The amendment to the Law on Radio and Television Broadcasts (“RT Law”), which was published in the Official Gazette of March 28, 2018, regulated broadcasting services (i.e. radio, television and on-demand broadcasts) provided through internet and required these services and their providers (media service providers and platform operators) to be under the supervision and authority of Radio and Television Supreme Council’s (“RTUK”). The Regulation provides detailed information regarding this process.

Egemenoglu has advised Derindere Turizm Otomotiv Sanayi ve Ticaret A.S. on the restructuring of its syndicated loan from 45 national and international financial institutions.

In May 2019, Turkish Competition Authority (“TCA”) has published two reasoned decisions, namely Bfit Decision[1] and Minikoli Decision[2], in which it assesses the resale price maintenance (“RPM”) activities of the concerned undertakings. These decisions bear significance since they represent the TCA’s unstable approach towards RPM activities. In the aforementioned cases, the TCA adopted an effect-based analysis, as it generally did in the past. However, the TCA had displayed a deviation from the said approach in its previous two decisions; Sony Decision[3] and Henkel Decision[4] and adopted a by object analysis. Therefore, Bfit and MinikoliDecisions show this unstable approach.

Paksoy has advised ISS Global Forwarding Tasimacilik A.S. on its acquisition of assets from OSF Uluslararasi Lojistik Hizmetleri Dis Ticaret A.S. PKF Izmir reportedly advised OSF Uluslararasi Lojistik on the deal.

Balcioglu Selcuk Akman Keki Avukatlik Ortakligi and Dentons have advised Barclays Bank PLC as the dealer manager on the tender offer by Yasar Holding A.S. to the holders of its outstanding USD 250 million 8.875 percent bonds. Baker Mckenzie and Esin Attorney Partnership advised Yasar Holding on the deal.

Bezen & Partners has advised the French utility and infrastructure conglomerate Suez Group on its successfully bid for a 29-year concession from the Canakkale Waste Management Municipal Union and the subsequent TRY 95 million financing from the EBRD for the development of a modern, efficient, and sustainable waste management system in Canakkale. Kolcuoglu Demirkan Kocakli Attorneys advised the EBRD.

Inci Karcilioglu and Bihter Bozbay have been promoted to Partner at Kolcuoglu Demirkan Kocakli in Istanbul.

Preventing the division of agricultural lands is important in preserving quality in the sector and ensuring the continued contribution of agriculture-related income to the domestic economy. As a result, every positive step taken in the agriculture sector creates a similarly positive movement in the economy. Among the most important steps taken in this regard in Turkey were the 2014 amendments to the Law on Soil Protection and Land Use No. 5403, including to the definitions of “minimum agricultural land size” and “agricultural land size of sufficient income,” affecting the division of inherited agricultural land and transfers of ownership of agricultural lands with designated sizes.

Paksoy has advised Turkiye Sinai Kalkinma Bankasi on a USD 177 million syndicated loan from a syndicate of twelve banks from various countries.

The authority to initiate dumping or subsidy examinations, upon complaint or, where necessary, ex officio, has been given from the Ministry of Economy to the Ministry of Trade (“Ministry”). Within the scope of this authority, the Ministry announces its decisions with the communiqués published on the Official Gazette.

The Turunc Law Firm has advised Vinci Venture Capital on its equity investment in smart clothing company Thread in Motion. The Gemicioglu law firm represented Thread in Motion on the investment round, in which StartersHub and various angel investors participated. The amount of Vinci's investment was not disclosed.

Presidential Circular on Information and Communication Security Measures (“Circular”) is published in the Official Gazette of July 6, 2019. The aim of the Circular is reducing of security risks and governing measures to be taken to ensure safety of information which is critical to national security and public order.

European Union’s (“EU”) proposal for regulation on online intermediation services and search engines (“Regulation”) is expected to be published shortly on the Official Journal of the European Union and become effective twelve months following its date of publication.

“The biggest problem now in Turkey is the ongoing elections,” says Sezer & Utkaner Executive Partner Nazli Sezer, who points out that the country has been in election mode for three years now.

Paksoy has advised MIH PayU B.V., a subsidiary of Naspers Ltd., on its June 10, 2019 agreement to acquire Turkish digital payments and e-money company Iyzi Odeme ve Elektronik Para Hizmetleri Anonim Sirketi for USD 165 million. Kolcuoglu Demirkan Kocakli advised Iyzi Odeme and its shareholders on the transaction, with Orrick advising selling shareholder Vostok Emerging Finance, and Moroglu Arseven reportedly advising selling shareholder 212 Capital Partners I Cooperatief.

In accordance with Turkish Law, employee’s employment security rights are secured with reemployment lawsuit. At cases where labor contract of employee terminated unlawfully, employee can request his/her reemployment (compensation in case of not being accepted to job) and fee for the period he/she was not able to work due to unlawful termination. But even though court rules for reemployment, employee must act in accordance with time periods and conditions regulated at law. Otherwise, employee might not benefit from the earned rights even though the verdict of court regarding reemployment lawsuit is in favor of the employee. In this context, regulation regarding employee to make an application to the employer within 10 days after service of finalized court verdict of verdict to him/her; directly effects employee’s rights and it has been seen that this regulation is interpreted differently by different chambers of Supreme Courts.

1. Introduction: Despite annulment of Article 14 of the Decree No. 556 by the Turkish Constitutional Court has created a lacuna about the legal ground of the use obligation of trademarks; the proprietor always had the obligation for using its trademark in Turkish and international Trademark Law. In a nutshell a trademark that has not been genuinely used in Turkey for at least continuous 5 years, the trademark can be requested to be cancelled due to non-use of the trademark, unless there is a justification for non-use of the trademark. This article studies the justifications that can be shown for non-use of a trademark in consideration of the current case-law.

Gide has advised TEB Asset Management, a joint venture of Turk Ekonomi Bankasi and the BNP Paribas Group, on the acquisition of ING Asset Management, a subsidiary of ING Bank in Turkey. ING was assisted by Caliskan Okkan Toker.