Turkey Teams 2018 – GC Powerlist
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Turkey Teams 2018

  • Industries

  • Powerlist

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3M

| 3M

Halil İbrahim Kardıçalı, general counsel and government affairs manager, and Müge Yılmaz, legal counsel, make up the legal team at 3M in Turkey, the local domestic division of the multinational...

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Accenture

| Accenture

Accenture is a leading global professional services company, providing a broad range of services and solutions in strategy, consulting, digital, technology and operations. Combining unmatched experience and specialised skills across...

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Acıbadem Healthcare Group

| Acıbadem Healthcare Group

Acıbadem Healthcare Group is an established healthcare institution in Turkey having a reputation for innovative and exemplary care and the implementation of new technology and digital techniques in modern medicine....

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Akbank

| Akbank

Financials

Akbank was founded as a privately-owned commercial bank in 1948, established originally with the aim of providing funding to local cotton growers. Today it is the country’s second-largest bank by...

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Akbank – Project financing and Treasury transactions

| Akbank - Project financing and Treasury transactions

Financials

The Akbank – project financing and treasury transactions division’s legal department is managed by managing counsel Cem Davutoglu, and is made up of three lawyers and one support staff. Upon...

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Akkök Sanayi Yatırım ve Geliştirme

| Akkök Sanayi Yatırım ve Geliştirme

Çağla Zıngıl, chief legal officer and legal director, runs an impressive in-house legal outfit at Akkök Sanayi Yatırım ve Geliştirme (Akkök Holdings). After its founding in 1952, Akkök Holdings has...

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Alacer Gold

| Alacer Gold

Alacer Gold is a leading low-cost gold producer with an 80% interest in the world-class Çöpler gold mine in Turkey. Ahmet İlker Doğan is vice president, general counsel, and has...

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Alcon

| Alcon

An affiliate of Novartis, the global pharmaceutical giant, Alcon is an international eye care specialist pharmaceutical company that produces advanced surgery, medicine and eye care products and has more than...

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ALJ Holding

| ALJ Holding

Continuing to impress, the in-house legal team at ALJ Holding provide stalwart legal guidance to one of the Turkish automotive sector’s most important companies with a diverse portfolio of other...

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Allianz Turkey

| Allianz Turkey

Şebnem S. Karaduman, chief legal counsel, assistant general manager and executive board member manages the in-house legal team which provides services as three sub functions: legal consultancy, corporate litigation and...

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Anadolu Efes

| Anadolu Efes

Founded in 1969, Anadolu Efes has grown into one of the most important global brands of Turkey as one of the largest companies of its sector in Europe and the...

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AvivaSA Pension and Life Insurance

| AvivaSA Pension and Life Insurance

Insurance

As one of Turkey’s leading private pension and life insurance providers, AvivaSA Pension and Life (AvivaSA Emeklilik ve Hayat) was founded in 2007. It was born out of a joint...

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AXA Sigorta

| AXA Sigorta

Headquartered in Istanbul, AXA Sigorta was founded in 1968 and has regional offices in Turkey and Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus. Acting as a subsidiary of AXA Holding it provides...

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Bankalararası Kart Merkezi (BKM)

| Bankalararası Kart Merkezi (BKM)

Financials

Selin Tiftikci Tuncer, senior vice president for legal services and compliance, established BKM’s legal department in 2012 from scratch and helped BKM’s top executives build a sound legal and compliance...

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Borsa İstanbul

| Borsa İstanbul

Borsa İstanbul is the sole exchange entity of Turkey, combining the former Istanbul Stock Exchange, the Istanbul Gold Exchange and the Derivatives Exchange of Turkey. The legal team at Borsa...

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Borusan Otomotiv

| Borusan Otomotiv

The highly regarded legal team at Borusan Otomotiv, a major automotive company in Turkey, has been led by chief legal counsel Şelale Serengil since 2011. With an annual production of...

