has intensive experience in IT-related matters.” Chambers and Partners wrote “Bora Yazicioglu is widely admired for his expertise in IT issues, notably regulatory, data protection, outsourcing and e-commerce matters.” He is the president of Data Protection Association (Turkey).

Mustafa Yelligedik

President legal affairs, Anadolu Group

Mr. Mustafa Yelligedik graduated from Ankara University Faculty of Law in 1994 and started his career in Efes Beverage Group as a lawyer in 1997. Throughout his 26 years in Anadolu Group, he assumed different roles and involved in legal affairs of group companies in various sectors. Since 2018, he has been acting as the president legal affairs of Anadolu Grubu Holding and he is also a member of the Sustainability Committee.
While continuing his profession, he also completed Sports Law Programme of Kadir Has University Faculty of Law in 2006 and the General Management Programme at Bled School of Management in Slovenia in 2008.

Göze Yıldırım

Partner, Pekin-Pekin

Göze Yıldırım joined Pekin & Pekin in 2018 and she focuses on complex cross-border and domestic capital markets, derivatives and banking & finance transactions and represents both lenders and borrowers in sophisticated financing transactions. She advises regularly on regulatory matters including legal compliance and data protection issues. She has been actively engaged in Islamic finance, project finance and acquisition finance. She specializes in capital markets, as well as derivatives transactions, and regularly advises on regulatory matters in the capital markets area. She has been providing assistance to major firms in relation to cryptassets. Göze is an alumna of Robert College and Istanbul University Faculty of Law and she continues her education on her economics degree

Kenan Yılmaz

Chief legal and compliance officer, Koç Holding

Kenan Yılmaz graduated in 1983 from Istanbul University Law School and obtained an LLM degree in International Business Transactions in 1989 from Tulane University Law School and an EMBA degree in 1998 from Koç University.
His career commenced in 1989 as legal advisor at Koç Holding where, in 2000, he was appointed deputy general counsel, in 2006 general counsel and in 2021 chief legal and compliance Officer of Koç Holding .
Kenan Yılmaz’s practice is very diverse as are Koç Group’s main activity fields. Yılmaz specialises in domestic and cross-border M&A, privatisations and financial transactions mainly within energy, automotive, finance and consumer durables sectors.

Ali Yılmaz

Chief legal officer and executive vice president, QNB Finansbank

Yılmaz graduated from İstanbul University, Faculty of Law in 1999. Active in business since 1996, Yılmaz received his finance education at University of Toronto between 2000-2002. With an MBA from Koç University, he started his banking career at Dışbank in 2003. Later, he served as Director of Legal Affairs at Fortisbank A.Ş. and as a member of the Board and Legal Counsel at Societe Generale Türkiye. Yılmaz joined QNB Finansbank A.Ş. in 2016. Appointed as Chief Legal Counsel in May 2018, Yilmaz has been serving as Executive Vice President since January 2020.