On November 18, 2020, the General Court of the European Union (“General Court”) upheld the European Commission’s (“Commission”) decision, in which Letuvos geležnkela AB (“Lithuanian Railway”) (“LG”) was found to have abused its dominant position in the Lithuanian rail freight market by removing a section of a railway track used by its competitors. In its appeal to the General Court, LG had requested that the Commission’s decision be annulled or in the alternative, the amount of the fine be reduced. While upholding the Commission’s decision, the General Court did reduce the amount of the fine imposed by almost a third, taking into account the duration and gravity of the infringement.

Akol Law has advised Yapi Kredi & Halkbank on the restructuring of Can Komur’s facilities for the Can-2 Thermal Power Plant, which are guaranteed by Can Komur's parent company, Odas Enerji.

The Turunc Law Firm has advised Vinci on an unspecified venture capital investment in the Izmir-based ShipsGo logistics company. Pruva Hukuk was counsel to ShipsGo on the deal.

Okan Arican has been made Partner and Head of M&A and Corporate Transactions at Turkey's BTS & Partners.

Ayca Aydin Suzer has joined TEB Cetelem as Head of Legal in Turkey.

Burcu Boso has joined the Balcioglu Selcuk Ardiyok Keki Attorney Partnership's Banking & Finance practice in Istanbul.

The Law Proposal on Preventing the Proliferation of Financing Weapons of Mass Destruction (“Proposal”) which provides several and significant amendments to the Law No. 5549 on Prevention of Laundering of Crime Revenues (“Law No. 5549”) has been accepted by the Grand National Assembly of Turkey and is expected to be published in the Official Gazette in the upcoming days with the law number 7262. One of the most remarkable provisions introduced within the Proposal is the amendment to the Law No. 5549 which introduces Know Your Client (KYC) requirements to independent attorneys by way of defining them as one of the “obliged parties”.

The Law No. 7262 on Preventing the Proliferation of Financing Weapons of Mass Destruction was approved by the Turkish Grand National Assembly on December 27, 2020 (“Law No. 7262”). In the general reasoning of the proposal, it is stated that main aim of the law is to fulfill a number of recommendations of FATF (Financial Action Task Force) in several different areas in order to fight against money laundering and financing of terrorism. The Law No. 7262 mandates changes in various laws.

Zeynep Unlu has been promoted to equity partner at BTS & Partners in Turkey.

The Balcioglu Selcuk Akman Keki Attorney Partnership has advised Arzum on its initial public offering.

Former Counsels Nazli Bezirci, Nihan Bacanak, and Simel Sarialioglu, and Sansal Erbacioglu have been promoted to Partner at Paksoy.

Former Esin Attorney Partnership Partner Birturk Aydin has left that firm — the Turkish member firm of Baker McKenzie International — to become the Head of Legal at Koc University in Istanbul.

In 2019 and 2020, Turkish administrative courts handed down noteworthy judgments concerning two particular decisions of the Turkish Competition Board (“Board”). In both of these cases, namely the (i) Sahibinden Bilgi Teknolojileri Pazarlama ve Tic. A.Ş. (“Sahibinden”) judgment rendered by the Ankara 6^th Administrative Court (“Sahibinden Judgment”) and the (ii) Enerjisa Enerji A.Ş. (“Enerjisa”) judgments rendered by the Ankara 13^th Administrative Court (“Enerjisa Judgments”), the courts have shed light on and set the bar for the “standard of proof” with respect to the Board’s decisions. In both of the judgments, the administrative courts looked for whether the Board decisions had been based on sufficient evidence and analysis to prove the infringement “beyond any doubt”. The Administrative Courts have unequivocally shown that they are expecting the Turkish Competition Authority (“Authority”) and Board to run the extra mile and conduct more research, collect more data and base its analyses on these tangible results, rather than just relying on assumptions and mere observation of the current market status, to reach the decisions.

Paksoy has advised Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality on its USD 580 million bonds issuance.

Ebru Gurdemir has joined Unilever in Istanbul as the General Counsel TUI.

In principle, shareholders of limited liability companies (“LLC”) have the right to vote on the issues being discussed during the general assembly meetings and such right is indispensable. On the other hand, Turkish Commercial Code No.6102 (“TCC”) sets forth certain limitations on voting rights of the shareholders to prevent any impartiality, especially in cases where certain shareholders may not be able to prioritize the interests of the LLC and may value their own benefit. With this article, we aim to provide the instances where the shareholders of an LLC may be prohibited from using their voting rights.

Cerrahoglu, working alongside lead counsel Gleiss Lutz, has advised Gelita on the acquisition of a 65% stake in SelJel Jelatin Sanayi ve Ticaret A.S, via Gelita Internationale Gelatine GmnH, from Sel Sanayi Urunleri Ticaret ve Pazarlama A.S. Somay reportedly advised the sellers on the deal.

Kinstellar has advised Turkey's Dogus Holding on the sale of a 30% stake in Istanbul's Istinye Park shopping mall to Doha-based investment house Qatar Holding LLC, which is part of the Qatar Investment Authority. Linklaters and Paksoy reportedly advised Qatar Holding on the deal.