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Brightstar Turkey

| Brightstar Turkey

Brightstar, a world-leading mobile services company, has been operating in Turkey since 2009 and has a presence in the country’s 81 provinces with around 1,350 outlets. Brightstar’s legal team is...

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British American Tobacco (BAT) Turkey

| British American Tobacco (BAT) Turkey

At BAT Turkey, Ceren Kartari is the head of legal for the Turkey-North Africa (TNA) area and, in this capacity, she leads the legal team of five lawyers and a...

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Bunge Türkiye

| Bunge Türkiye

The Turkish subsidiary of international Dutch agricultural producer, Bunge is a major oilseeds producer and supplier to manufacturers of vegetable oils across Turkey and the Middle East. The company also...

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Burgan Bank Turkey

| Burgan Bank Turkey

Financials

Chief legal counsel Tolga Erendaç leads a team of 11 lawyers and four support staff at Burgan Bank Turkey. The team is divided into two main functions, consultancy and corporate...

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Çalık Enerji

| Çalık Enerji

Çalık Enerji is a Turkish energy company of Çalık Holding which was established in 1998, with their main business areas in oil and gas exploration, production, transportation and distribution, as...

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Çalık Group

| Çalık Group

Çalık Group’s legal team is made up of a unique mix of senior and junior lawyers, as well as non-qualified paralegals and trainee lawyers, 12 lawyers and four paralegals in...

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CarrefourSA

| CarrefourSA

Since being featured in the inaugural GC Powerlist: Turkey Teams in 2016, the in-house legal team at CarrefourSA has continued to excel in providing business-critical legal advice. CarrefourSA is a...

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Çelebi Holding

| Çelebi Holding

Founded in 1958, Çelebi Holding is a major historic international ground services company in the aviation industry based in Istanbul, Turkey. It was the country’s first privately owned ground services...

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Çimentaş Group

| Çimentaş Group

Kayhan Karabayır, legal affairs and investor relations director, heads up the in-house legal operation at Çimentaş Group, one of the most prominent cement companies in Turkey operating globally across five...

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Citibank

| Citibank

Financials

Süreyya Uğurses, the country legal counsel, company secretary and assistant general manager, who has over 20 years’ experience in the banking and finance sector, leads the legal team of four...

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Coca-Cola

| Coca-Cola

Food, beverages and tobacco

Covering Turkey, Caucasus, Central Asia and the Dogadan tea business operations (“TCCA”), the regional legal team in Turkey at global beverage company Coca-Cola has remained a strategic business partner that...

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DenizBank

| DenizBank

Financials

As Turkey’s sixth largest bank in terms of assets, DenizBank has a team of highly competent lawyers to complement its leading reputation in the country as a well-established state-owned bank...

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Deutsche Bank

| Deutsche Bank

Financials

Deutsche Bank, the multinational German investment banking and financial services firm, has been active in Turkey for over 30 years. Amongst the personnel within the organisation’s Turkish operations, the in-house...

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Doğan Şirketler Grubu Holding

| Doğan Şirketler Grubu Holding

The Doğan Şirketler Grubu Holding legal team includes two executives with two senior lawyers specialised in M&As, corporate governance and corporate law. The team also has three lawyers who provide...

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Doğuş Holding

| Doğuş Holding

One of the top three largest private-sector conglomerates in Turkey with a portfolio of 250 companies, Doğuş Holding is an important player within Turkish business. General counsel of the organisation,...

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Eczacıbaşı Holding

| Eczacıbaşı Holding

Eczacıbaşı Holding was founded in 1942 and brings together 42 companies with over 12,500 employees. Amongst their staff, the in-house legal team at Eczacıbaşı Holding is highly adaptive to the...

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Efe rakı

| Efe rakı

Tülay Aktan leads the in-house legal team comprised of two supporting staff handling all legal matters for Efe rakı, a main producer and retailer of Turkey’s national alcoholic spirit, rakı...

