Turkey 2019 – GC Powerlist
GC Powerlist Logo

Turkey 2019

  • Industries

  • Powerlist

Ahmet İlker Doğan

Vice president, general counsel and human resources | Alacer Gold Madencilik

Materials and mining

What are the most important transactions and litigations that you have been involved in during the last two years? Due to the nature of our business, we are facing mainly...

Ali Tolga Erendaç

Chief legal counsel | Burgan Bank Türkiye

Financials

Ali Uzun

Chief legal officer | Pegasus

Transport and infrastructure

Ali Yilmaz

Executive vice president, chief legal officer, legal affairs | QNB Finansbank

Financials

What are the most important transactions and litigations that you have been involved in during the last two years? One of the biggest transaction I’ve been involved for the last...

Aslı Irmak Acar

Legal and compliance manager of business area - Near East, CIS and Africa | Novo Nordisk

Healthcare

What are the most important transactions and litigation that you have been involved in during the last two years? I had the opportunity to manage a litigation case which is...

Aslı Kumbaraci Keskin

Head of legal, Turkey | GSK

Healthcare

What are the most important transactions and litigations that you have been involved in during the last two years? During the past two years, as the head of legal in...

Aslı Şahinkaya

Legal officer | Tanı Pazarlama ve İletişim Hizmetleri

Information technology

What are the most important transactions and litigations that you have been involved in during the last two years? During the last two years, I’ve been working intensively on compliance...

Aslıgül Tanyolaç

Legal manager, legal counsel | Cigna Finans / Hemenal Finansman

Financials

What are the most important transactions and litigations that you have been involved in during the last two years? All companies focus on their profits and I have contributed to...

Aydan Erdem

Head of legal, regulations and compliance | ENGIE

Energy and utilities

What are the most important transactions and litigations that you have been involved in during the last two years? ENGIE GEM Turkey, founded in 2016, is focusing on trading, energy...

Ayşen Aksu

Legal director | GittiGidiyor - eBay Turkey

Consumer products

How do you suggest in-house lawyers build strong relationships with business partners? In-house lawyers should always have a positive attitude and have to deliver on time. The most important thing...

Beliz Başaran

Country legal counsel, company secretary and assistant general manager | Citibank

Financials

Bengü Halavut Yıldırım

Head legal counsel and corporate compliance officer | Bayer

Healthcare

What are the most important transactions and litigations that you have been involved in during the last two years? The US$63bn acquisition of Monsanto by Bayer and the integration of...

Berç Germeyan Işık

Head of legal | Shell

Energy and utilities

Berna Avdan

Head of legal | Garanti BBVA

Financials

Bora Kaya

Managing legal counsel | GAMA Contracting Group

Energy and utilities

NOMINATOR QUOTE “He is a very unique and a very competent lawyer. He is very good at what he does but more importantly, he is one of the few in...

Burak Kepkep

General counsel | Polat Enerji

Energy and utilities

What are the most important transactions and litigations that you have been involved in during the last two years? Full acquisition of Şua Elektrik Üretim AŞ. Şua Elektrik was holding...

Burcu Sönmezyalçın Döker

Director of legal affairs, compliance officer and data protection official | Media Markt Türkiye

Consumer products

What are the most important transactions and litigations that you have been involved in during the last two years? The most important issues that required the involvement and steering of...

Burcu Tumer

Public affairs, legal and compliance manager - Middle East, North Africa and Turkey | The Adecco Group

Commercial and professional services

What will be the main focus for the company in the next 12 months and how do you intend to assist with this? We are currently living the fourth industrial...

Bürke Şerbetçi Arabacı

Head of legal | The Walt Disney Company

Sports and media

What have been the major external trends that have impacted your team’s work over the past two years (market developments, changing regulatory environment, political events etc.)? First of all, my...

