About

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 Turkish market and as a result I have had the chance to lead major transactions in the energy sector. Last year we have opened STAR Refinery, the largest single-location investment in Turkey; and I have had the honour to be the Chief Legal Officer of the company at the realisation of the project.

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

SOCAR Turkey’s main slogan in Turkey is “Stronger Together”, in reference to the bond between Azerbaijan and Republic of Turkey. In reference to this slogan; we intend to be at the heart of Turkish energy sector. Our production related operations in Turkey is located at Turkey’s First Special Industrial Zone, and what we want to achieve next year is to improve our operations in the area with new investments, new production sources and new products.

As the Chief Legal Officer; I intend to assist the growth of my company and my country as much as I can.

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

I believe the key to successful relationship between business partners and in-house lawyers is trust. I, personally have the chance to work with partners I have absolute trust in and once you believe the external partner cares about the well-being of your company as much as you do; working with an external partner becomes almost identical to working with department.

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

As a SOCAR Turkey, we are always inclined to implement the latest technology to our professional life. Actually, we have recently incorporated SOCAR’s R&D subsidiary in Turkey in order to enhance our research and development activities. Currently we use different software as “legal tech” products, and as the chief legal officer of the company; I am always open for implementing new technology that would facilitate or improve the performance of my department and in our new R&D establishment a new platform will be developed also for the legal team.

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

One of the more important regulations for our company was the “Regulation on Industrial Zones” published on the Official Gazette of Turkey in February 2018 and numbered 30327 that afterwards was changed by the current regulation that was published in August 2019. This regulation has introduced the Special Industrial Zones that would be constituted by the Ministry of Industry and Technology and approved by the Presidency.

According to this regulation; industrial investments that would be centred around a special zone can apply to the Ministry in order to be labelled as a Special Industrial Zone. If accepted; the investor at the zone is subject to numerous incentives from the Turkish Government in order to maximise the potential of the investment. After Aliağa zone; where our subsidiaries Petkim, Petlim and Star Refinery is constructed in; was labelled as a Special Investment Zone, our investments to the Aliağa have increased drastically. Moreover, the tax burden over the company as well as the bureaucratic necessities and time required to acquire some permits has decreased significantly.

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

As mentioned above, I believe in working with external counsel that believe in your company, becomes a part of the culture of the company and open in communication. So far in my time at SOCAR; I have been fortunate enough to work with external partners that put in effort for the benefit of the company.

As per instructions to the external counsel; I believe that pointing out exactly what is needed to be accomplished to the head of respective departments. Since I know the firm, how they operate and the quality of the work they produce on a regular basis due to years of work together; once I point out what needs to be accomplished in a project, they accomplish what I have in mind.

FOCUS ON: Turkey as an Arbitration Hub

Alternative Dispute Resolution is one of the latest global trends in the legal world. More companies prefer ADR methods in order to settle their disputes and use the major arbitration hubs in the world as well as established arbitral institutions. From SOCAR’s perspective arbitration is a much more beneficial dispute resolution mechanism than litigation, since litigation cases take years to finalise and for some cases you end up losing invaluable time for award that does not make up for the lost time. Therefore; as a confidential and swifter dispute resolution mechanism we always favour arbitration and put arbitration clauses in our national and multinational agreements.

After the recent developments at Turkey in terms of established arbitral institutions, I see great potential in Turkey, specifically Istanbul, to become the next arbitral hub in the world. As a historical crossroads of cultures, Istanbul has great potential to expand in the arbitration community with numerous internationally accepted arbitration institutions. At this stage; in order to be a part of the global change, I personally take initiative to settle our disputes in Turkish Arbitral institutions and if in-house counsel of multinational companies follow this path and bring their disputes to this city; we are likely to witness the rise of Istanbul in the eyes of the international legal community.