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Emaar Turkey

| Emaar Turkey

Emaar Turkey is one of the most valuable and rapidly growing property development companies across the Middle East and UAE with a considerable portfolio in shopping malls, retail, hospitality leisure...

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Erdemir

| Erdemir

OYAK Mining and Metallurgy Group is the largest integrated steel producer in Turkey which includes eight group companies, one of which is Erdemir. All of the Group companies’ legal services...

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EYG Group

| EYG Group

Founded by Ömer Faruk Çelik a major investor in Turkish land and properties, EYG was founded in 2014 and has already taken the Turkish real estate sector by storm. Having...

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Fiba Group

| Fiba Group

The legal department at Fiba Group, an investment company with a portfolio of high-value brand names in both financial and non-financial sectors, is led by chief legal counsel, Kerem Morali....

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Fibabanka

| Fibabanka

Financials

Fibabanka is a private bank in Turkey, established through the acquisition of the Turkish arm of Millennium Banco Comercial Português by Turkish businessman Hüsnü Özyeğin in 2010. Led by general...

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Ford Otosan

| Ford Otosan

The highly skilled and professional legal team at Ford Otosan continues to set a high standard for in-house legal service being led by its experienced chief legal advisor Ahmet Serdar...

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Fox Networks Group

| Fox Networks Group

The Fox Networks Group is a global subsidiary of the international media giant 21st Century Fox and plays an unmistakably large role in the television and film industry across the...

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GAMA Construction Group

| GAMA Construction Group

Managing legal counsel Bora Kaya is the chief legal officer of the GAMA Construction Group, managing a department of three lawyers and six support staff in a team that is...

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GAMA Energy

| GAMA Energy

Energy and utilities

Before its establishment until 2002, GAMA Energy was a division under GAMA Holding without any actual organisational structure. It was 2008 when the company carried out it its first project...

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GAMA Holding

| GAMA Holding

Founded in 1959, Turkish industrial giant GAMA has a long history of developing infrastructure and energy projects in 25 countries extending from Ireland in the west to Russia’s Sakhalin Island...

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Garanti Emeklilik

| Garanti Emeklilik

Garanti Emeklilik was founded in 1992 as a private pensions company, a subsidiary of one of Turkey’s largest private sector banks, Garanti Bank. Since then the company has grown to...

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GE Turkey

| GE Turkey

The legal team at GE Turkey is responsible for providing legal and compliance leadership and strategic legal advice to all the business and corporate teams globally and locally. It generally...

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Global Yatırım Holding (Global Investment Holdings)

| Global Yatırım Holding (Global Investment Holdings)

Global Yatırım Holding has been one of the leading independent brokerage and investment banking firms in Turkey since it was founded in 1990. Today, the organisation’s legal team is currently...

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GSK

| GSK

In the last year the GSK legal team in Turkey has restructured and changed its regional focus and strategy. In March 2018, Yelda Dogan Yasarturk was appointed head of legal,...

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Henkel Turkey

| Henkel Turkey

Henkel is a German chemical and consumer goods company with a significant presence in Turkey, employing around 1,500 people in the country. Ozgur Colpan leads the legal team as the...

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HSBC Bank

| HSBC Bank

Financials

HSBC Bank has operated in Turkey since 1990, providing services in the areas of wholesale banking, retail banking and wealth management. It offers its Turkish customers financial solutions through its...

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ING Bank Turkey

| ING Bank Turkey

Financials

The Turkish subsidiary of ING, a Dutch multinational banking and financial services corporation, started its representative office in Turkey in 1991 and focuses on corporate and financial institution lending, financial...

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Japan Tobacco International (JTI) Turkey

| Japan Tobacco International (JTI) Turkey

Providing guidance to three separate companies in Turkey, the legal function at JTI Turkey supports the business as a whole whilst functioning in a highly regulated market. Legal director Seden...