Can Akçaoğlu

Chief legal officer | Tüpraş

Energy and utilities

Canan Arslan Girsault

Country head of legal | Amgen

Healthcare

How do you suggest in-house lawyers build strong relationships with business partners? An in-house lawyer who adds real value to the business is one who is not only a legal...

Cem Davutoğlu

Managing counsel (project financing and treasury transactions) | Akbank

Financials

Ceren Arslan

Country head of legal | Klépierre

Ceyda Akbal

General counsel | TAV Airports Holding

Transport and infrastructure

How do you suggest in-house lawyers build strong relationships with business partners? As in-house lawyers we have to prevail the full knowledge of the business side of the sector that...

Cihan Şimşek

Principle legal counsel - | Huawei Consumer Business Group

Consumer products

Deniz Sisa

Chief legal counsel | KoçSistem

What are the most important transactions and litigations that you have been involved in during the last two years? KoçSistem and Boston Consulting Group partnership and establishment of “KoçDigital Çözümler...

Deniz Tolunay Özkızılırmak

Head of Legal Affairs Division | METRO PROPERTIES

What are the most important transactions and litigations that you have been involved in during the last two years? Despite the difficulties in Turkey’s economy and the challenges in commercial...

Didem Mutlu

Legal director | Enerjisa Enerji

Energy and utilities

Duygu Tanıt

General counsel | Yemek Sepeti Elektronik İletişim Perakende Gıda Lojistik

Consumer products

What are the most important transactions and litigations that you have been involved in during the last two years? The structuring of the first dark store business, named Yemeksepeti Banabi,...

Ebru Ersoy

Chief legal counsel | Odeabank

Financials

Ebru Gürdemir

General counsel - cluster Greater Middle East and Africa | Tetra Pak

Materials and mining

What are the most important transactions and litigations that you have been involved in during the last two years? At Tetra Pak, we have a proactive approach to business and...

Eda Yüksel

Chief legal officer | Turcas Petrol

Energy and utilities

Elçin Erdeniz Onay

Senior legal counsel | Yandex Reklamcılık (Yandex Türkiye)

Information technology

What are the most important transactions and litigations that you have been involved in during the last two years? In the last two years I have been involved in valuable...

Ertuğrul Onur

General counsel | Coca-Cola İçecek

Food, beverages and tobacco

What are the most important transactions and litigations that you have been involved in during the last two years? Coca-Cola Tajikistan Arbitration 2018 – a successful multimillion dollar arbitration against...

Funda Zeynep Ekincioğlu

Legal and compliance lead - Nordic and Baltic region | MSD Türkiye

Healthcare

What are the most important transactions and litigations that you have been involved in during the last two years? I have been involved in several major transactions and litigations within...

Gamze Gökçen Karasu Pilevne

General counsel, compliance officer and corporate secretary | Mercedes-Benz Türk

Consumer products

What are the most important transactions and litigations that you have been involved in during the last two years? We have been leading the Daimler’s global restructuring project so called...

Gökhan Saraç

Vice president - general counsel | Unilever

Consumer products

Gözde Çolak Kucukel

Head legal counsel | Procter & Gamble Turkey and Caucasus

Consumer products

Gözde Küçükçolak

Legal Director | Star Refinery

Energy and utilities

What are the most important transactions and litigations that you have been involved in during the last two years? STAR (SOCAR Turkey Aegean Refinery) Refinery is established with an investment...

Gülce Gürler Yeğin

Regional counsel, Southeast Europe | Uber

Information technology

Gülenay Ruşen

Head of legal | Siemens Mobility Transportation System (Siemens Mobility Ulaşım Sistemleri)

Transport and infrastructure

What are the most important transactions and litigations that you have been involved in during the last two years? A contract has been signed with TCDD for the procurement of...

Gülistan Nayci

Director legal and compliance | adidas Turkey

Consumer products

What are the most important transactions and litigations that you have been involved in during the last two years? Throughout my career, I have had the opportunity to work with...

