The Turkish Competition Authority (“Authority”) published its Final Report on the E-Marketplace Sector Inquiry (“Final Report”) on April 14, 2022, after a period of almost a year after publishing its Preliminary Report on the E-Marketplace Sector Inquiry (“Preliminary Report”) on May 7, 2021.

Linklaters and Paksoy have advised the Qatar Investment Authority on the acquisition of an approximately 20% interest in the D.ream International fine dining group from parent company Dogus Group, a Turkish conglomerate.

Former Senior Associate ​​Engin Sahin has been promoted to Partner at the Postacioglu Law Firm.

The board of the Banking Regulation and Supervision Agency (“the Board”) has announced macro-prudential measures over the course of this weekend, consisting of (i) the Board Decision regarding prohibition of commercial Turkish Lira loans to corporate borrowers subject to independent audit dated June 24, 2022 (“Board Decision”) and (ii) press release determining the scope and implementation of the Board Decision dated June 26, 2022 (“Press Release”). Accordingly, until a new decision to the contrary is introduced by the Board or the Central Bank, corporate borrowers being subject to independent audit and holding foreign currencies above certain thresholds will no longer be allowed to borrow commercial cash loans in Turkish Lira.

Former Pekin & Pekin Partner Hasan Yasar has joined Kolcuoglu Demirkan Kocakli as a Partner.

Turkish citizenship can be acquired in several ways, including by marriage or employment or living for a certain period of time. Another option is making investment in the country. Accordingly, those who fulfil the requirements set out in the law can easily get the citizenship after filing the required documents.

For the past decade, to boost its long-term economic outlook and service the needs of the growing population, Turkey has used the public-private partnership model extensively in the infrastructure sector.

Recent developments such as economic crises, pandemics, climate crisis, green transformation and the increasing importance of compliance with strategies such as European Green Deal necessitates a sustainable and innovative finance approach in the world and in our country's capital markets. Therefore, the need for long-term funds to finance the investments required for the transition to a low-carbon economy and projects that contribute to environmental sustainability increases the importance of capital markets. In order to accelerate the sustainable development of our country, in the 2022 target announcements and draft guidelines of the Turkish Capital Markets Association and the Capital Markets Board; it is seen that innovative capital markets financing products related to environmental and social problems such as climate change are supported.

Significant amendments were introduced into the Bankruptcy and Enforcement Code numbered 2004 ["BEC”] on November 30, 2021. One of these changes was regarding entitling debtors to sell their own seized property by consent.

In addition to its big impact on our social life, WhatsApp messenger (“WhatsApp”) or any other online messaging platform also is used in business life in order for people to communicate quickly and easily. Nowadays, many people are sending work related messages to their colleagues, discuss work related topics, sharing work related documents or conducting their meetings via WhatsApp or any other online messaging platforms.

On June 7, 2022, the Turkish Medicines and Medical Devices Agency (“Agency”) published the Draft Guidelines on Packaging Information and Legibility of Foods for Special Medical Purposes (“Legibility Guidelines”) and the Draft Guidelines on New Health Claim Applications (“Application Guidelines”). 

Contributed by Guleryuz & Partners.

Partners Ozan Karaduman, Merve Karaduman, and Filiz Toprak Esin have announced that the Karaduman Law Firm and Esin Legal have merged in May 2022 and will operate under the Karaduman & Esin Law Firm brand.

Turkish Constitutional Court with its decision with application number 2019/12190, published in the Official Gazette on 20.04.2022, ruled that court decisions on dismissal of unquantified debt lawsuits on procedural grounds violates right to access to court.

The Elmacioglu Law Office has announced the formation of a collaborative partnership with Seoulsolution.

On May 27, 2022, the Law Proposal Amending the Press Law and Further Laws (“Draft”) has been published on Grand National Assembly of Turkey’s (TBMM) website, which includes significant amendments to various laws. The Draft is currently submitted before the relevant commissions (i.e. Justice Commission and Digital Platforms Commission) for discussions, and it is one of the agenda items of the Digital Platforms Commission’s meeting of June 1, 2022. The Draft is anticipated to be published within the second quarter of 2022. 

Dentons has recently announced its practice and sector group leadership appointments for the European Region, for the term ending December 2024. Partners Gulistan Baltaci, Piotr Dulewicz, Rob Irving, Arkadiusz Krasnodebski, Karol Laskowski, Evan Lazar, Tamsyn Mileham, Ewa Rutkowska-Subocz, and David Syed were among the appointees.

Turunc has advised Bogazici Ventures on its participation in a USD 2 million investment round in Craftgate together with AK Portfoy and APY Ventures. The Gemicioglu law office advised Craftgate and, reportedly, the Aksan law firm advised APY Ventures.