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Kale Holding

| Kale Holding

Özlem Akyüz Atamer leads the in-house legal team at Kale Holding, which is made up of four lawyers and one non-lawyer, and divided into separate corporate, litigation and employment departments....

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Karadeniz Holding

| Karadeniz Holding

Karadeniz Holding is a major energy production holding company operating in 16 countries across the globe and is a major innovator in the power generation industry thanks to its production...

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Koç Holding

| Koç Holding

Koç Holding is at the helm of the Turkish economy having approximately €20bn in turnover and managing 13 joint venture partners in a diverse mix of sectors and operations. It...

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Koton

| Koton

The highly experienced legal team at Koton is recognised for its command of a wide breadth of legal topics relating to the Turkish fashion retailer’s industry, from IP related issues...

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Kürüm Group

| Kürüm Group

Kürüm Group is primarily focused on the production of iron and steel in Turkey and the Balkans. Made up of five lawyers, its in-house legal function is made up of...

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LUKOIL

| LUKOIL

Oğuz Sami Sarıkaya leads the in-house legal team of LUKOIL’s operations in Turkey, including four lawyers and two support staff. The team reports to the CEO of LUKOIL-TR group companies...

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Mapfre Turkey Companies

| Mapfre Turkey Companies

The legal team at MAPFRE Turkey expertly handles the legal affairs of both the MAPFRE Sigorta and MAPFRE Yaşam Sigorta companies (“Mapfre Turkey Companies”). Merve Öney is the legal affairs...

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Mavi

| Mavi

Founded in 1991 in Istanbul, Mavi is globally recognised as a highly successful lifestyle brand. With roots in the denim industry, it has quickly evolved into an international apparel brand...

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Media Markt Turkey

| Media Markt Turkey

Europe’s largest retailer for consumer electronics, Media Markt opened its first location in Turkey in 2007 in Istanbul and has gone from strength to strength expanding across the country with...

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Mercedes-Benz Türk

| Mercedes-Benz Türk

Gamze Gökçen Pilevne, corporate secretary and general counsel, continues to lead the stellar legal team at Mercedes-Benz Türk consisting of 11 members including legal manager Sedat Tatar. The overall team...

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Metlife Emeklilik ve Hayat

| Metlife Emeklilik ve Hayat

Metlife Emeklilik ve Hayat is an insurance company that was founded in 1998 in Istanbul. Today it is one of the largest life insurance companies in the world providing services...

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Metro Cash & Carry Turkiye

| Metro Cash & Carry Turkiye

The Metro Cash & Carry Türkiye legal team is managed by Serçin Kireçtepe and includes senior attorneys Yeliz Oral and Özge Öncü, along with four lawyers and one paralegal. The...

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Metro Properties

| Metro Properties

Metro Properties Gayrimenkul Yatırım (Metro Properties) has been in operation in Turkey since 1998 and today has a highly professional two lawyer in-house legal team. Metro Properties currently conducts its...

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Mey İçki

| Mey İçki

The legal team at Mey İçki has routinely impressed peers in the Turkish legal market. Under the leadership of Meltem Azbazda the legal team continues to provide expert legal advice...

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Migros Ticaret

| Migros Ticaret

Head of legal Nursema Ekinci (who is also a director at the company) leads a talented in-house legal team comprised of 20 lawyers and four support staff, with 13 lawyers...

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Mondelēz International

| Mondelēz International

Özge Gülşen-Kösem, senior legal counsel, is the head of the legal and compliance department at Mondelēz International Turkey and has been working at the company for almost eight years. In...

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N11.com – Doğuş Planet

| N11.com - Doğuş Planet

N11.com is an online shopping platform operating on an open market basis and owned by Doğuş Group and SK Planet, a South Korean company. N11.com has around 100,00 suppliers and...

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Novartis

| Novartis

Novartis is a Swiss based global pharmaceutical giant and its Turkish division is part of this global network responsible for Turkish operations and subsidiaries. Ozlem Oral Mamak, country head of...