Günce Çakır

Legal executive vice president | ING Bank Turkey

Financials

Hakan Bekiroğlu

Chief legal officer | TOFAŞ - Türk Otomobil Fabrikası

Consumer products

Halil İbrahim Kardıçalı

General counsel | 3M Türkiye

Industrials and real estate

Last year you told us that you began handling government affairs for the company. Have there been any significant lobbying activities you’ve been involved in since then? It has been...

Hanane Farhane

Legal counsel for Middle East, Turkey and Africa | Lenovo

What are the most important transactions and litigations that you have been involved in during the last two years? As an individual representing a truly global company, I need to...

Hande Karakülah

Executive legal director - Turkey, Middle East and Africa | Avon

Consumer products

What are the most important transactions and litigations that you have been involved in during the last two years? Union and unfair competition cases in Turkey, tax litigation Morocco, new...

Hüseyin Topuzoğlu

Legal director | Emaar Turkey

Industrials and real estate

What are the most important transactions and litigations that you have been involved in during the last two years? A zoning plan amendment has been completed successfully in cooperation with...

İrem Elçi Tansuğ

Legal counsel | OTOKAR

Energy and utilities

Ishak Jonas Isik

Lead country general counsel | Siemens Sanayi ve Ticaret

What are the most important transactions and litigations that you have been involved in during the last two years? Siemens Turkey is carving out its entire Gas and Power business....

Kayhan Karabayır

Legal affairs and investor relations director | Çimentaş Group

Materials and mining

Kemal Özgün Poyraz

Legal director and board member | Linde Gaz Anonim Şirketi

Materials and mining

What are the most important transactions and litigations that you have been involved in during the last two years? During the last two years, our company has invested in two...

Kenan Yılmaz

General counsel | Koç Holding

Kerem Moralı

Chief legal counsel | Fiba Holding

Financials

Kurtuluş Çaltekin

General counsel | AvivaSA Pension and Life Insurance

Financials

What are the most important transactions and litigations that you have been involved in during the last two years? he establishment of Aviva SA Sigorta Aracılığı [which has] more than...

Mehmet Can Açıkalın

Senior international legal advisor - Southern Europe | FedEx Express Europe

Transport and infrastructure

What are the most important transactions and litigations that you have been involved in during the last two years? I have been involved in a Competition Authority investigation within the...

Mehmet Celal Savaş

Chief legal officer | SOCAR Türkiye Enerji Anonim Şirketi

Energy and utilities

What are the most important transactions and litigations that you have been involved in during the last two years? In the last two years; SOCAR was extremely active in the...

Mehmet Tekergül

Head of legal and compliance | Volkswagen Doğuş Finansman

Financials

Meltem Azbazdar

General counsel and company secretary | Mey İçki (Diageo)

Food, beverages and tobacco

Merve Öney Barlas

Legal affairs director and head of compliance | Mapfre Turkey Companies

Financials

What are the most important transactions and litigations that you have been involved in during the last two years? One of the most important projects of the last two years...

Mesut Güney

General counsel and director of global business | TV8 and Acun Medya

Sports and media

What are the most important transactions and litigations that you have been involved in during the last two years? I have been involved in the creation of the reality competition...

Müge Bulat Çetinkaya

Head of legal | Domino’s Turkey

Food, beverages and tobacco

What are the most important transactions and litigations that you have been involved in during the last two years? Turkish data protection law has been a hot topic since its...

Nazli Dereli Oba

Legal director | Karadeniz Holding

Energy and utilities

What geographical area does the team cover and what challenges have you faced when covering multiple jurisdictions in the region? We cover all geographical areas that the Company either operates...

Neval Berdibek

Legal counsel | Nusr-Et

Food, beverages and tobacco

What are the most important transactions and litigations that you have been involved in during the last two years? Before moving to Nusr-Et in December, 2019, I was in-house legal...

