About

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 value of approximately $6.3 billion, which stands as a vital link in the integrated investment chain realised by SOCAR (State Oil Company of Azerbaijan Republic) in Turkey. STAR will be able to meet 25 per cent of Turkey’s need for processed petroleum products.which will decrease the import dependency of Turkey and will provide additional capacity to the Mediterranean market. Turkey’s first private industrial zone was declared in Aliağa, Izmir, where SOCAR Turkey’s major investments are located including STAR Refinery, which began operating after the inauguration ceremony held on October 19, 2018.

Leading all legal processes of STAR Refinery Project financing ($3.3 billion by Project financing which is awarded as Refinery Financing Deal of the year), attending the meetings with Lenders, following-up the covenants arising agreements, management of legal issues with regard to turnkey STAR Refinery Project, giving legal assistance for the successful achievement of Provisional Acceptance of the project were the important transactions that I have been involved during my experience in STAR.

Until the start-up of Refinery and after start-up for ongoing operations,  I have also led legal processes of the contracts, legal documents and legal issues

I also supported the Refinery and petrochemical integration in Aliağa peninsula during 2019, which was a very important step in maximizing both the financial and strategic value of our parent company, SOCAR Turkey, with the goal of being the top-ranking industrial holding of Turkey.

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

STAR Refinery will push on with its core aim of providing highly important contributions to the economies of both Turkey and Azerbaijan. STAR’s main focus will be to continue its capacity securely, to make significant investments and to work in coordination with Petkim and other SOCAR group companies based in Aliağa in an integrated model which is based on the philosophy of value creation by efficient utilization of corporate resources for more efficient business operations within the regulatory framework.

We as legal department continue to support for Project financing, integration processes and all other legal issues.

How do you suggest in-house lawyers build strong relationships with business partners?

Open, honest, and direct communication with business partners is crucial for building successful and lasting relationships with them. Based on mutual trust, respect and working as one team for the achievement of common goals builds up the relationship.  Having embraced “trust” as one of our core values in business, we as legal team demonstrate transparency and consistency between our words and actions. We share our views openly and invite others to openly discuss issues for effective business result.

We set clear expectations and keep our promises and commitments made to business partners. We demonstrate reliability meeting even difficult commitments and put in extra work when needed.

We consider teamwork as important with business partners. We work in dynamic environment and business partners successfully with those who have different perspectives, backgrounds, and styles to achieve common goals. All these bring to achieve strong relationship with business partners.

What “legal tech” products do you currently utilise, and do you foresee implementing more of these in the near future?

We currently utilise legal information systems which supports us reaching regulations, judicial decisions, official gazette and regulatory changes. We’re open to new technology which expedites our daily workload subject to be compliant SOCAR/STAR information security systems.

 Have any new laws, regulations or judicial decisions greatly impacted your company’s business or your legal practice?

On October 19, 2018. the first private industrial zone in Turkey was declared in Aliağa, Izmir where SOCAR Turkey’s investments are located. This decision supported and eased the permitting processes related with SOCAR Turkey’s investments in Aliağa Peninsula.

What do you feel are the most effective techniques for getting the most out of external counsel, in terms of how to instruct them?

Working with standards based on accuracy and high work ethics is our absolute way of doing business. We act with professionalism and strive for excellent execution. We communicate clear accountabilities when working with our external counsels to enhance coordination and prevent duplication of effort. We’re ensuring that they have detailed understanding of our company goals and strategy.We expect our external counsels to be keen on work allocation who should be delivering the services in order to use the capability and time efficiently.

We’re setting goals and focusing on value based relationship with external counsels. Effectively managing value-based relationship with external counsel involves strategic thinking, good communication, advance planning, flexibility and trust. We work as one team and seek for the most effective and efficient processes to get things done, making the best use of our and external counsels time and resources, with a focus on continuous improvement.

We leverage our resources effectively and aim to deliver greater value with less burden on energy, time and money in order to reach expected results. We’re evaluating their performances frequently and sharing feedback on time for better cooperation and communication.

This brings us the success of external counsels.