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Novo Nordisk

| Novo Nordisk

Panagiotis Psaltakis, legal and compliance director, leads the in-house legal team of three lawyers in Istanbul of Novo Nordisk responsible for the near East and CIS countries, 22 nations in...

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Odeabank

| Odeabank

Financials

Odeabank is a Turkish bank founded in 2012, and owned by Bank Audi – the largest bank in Lebanon, with total assets of US$44.9bn. Odeabank provides various corporate, commercial, and...

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Otoyol Yatırım ve İşletme

| Otoyol Yatırım ve İşletme

Otoyol Yatırım ve İşletme (Otoyol) is a special purpose vehicle (SPV) company, as generally defined in project finance terminology, established for the Gebze-İzmir Motorway Project. The company’s in-house legal team...

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PepsiCo Turkey

| PepsiCo Turkey

Food, beverages and tobacco

The in-house legal team at PepsiCo Turkey has been recognised in this list for its skill and commercial tenacity in all legal matters pertaining to the global beverage and snack...

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Petrol Ofisi

| Petrol Ofisi

Petrol Ofisi was founded as the first and national brand of fuel products and lubricants in Turkey in February 1941. Today it has a strong and unparalleled infrastructure in Turkey,...

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Polat Enerji

| Polat Enerji

Founded in 2000 with the aim of investing in electricity production from renewable energy resources, Polat Enerji has since taken under operation eight wind power plants and become one of...

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Procter & Gamble Turkey and Caucasus

| Procter & Gamble Turkey and Caucasus

The Turkish arm of the US multinational consumer products company Procter & Gamble (P&G) has a legal team of five professionals, and is led by Ozge Ayoz, legal and government...

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QNB Finansbank

| QNB Finansbank

Financials

QNB Finansbank is a Turkish bank that was first founded in 1987 in Istanbul by leading Turkish banker Hüsnü Özyeğin. In 2015, the National Bank of Greece (who purchased the...

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Roche Pharma Turkey

| Roche Pharma Turkey

Healthcare

The in-house legal team at Roche Pharma Turkey is led by Soley Güzel, legal, compliance and internal audit director, and is made up of four lawyers, two specialists, an internal...

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Rönesans Holding

| Rönesans Holding

Rönesans Holding is a group of companies specialising in construction, real estate investment and energy. The legal department is made up of 22 lawyers and six paralegals and since the...

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Sabancı Holding

| Sabancı Holding

Hacı Ömer Sabancı Holding, abbreviated as Sabancı Holding, is one of the largest industrial financial conglomerates in Turkey and holds control over 70 companies, in 15 countries, all recognised as...

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Shell & Turcas Petrol

| Shell & Turcas Petrol

Operating as an important downstream business of oil and gas multinational Shell in Turkey, Shell & Turcas Petrol benefits from the expertise of its in-house legal team on wide range...

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SOCAR Türkiye Enerji

| SOCAR Türkiye Enerji

SOCAR Türkiye Enerji has been operating in Turkey since 2008 and is one of the world’s leading global oil companies, as well as a key representative of reinforcing economic collaboration...

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Sofra

| Sofra

The Sofra legal team has impressed peers working on the management of the group’s internal and contract processes, legal consultancy, compliance and data protection issues as well as handling the...

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SunExpress

| SunExpress

SunExpress was founded in October 1989 in Antalya, the largest Turkish city on the Mediterranean coast, as a joint venture between two leading industry airlines, Turkish Airlines and Lufthansa. Today...

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TANAP Doğalgaz İletim (TANAP)

| TANAP Doğalgaz İletim (TANAP)

The legal team at TANAP comprises of seven members, and is led by legal affairs director, Zeynep Gazzali Duran. Other prominent team members include Arif Eren, a legal consultant to...

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TAV Airports

| TAV Airports

TAV Airports Holding was established in 1997 as a joint venture, between Tepe and Akfen groups and Airport Consulting Vienna, and today is one of the leading airline operators in...

