Bezen & Partners

Partner - Focused Areas of Practice: Energy, Regulatory, Privatisation and Administrative.

Aykut Bakirci advises domestic and international clients on a wide-range of Turkish law matters, with a particular focus on energy, regulatory aspects, privatisation and administration.

Aykut Bakırcı started his career as a legal practitioner in 1990. From 1996 until 2006 he was employed as counsel in the legal department of the Turkish Privatisation Administration. From 2006 until 2010 he served as the Head of Legal of the Turkish Privatisation Administration. During his time at the Privatisation Administration, Aykut Bakırcı was engaged in drafting and amending various primary and secondary legislation, most notably the electricity, natural gas, infrastructure and national lottery legislation. He also acted as a draftsperson for tender specifications in respect of the sale of state assets and entities. In addition, Aykut Bakirci was a key figure in organising tenders for the privatisation of state assets and entities and bringing such tenders to a successful completion. This also entailed that he negotiated transfer of operational rights agreements with successful bidders and their financiers and attended hearings on behalf of the Privatisation Administration before the Council of State (i.e. the Turkish Supreme Administrative Court) for the setting aside of any judicial challenges to such privatisations. Aykut Bakırcı was also a member of the board of directors of a variety of state companies, such as TÜPRAS (Turkey’s Petrol Refinery A.Ş.), Erdemir Madencilik A.Ş. (Erdemir Mining A.Ş.). His experience also includes being a member of tender committees for the sale of state assets and entities, such as POAS (Petrol Refinery), TÜPRAS (Turkey’s Petrol Refinery A.Ş.), TEKEL (Turkey’s Tobacco and Alcoholic Beverages Company), TEDAS Baskent and Sakarya Electricity Distribution A.Ş., and Türkiye Seker Fabrikalari (Turkey’s Sugar Companies A.Ş.). He is the author of several articles on the privatisation of Turkey’s energy sector. He is a frequent speaker and moderator at conferences. Some notable ones are as follows: (1) 6th Turkey Energy Congress & Exhibition 2014, 17-18 September 2014, Istanbul; (2) 4th Annual Turkey Energy Forum, 21-23 March 2014, Istanbul; (3) The Euromoney Seminar: 8th Annual Turkey Energy and Infrastructure Finance Forum, 16-17 March 2015, Istanbul; (4) IPFA Turkey: Istanbul: Liberalisation of the Turkish Railway Transportation System, 20 November 2014, Istanbul; (5) 3rd Annual PPP in Turkey Forum, 26-27 November 2014, Ankara; and (6) PPP Healthcare Summit, 28-29 April 2015, Istanbul.

Turkish (native), English (basic).

Bar of Istanbul.

LLB, Law Faculty, Ankara University, Ankara.