KPMG's Turkish affiliated law firm KP Law has appointed five new Associate Partners. Ozge Tuncel, Ekin Kotan, Secil Kisakurek, Isil Doganay, and Ece Kocabas have all joined the partnership, as of January 1, 2022.

Capital market activities as defined under Article 34 of the Capital Markets Law No. 6362 (the “CML”) are activities of capital market institutions falling within the scope of CML, investment services and activities and other ancillary services falling within the scope of the CML. In order to carry out capital market activities, permission of the Capital Markets Board of Turkey (the “Board”) is required. Obtaining permission is particularly important given that the consequences of determination by the Board that such activities are carried out without the permission from the Board may have severe consequences.

Efra Aydin Can and Didem Keles Pinar have been promoted to Partner at Egemenoglu, as of January 1, 2022.

While inheritance is considered an extension and an aspect of the property right, a person may be deprived of this right due to their own consent or in some cases, unlawful actions. These possibilities are regulated by Turkish law under the titles of disinheritance, successional indignity, renunciation of inheritance, and the right to disclaim.

In terms of Turkish corporate law perspective, different types of privileges may be granted to certain shares during drafting the articles of association while a joint-stock company is being established or by way of amending articles of association of an already established joint-stock company. These privileges may be on dividend right, liquidation share, pre-emptive right, voting right and other similar rights. In this regard, the shareholders holding privileged shares in a joint-stock company are deemed privileged shareholders. In this article, we will focus on rights of privileged shareholders and relevant procedures that need to be followed for the circumstances that may affect interests of privileged shareholders within the framework of Article 454 of the Turkish Commercial Code No. 6102 (“TCC”) and the Regulation on the Procedures and Principles of General Assembly Meetings of Joint-Stock Companies and Ministry Representatives Attending the Meetings.

Cartel facilitators are viewed as possible instruments for undertakings to disguise their restrictive agreements and to get around competition law obligations. The approach that enables third parties to be held liable as “cartel facilitators” under the EU competition law dates back to the 1980s, when the European Commission (“Commission”) decided for the first time in Italian Cast Glass that the third party, which was not active in the affected market but enabled and assisted the implementation of the restrictive behavior, was jointly liable for the cartel.

Contributed by Kolcuoglu Demirkan Kocakli.

Serra Haviyo has been promoted to Partner at Moral & Partners. According to the firm, Haviyo will be responsible for the Corporate Advisory, M&A, and Banking & Finance Departments.

Turkey's toughest challenges are inflation, exchange rates, and the devaluation of the Turkish Lira, according to Paksoy Partner Elvan Aziz.

So far, 2021 has seen less activity in terms of enforcement actions under the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act ("FCPA"), compared to 2020. In 2021, the United States Department of Justice ("DOJ") took a total of 19 enforcement actions, and the Securities and Exchange Commission ("SEC") took a total of 4 enforcement actions. Therefore we observe that the DOJ has been a lot more active than the SEC in terms of the number of enforcement actions this year.

The Code on Amending the Bankruptcy and Enforcement Code and Some Other Laws ["Amendment Law"] No. 7343 was adopted on November 24, 2021 and entered into force after being published in the Official Gazette No. 31675 on November 30, 2021. In this article, we will explain the critical changes brought by the Amendment Law.

The Council of Judges and Prosecutors ["CJP"] of Turkey resolved on establishment of six new specialized courts through its decision dated November 21, 2021, published in the Official Gazette on November 30, 2021. The CJP also published an announcement on its website.

Former Counsels Eda Duru and Onur Ozgumus have been promoted to Partner at ELIG Gurkaynak in a promotion round that saw five other lawyers promoted to Counsel.

Regulation on Sharing of Secret Information ("Regulation") issued by the Banking Regulation and Supervision Agency ("BRSA") has been published in the Official Gazette numbered 31501 and dated June 4, 2021 and will enter into force on January 1, 2022. The purpose of the Regulation is to determine the scope, form, procedures and principles regarding the sharing and transfer of bank secret and customer secret information, and the Regulation introduces detailed regulations regarding the confidentiality obligation. In this regard, we will focus on the new regulations introduced by the Regulation.

Cakmak has appointed Senior Counsel Elif Demiroz and Counsel Gulsen Engin as Partners.

Former Pekin & Pekin Senior Partner Yalcin Ozge Okat has established OkatLaw in Istanbul.

Corporate governance principles are set of rules and practices introduced as preventive measures pursuant to corruptions and bankruptcies of publicly held companies occurred in 1980s, for protection of companies, shareholders and stakeholders and to avoid conflicts of interest. Under Turkish approach, the managing body, i.e. board of directors, is regarded as the pillar of corporate governance given that the problems relate to the management of the companies. Therefore, the principles are focused on the board of directors.

In recent years, the growing concern that employers’ market power in labor markets has led to reduced or suppressed wages and working conditions has heated up the discussions on the competition authorities’ potential interference over competition violations within labor markets. These discussions have not remained theoretical and the competition authorities have started to launch investigations into labor markets. The Turkish Competition Authority (TCA) has kept pace with this global trend. On April 20, 2021, the TCA announced on its official website that it has ex officio launched a full-fledged investigation against 32 companies, mainly active in digital markets, to determine whether they violated the Law on the Protection of Competition through gentlemen’s agreements in labor markets in Turkey.