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TOFAŞ – Türk Otomobil Fabrikası

| TOFAŞ - Türk Otomobil Fabrikası

A major Turkish automotive company, Tofaş was founded in 1968 and is held in equal shares by Koç Holding and Fiat Chrysler Automobiles (FCA), and is one of the two...

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Tüpraş

| Tüpraş

The Tüpraş legal team of six highly skilled and qualified lawyers optimises the expertise of each team member and ensures proficiency, efficiency and harmony within the legal department. In the...

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Türk Ekonomi Bankası (TEB)

| Türk Ekonomi Bankası (TEB)

Financials

Melis Coşan Baban, assistant general manager, head of legal affairs has led the in-house legal team at TEB since 2008 after a decade in private practice at top Turkish law...

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Türk Hava Yolları (Turkish Airlines)

| Türk Hava Yolları (Turkish Airlines)

Founded in 1933, Turkish Airlines was originally a department of the Ministry of Defence. Today it is the national flag carrier of Turkey and the largest air carrier in the...

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Türk Telekom

| Türk Telekom

The in-house team at Türk Telekom continues to set an example of outstanding practice in the in-house legal industry. Yakup Öztunç, legal assistant and general manager, is perfectly placed to...

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Turkcell

| Turkcell

Turkcell is the leading mobile phone operator in Turkey, with its headquarters in Istanbul. It was the first Turkish company to be listed on the New York Stock Exchange, and...

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Türksat

| Türksat

Türksat Satellite Communications and Cable TV Operations Company is the premiere communications satellite operator in Turkey. It was founded in 1990 as a state-owned company, and has launched a series...

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Vaillant Group

| Vaillant Group

Vaillant Group is an internationally operating heating, ventilation and air-conditioning technology company and for over 140 years, has followed a strategy focused on achieving sustainable and profitable growth. Today the...

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Volkswagen DoğuŞ Finans

| Volkswagen DoğuŞ Finans

As a shareholding of Volkswagen Financial Services and Doğuş group companies in Turkey, Volkswagen Doğuş Finans (VDF) and its group companies operate in a variety of business areas such as...

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Yapı ve Kredi Bankası

| Yapı ve Kredi Bankası

Financials

The highly experienced and precise in-house international corporate legal affairs team at Yapı ve Kredi Bankası consists of three lawyers working as a dynamic team for the past five years....

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Yıldırım Holding (Yildirim Group of Companies)

| Yıldırım Holding (Yildirim Group of Companies)

The legal team at Yıldırım Holding is divided into three main sub-teams: corporate and corporate finance, transactional affairs and M&A, and litigation. Iltem Dokurlar manages the entire team as director...

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Yıldız Holding

| Yıldız Holding

Leading Turkish food and beverages conglomerate Yıldız Holding has been operating in Turkey for the last 70 years. Chief legal counsel, Barış Öner manages the legal department which handles the...

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Yörsan

| Yörsan

With a long history in the production of pasteurised milk, yoghurt, and a variety of cheeses including regional, international and spreadable varieties and Ayran drinks, Yörsan is a major dairy...

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Zorlu Holding

| Zorlu Holding

One of the biggest corporate groups in Turkey, Zorlu Holding, operates in the areas of textiles, white goods and electronics manufacturing, energy and financial services. Placing a high premium on...

After years of impressive rapid growth, Turkey’s economy faces challenging times as a result of heavy borrowing that has resulted in deficits in both its fiscal and current accounts as well as a fall in the Turkish lira. With analysts predicting that Turkey will experience a recession in the near future, large
domestic companies and foreign multinationals operating in the country across the whole spectrum of sectors will be re-evaluating their current
operating models.

Fortunately, the country is blessed with highly talented and experienced in-house legal teams who can seamlessly assist their respective companies
in adapting to these new economic realities and challenges. Whether it’s by responding to legislative and regulatory changes such as GDPR or devising
strategies that enable their business to remain profitable, in-house legal teams in Turkey will remain key to delivering innovative legal solutions to
complex business issues.