Nilüfer Türkçü Hıra

Legal director | Çalık Holding

What are the most important transactions and litigations that you have been involved in during the last two years? – Çalık Holding and GE Digital entered into Strategic Partnership Agreement...

Oğuz Sami Sarıkaya

Head of legal | Lukoıl-Türkiye

Energy and utilities

What are the most important transactions and litigations that you have been involved in during the last two years? Lukoıl-Türkiye is engaged in the projects targeting optimisation and expansion of...

Oksan Ozgen Montalto

Head of legal, Turkey | Ferrero Turkey

Food, beverages and tobacco

What are the most important transactions and litigations that you have been involved in during the last two years? In Turkey, Ferrero has grown in an inorganic way. After formal...

Özge Öztınaz

Legal and compliance assistant manager | Mercedes-Benz Finansman Türk

Financials

What are the most important transactions and litigations that you have been involved in during the last two years? As legal team, together with my colleague İpek İbrahimagaoglu, the most...

Özgür Çolpan

Legal counsel | Samsung

Information technology

What are the most important transactions and litigations that you have been involved in during the last two years? I have been involved two dawn raids by Turkish Competition Authority...

Özgür Ozan Döker

General counsel | Sofra - Compass Group Türkiye

Commercial and professional services

What are the most important transactions and litigations that you have been involved in during the last two years? The most important issues that required the involvement and steering of...

Özlem Akyüz Atamer

Head of legal | Kale Holding

Industrials and real estate

What are the most important transactions and litigations that you have been involved in during the last two years? Since we have many companies operating in different fields within Kale...

Özlem Bağdatlı

Legal affairs president | Industrial Development Bank of Turkey

Financials

Özlem Tavaslioğlu

Head of legal | Mi̇gros Ti̇caret

Consumer products

What are the most important transactions and litigations that you have been involved in during the last two years? Migros as a company operating in several segments of retail, i.e....

Petek Babalık

Chief legal counsel | IBM Turkey

Information technology

Pinar Tanilkan Edes

Deputy general counsel and ethics officer Turkey | ENGIE

Energy and utilities

What are the most important transactions and litigations that you have been involved in during the last two years? Given the fact that the Turkish power market has been suffering...

Ramazan Zorlu

Chief legal counsel | SunExpress

Transport and infrastructure

What are the most important transactions and litigations that you have been involved in during the last two years? I have been involved in various Aircraft Financing Leasing Transactions in...

Ruba Unkan Ergener

Director, legal affairs | Sabancı Holding

Industrials and real estate

What are the most important transactions and litigations that you have been involved in during the last two years? The sale of 57.88% shares of Yünsa, a publicly traded company...

Şebnem Karaduman

Executive vice president, legal affairs and chief legal officer | Allianz Turkey

Financials

Seçkin Cemiloğlu

Legal affairs manager | Çelebi Aviation Holding

Commercial and professional services

What are the most important transactions and litigations that you have been involved in during the last two years? As Çelebi is one of the biggest team player for the...

Semiha Kirişci Elhakan

Legal manager | AstraZeneca

Healthcare

What are the most important transactions and litigations that you have been involved in during the last two years? I co-led a Turkey localization project which aimed at manufacturing five...

Serçin Kireçtepe

Head of legal and compliance | Metro Cash & Carry Turkiye

Consumer products

Serhat Demir

Executive vice president - legal and regulation | Turkcell

Telecommunication services

Sevda Aydın Alemdar

Head of legal and compliance | Danone Turkey

Food, beverages and tobacco

What are the most important transactions and litigations that you have been involved in during the last two years? FMCG is a very fast and a dynamic sector where changes...

Simhan Savasçın Başaran

Chief legal adviser | Eczacıbaşı Group

Industrials and real estate

Soley Güzel

Legal, compliance and internal audit director | Roche Turkey

Healthcare

What are the most important transactions and litigations that you have been involved in during the last two years? The localisation of Roche Products with a local partner and the...

