The Advertisement Board rendered an advertisement ban decision and concluded that the use of registered trademarks on a business sign without a contractual relationship with the proprietor of displayed trademarks is an unfair commercial practice. The Advertisement Board’s reasoning is that such use on the business sign without any legal contractual relationship, such as license agreements, creates the wrong impression over the consumer that this particular business is an authorized service shop of the business products bearing the displayed trademarks. The decision of the Advertisement Board is published on the Advertisement Board Meeting Press Bulletin dated May 4, 2021 and numbered 309.

Egemenoglu has advised Derindere Turizm Otomotiv on the second round of consolidated and syndicated loan restructuring for its EUR 350 million debt. Cetinkaya Taktak Semiz Baltali Yorukoglu reportedly advised the banking consortium.

Cakmak has advised Plaskolite on the sale of its shares in joint-venture PIA Akrilik to JV partner Sirius Plastik. Akol Law advised Sirius Plastik on the deal.

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.

Turunc has advised Logo Ventures and Tech One on their investment into Evreka. Gokce advised Evreka on the investment round.

Cakmak has advised Turcas Petrol on the sale of its Kuyucak geothermal power plant to Albioma. Tunc Firat Dereli advised the buyer.

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.

BTS & Partners has advised Eczacibasi Momentum on its USD 12 million Series A Round investment in RS Research.

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.

Paksoy has advised the EBRD on a USD 110 million loan agreement with Enerjisa.