In this year’s GC Powerlist: Turkey Teams we are pleased to highlight some of the country’s leading inhouse legal teams. To compile this list, we canvassed
opinions from both law firm partners and in-house counsel in the country. We identified the most impressive legal departments who have utilised their
legal knowledge strategically alongside business insight to make a positive impact towards theirorganisation’s success.

Esin Attorney Partnership

Esin Attorney Partnership logo

We are delighted to sponsor The Legal 500’s GC Powerlist once again. We belive that corporate counsels and their in-house teams play a very crucial role in the success of companies and create significant value. it is a very special feeling for us to contribute to the appreciation of this value. We would like to note that The Legal 500 researchers independently selected each one of you. Even though we were not involved in the selection process, we know these nominations are the result of your meticulous and excellent work. For this reason, I would like to congratulate all of the legal teams who made it onto the GC Powerlist.

Another reason the GC Powerlist event is so important to us is that it brings us all together. We belive that market practice must be developed in every possible field of the law in Turkey, and we think corporate counsels and their teams make significant contributions to the establishment of such practice. We know that communication and collaboration are essential for the establishment of market practice.

Although we are celebrating tonight, we hope that this event will lend you the opportunity to meet different peoplefrom different sectors and deepen your relationships with one another. I hope that the opportunity for open communication increases in the forthcoming days and we take new steps in developing higher legal standards in the market practice.

During the difficult economic conditions our country is experiencing, your contributions to the healthier management of companies are of critical importance; we place our trust in you. We also want to thank our clients, many of which are here among us, for placing their trust in us. This mutual trust will be the foundation to building  a better professional life together.

As you know, in our country, continuity  is a major issue. We are glad to see The Legal 500’s continuous support in the GC Powerlist events in Turkey since 2015 and  hope  to be sponsoring this admirable event for many more years in the future.

We hope that when we meet again next year, circumstances will have improved and that new esteemed members of the legal profession will join us.

Finally, I would like to talk a little bit about us. Our most exciting news is that two of our colleagues who started out as interns at our Firm became partners this year: Duygu Gultekin and Caner Elmas. I would like to thank them once again for their devoted work. Well deserved, Duygu and Caner!

We experienced many positive developments last year. We believe these positive developments are far more important than prevailing in lawsuits or making money. Over the last year, we focused on increasing our colleagues’ quality of life and strove to ensure a better future for them. We founded the EsinWomen Committee  in August 2017, whose strategic priorities are to improve the ratio of women in leadership positions and proactively promote gender equality and women’s empowerment, not only in the firm but also in society at large.

Accordingly, we attempted to resolve an issue that we see occurs most often with our female colleagues. We observed that women who are successful in their education and professional lives tend to withdraw from their profession as they advance in their careers. One of the main reasons for this withdrawal is motherhood.
We think that the manner in which business and society treats motherhood constitutes a serious obstacle to professional development in our country.

Therefore, we developed certain special compensation models at our Firm. We not only pay full remuneration to our female colleagues who accept to work from home part-time for four hours a day after their statutory maternity leave ends, but also consider this remote and flexible working period as full­ time work when considering our colleagues’ seniorities.

Our Firm has offered marriage and baby bonuses for the last 15 years. We are attempting to create an environment where motherhood does not require women to leave their profession. Another significant initiative that we have taken is to require our lawyers to work from home at least twice a month, to allow them to work comfortably and with flexibility. In this same vein, we have introduced a daily casual dress policy in our office. We believe that the quality of our work is the most significant thing, and our colleagues’ contentment greatly affects the quality of our work. Another practice we have newly introduced is to send our newly wed colleagues on a honeymoon to anywhere in the world. As you might guess, we have had many weddings this year!