Tolga İşmen

Chief legal counsel | Şişecam

Materials and mining

What are the most important transactions and litigations that you have been involved in during the last two years? We were very fortunate and have not had any major litigations...

Tuba Pekin

Chief legal counsel | Mavi

Consumer products

Tugce Zeren

Corporate legal and compliance department manager, head of corporate legal and compliance and data protection officer | AKSigorta

Financials

What will be the main focus for the company in the next 12 months and how do you intend to assist with this? The main focus of the company in...

Tülin Nadir Akgüneş

Head legal counsel (domestic) | LC Waikiki

Consumer products

Uğur Ateş

Chief legal counsel | Kürüm Group International

Materials and mining

What geographical area do you cover and what challenges have you faced in covering these jurisdictions? We, as a group, are operating mainly in the Middle East and Balkans. Yet...

Ümit Başer

Group vice president, legal | EYG Group

Industrials and real estate

Ümit Çakır

Legal director - Turkey and Middle East | Sandoz Turkey

What are the most important transactions and litigations that you have been involved in during the last two years? Initiated an administrative lawsuit for the grouping decision of SSI for...

Umut Nazif Çelik

General counsel | Arçelik Global

Energy and utilities

Volkan Esiner

Legal Manager | Bosch Sanayi ve Ticaret AS

Industrials and real estate

What are the most important transactions and litigations that you have been involved in during the last two years? As a member of a global legal team, I have been...

Yakup Öztunç

Legal and regulation assistant general manager | Türk Telekom

Telecommunication services

Yaser Tabbara

General counsel | EKOSMART Companies

Financials

Yavuz Selim Günay

Chief legal counsel and head of contracts | Havelsan Hava Elektronik Sanayi ve Ticaret

Information technology

What are the most important transactions and litigations that you have been involved in during the last two years? HAVELSAN is a leading defense and IT company not only in...

Yelda Dogan Yasarturk

Head of legal - MEA and EUMEA and regional legal lead JV integration (consumer healthcare) | GSK

Healthcare

What geographical area do you cover and what challenges have you faced when covering multiple jurisdictions? I cover the MEA region consisting of more than 35 countries including Turkey, Egypt,...

Zeliha Önder

Legal counsel, head of legal | Koçtaş Yapı Marketleri Ticaret (Koçtaş)

Consumer products

What are the most important transactions and litigations that you have been involved in during the last two years? Koçtaş is a home improvement retailer, supplying tools, construction products, and...

Zeynep Derman Küçükönder

Legal director - Turkey, Caucasus and Central Asia | Coca-Cola

Food, beverages and tobacco

What are the most important transactions and litigations that you have been involved in during the last two years? I’ve been assigned to lead the legal affairs of MENA organization...

Zeynep Gazzali Duran

Director of legal affairs | TANAP

Industrials and real estate

What are the most important transactions and litigations that you have been involved in during the last two years?  In leading the legal affairs department, I have provided considerable input...

For over 30 years, The Legal 500 has been analysing the capabilities of law firms across the world. In this series, The Legal 500, in collaboration with Legal Business, GC Magazine and The In-house Lawyer, is turning its attention to the in-house function, and recognising those corporate counsel who are driving the legal business forward.

The GC Powerlist is a series of publications, highlighting the most influential in-house lawyers and legal teams in business today. I would like to express my personal thanks to our sponsors Kılınç Law- for supporting this publication. A special mention must also go to the in-house lawyers that took time to speak to us throughout the process, as well as to the research team that worked on this GC Powerlist publication.

David Burgess
Publishing Director
The Legal 500 Series

Since first being published as The Corporate Counsel 100, The Legal 500’s GC Powerlist series has grown exponentially since its beginnings in 2013. It started by covering four of the world’s most established legal markets, and whilst the core objective of the publication – highlighting the most capable, outstanding and innovative in-house counsel in a jurisdiction – has remained the same, the reach and scope of the GC Powerlist has since become almost unrecognisable. Now present in a vast array of jurisdictions and with a portfolio of 70 unique editions, the GC Powerlist series has firmly been established as the “go-to” title that assesses and features leading corporate counsel across the globe.