We have witnessed the effects of these policies soon after their introduction: our work quality and happiness have multiplied.

I would like to congratulate you all once more and hope to see you again in happier, lasting days in which we all comprehend and respect the significance of the rule of law better.

GC Summit Austria 2024

In Vienna’s historic cultural centre within shouting distance of the famed opera house, The Legal 500 gathered 150 of the country’s top in-house lawyers for the second GC Summit Austria. Alongside them was an experienced cohort of private practice experts from our event partners – petsche pollak, Baker McKenzie, CERHA HEMPEL, Taylor Wessing and Wolf Theiss – who were on hand to dispense their wisdom via our six sessions covering a multitude of relevant topic areas.

Expertly kicking the summit off was a speaker who always gives an excellent showing, Stefan Wochinz of Vaillant. In his hugely well-received keynote speech, Wochinz spoke about building a rewarding and successful career as a general counsel, and outlined some key themes to be explored in later sessions.

Our first panel discussion followed. In this expansive discussion, Alina Alavi Kia and Roman Heidinger of CERHA HEMPEL provided the audience with a thorough overview of brand protection requirements in Austria and gave a roadmap for successfully shepherding a brand through new technological developments. Among other issues, best practice benchmarks for trademarks, anti-counterfeiting, and licensing in an increasingly digitalised world were discussed in detail.

Next on stage were Simone Petsche-Demmel and Andreas Pollak of petsche pollak Amanda Neil ofHead Group, Nicole Bäck-Knapp of Ecker & Partner and Alice Fremuth-of Nivalion. Featuring a speaker lineup boasting extremely diverse experience and a topic that opened up multiple avenues of conversation, this panel teased out a number of issues that were at the forefront of those in the audience. As new supply chain due diligence requirements began to take hold in Austria across Europe, strategies for ensuring business-as-usual were outlined.

The next session was a particularly enlightening one organised in partnership with Taylor Wessing. Their partners, Andreas Schütz and Axel von dem Bussche were joined by Alexander Sammer of The National Anti-Doping Agency, Dr. Peter Lohberger of Wiener Wohnen Hausbetreuung and Prof. Dr. Clemens Heitzinger, co-director of the Center for Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning (CAIML) at TU Wien. With Schütz and von dem Bussche opening by outlining the legal framework, Sammer and Lohberger then provided the perspectives of government and corporate entities respectively. As one of the foremost experts on large language models and machine learning in the country, Heitzinger’s contributions to the discussion were particularly well-received by the audience. As well as giving a background into how GPT and other models work, he gave practical advice on how to utilise them responsibly and to their best effect in an in-house legal department.

Baker McKenzie then brought their expertise to bear on a topic that is growing in importance worldwide: carve-out transactions. Given that carve-outs tendto be more challenging than an acquisition of stand-alone businesses, the panel discussed the key structuring considerations as well as practical and legal issues that must be overcome. Those on stage (Philipp Stanek and Sophie Schubert of Baker McKenzie, Dr Franz Fazekas, of ams OSRAM of Hoerbiger Group of Companies and Klemens Keferboeck of Magna International) also focused on the planning, due diligence, and documentation of carve-out transactions and touched upon selected issues regarding effective integration.

Andrea Gritsch and Florian Kusznier of Wolf Theiss were joined on stage by Victoria Corley of Enery and Dr. Alexander Schall of Unicredit Bank for our final panel session, which took a broad look at M&A issues, focusing on the key challenges which clients and their advisers faced executing deals in the current climate. Both Corley and Dr. Schall provided insights into transactions they have been a part of in their prior careers, giving the audience an exclusive insight into how deals are handled by the in-house side at the strategic level.

Our final session was a wide-ranging presentation on white-collar crime by two of the best in the business: Simone Petsche-Demmel and Andreas Pollak. Based on their extensive experience, they rounded out the summit by outlining some of the cases they have been a part of, and brought attention to some potential pitfalls that in-house counsel should be mindful of.