Now, we at The Legal 500 are evolving the GC Powerlist series even further, deepening our commitment to highlighting and exploring issues and challenges at the forefront of the minds of leading in-house lawyers. Therefore, this and future editions of the GC Powerlist will have a very different look to their predecessors. Instead of profiling individual counsel or in-house legal teams, more incisive insights from in-house thought leaders on the topics of the day will be featured extensively throughout our new look GC Powerlist publications.

With an abundance of feedback from senior in-house legal professionals across Turkey as well as their counterparts in private practice, this year’s edition of the GC Powerlist: Turkey is the largest ever by some distance. In addition to in-depth qualitative information via interviews, we also obtained feedback in the form of a short survey, offering concise information about some of the most important topics in market.

As the data shows, apart from legal advice, a large percentage of respondents demonstrate the most value in the commercial and business advice area, indicating that Turkish counsel are increasingly becoming more business orientated, showing their value within the commercial aspects of the business. Operational change or reorganisation was the second most popular, demonstrating that Turkish counsel are prepared for the ever-changing fluctuations that are inevitable within the business landscape but showing that they are also vital to the reorganisations that might take place from time to time.

The second questions asks what the most difficult hurdles are to overcome when attempting to demonstrate value added by the legal team. Lack of understanding of the work that the legal teams does was joint first in terms of popularity – indicating that there is still some work to do in regards to the business legal relationship. Calculating risk avoided or costs mitigated also scored highly and was the other joint first option, showing that this is also a difficult area for Turkish counsel to demonstrate value.

The third question asks how the continued the continued threat of cyber security breaches and data protection issues affect counsels interaction with the business. The majority of respondents indicated that it increased interaction with the business, showing that this topic provides an opportunity for Turkish counsel to work more closely with various business departments. It also presents a reason for counsel to refine their skills in the cyber security area as it increasingly becomes a more common risk for businesses.

All of these topics – as well as several others – are afforded more in-depth analysis and discussion within these pages, and can be found within the interview transcripts within this publication, as well as in the nominator quotes provided by our sources.

It was my pleasure to speak to and extensively interview Turkey-based counsel, each with their own priorities and challenges, and I would like to thank our sponsors – Kılınç Law- for supporting this publication. I’d also like to thank our extensive network of law firm partners and in-house counsel in the region whose opinions we canvassed during the course of the research. Of course, feedback is valuable and welcomed, so if there are any comments or suggestions please feel free to get in touch with these.

Last but not least, I would like to congratulate all those featured in this year’s list. Their selection means they have been identified as in-house counsel who are amongst the standard bearers of the profession, and as specialists who confront and manage commercial and legal challenges in a way that marks them as market leaders.

Sara Mageit
Senior research analyst
GC Powerlist series

Kilinc Law & Consulting

Kilinc Law & Consulting logo

International Bar Association

International Bar Association logo

ACC Alliance

ACC Alliance logo

GC Powerlist: Illinois 2024

On November 14th, Legal 500 proudly launched the second edition of the GC Powerlist Illinois in Chicago, following months of in-depth research. The event brought together distinguished in-house counsel from across Illinois for an evening of networking at Willkie Farr & Gallagher’s Chicago office.
The evening began with congratulatory remarks from Legal 500‘s US Editor, Melissa Yebisi, followed by Craig C. Martin, Chairman Midwest of Willkie Farr & Gallagher. Attendees then had the opportunity to connect with their peers and receive certificates commemorating their inclusion in the Powerlist. We are thrilled to have returned to Chicago for this celebration of legal excellence and look forward to future events in this vibrant city.