People

Sezin Elçin Cengiz

With 23 years of experience in both Turkish Competition Authority and private practice, Sezin represents clients in a full array of competition/antitrust matters, including merger control and coordination of multi-jurisdictional filings, cartel and dominance investigations, behavioural matters and compliance programs. Her international experience and perspective contribute to her expertise in addressing antitrust risk and compliance across various industries.

Sezin has been involved in hundreds of merger/acquisition/JV cases to date, both on the Turkish Competition Authority side – reviewing and analysing merger filings as a case handler – and on the law firm side preparing and making the merger submissions on behalf of the clients. Aside from Türkiye, Sezin has significant experience in multi-jurisdictional merger filing analysis, as well as coordinating merger control filings on a global scale.

Throughout her career, Sezin has been involved in a number of landmark competition investigations in Türkiye, successfully representing investigated parties before the Turkish Competition Authority. Aside from assisting the clients with establishing the underlying facts (internal investigations) and developing the most viable defence strategy, she also provides strategic advice for the optimal outcomes through leniency applications, settlement negotiations and the use of commitment mechanism.

Prior to establishing COPARTNERS, Sezin served as the head of the Competition/Antitrust practice at a global law firm, White & Case, in Türkiye for 12 years. Previously, she worked for the Turkish Competition Authority for 10 years as a senior case handler/expert in competition law. During her tenure at the Turkish Competition Authority, she oversaw inquiries, supervised teams conducting dawn raids, and conducted pioneering evaluations of mergers and acquisitions, exemption/negative clearance requests, and privatization cases with a specific focus on the banking, insurance, tourism, education, land, air and sea transportation, ports, and pharmaceutical sectors.

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Sezin is a partner at COPARTNERS.

Emre Önal

A seasoned antitrust lawyer, qualified both in Turkey and New York, Emre has unrivalled experience and reputation in all aspects of antitrust and competition law.

Emre advises on all substantive prohibitions under the Turkish Competition Law, including competition/antitrust matters, including merger control and coordination of multi-jurisdictional filings, cartel and dominance investigations, behavioural matters, compliance programmes. In particular, he advises clients in respect of investigations conducted by the Turkish Competition Authority, leniency applications and merger notifications filed with the Turkish Competition Authority.

Emre is a key figure in many groundbreaking and complex merger cases on the role of coordinator and lead counsel. Emre represents Turkish and international clients in all phases of the merger review process and advises on a broad range of antitrust and regulatory issues related to mergers and acquisitions, joint ventures and other business arrangements. Emre regularly oversees multijurisdictional reviews of merger control, foreign investment and other regulatory issues arising from cross-border transactions, as well as the relevant filing and review processes.

Before merging his own law firm, ONaL Law Firm with COPARTNERS, he held the position of head of the Competition/Antitrust practice at a global law firm, Allen & Overy, in Türkiye for 8 years. Throughout his tenure as coordinator and lead counsel, he managed a wide range of cases in both Türkiye and the Middle East, led myriad cases through the approval processes with competition authorities in both Türkiye and the Middle East region. Also, Emre skillfully nurtured a diverse clientele with an international reach, representing clients across various industries and geographic regions.

Emre is renowned for his meticulous attention to detail and his ability to provide pragmatic, solution-focused advice. His extensive experience enables him to leverage best practices from various jurisdictions and craft strategies and solutions for the most challenging issues.

Beyond his professional responsibilities, Emre plays an active role in advancing academic research and promoting compliance programs by serving as an expert instructor in the field of competition law.

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Emre is a partner at COPARTNERS.

Adnan Akgün

Adnan brings over 23 years of experience in competition law to his practice, advising clients across various industries. After starting his career at the Turkish Competition Authority, particularly within the Telecommunication, Media, and Tech Department, he transitioned to leading a compliance team at a prominent telecom company for 8 years.

For the past five years, Adnan has focused on the evolving legal landscape of e-commerce, digital services, and financial services. He is passionate about leveraging competition law to promote environmental sustainability and works closely with businesses and policymakers to achieve these goals.

Adnan’s clients benefit from his in-depth knowledge, allowing him to provide clear and practical guidance on complex competition issues. While skilled across various competition law areas, Adnan possesses particular expertise in:

• Competition issues within heavily regulated industries
• Complex distribution structures involving online sales
• Compliance management for intricate sales and distribution channels
• Navigating the notification and clearance processes for mergers and acquisitions

In addition to his corporate work, Adnan offers his expertise to associations and civil society organizations navigating complex stakeholder relationships.

Adnan stays abreast of the ever-changing competition law landscape, anticipating potential consequences for his clients’ businesses.

His experience across various roles, including as an officer, in-house counsel, and external advisor, allows him to provide practical and actionable competition law guidance.

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Adnan is a partner at COPARTNERS.

Zeynep Özgültekin

Zeynep advises clients on all aspects of the Turkish competition law, including but not limited to cartel/behavioural investigations, abuse of dominant position, merger control, merger notifications and submissions to the Turkish Competition Authority on behalf of the interested third parties and legal proceedings before the Turkish courts in respect of the competition authority’s decisions. Zeynep has considerable experience representing various multinational and national companies before the Turkish Competition Authority as well as the Turkish courts in compensation lawsuits arising from competition law infringements.

Zeynep has represented clients from a diverse range of industries including technology, FMCG, energy, transportation and telecommunications among others.

Zeynep has a strong interest in the digital markets, as well as the growing regulation of technology companies around the world (including through the EU Digital Markets Act and proposed UK Digital Markets Unit). Zeynep also has experience advising on sectors such as information technology, internet search, online advertising, e-commerce, software for some of the world’s largest companies.

Zeynep also routinely contributes to antitrust publications, journals; and gives presentations in universities.

Prior to joining COPARTNERS, Zeynep was an associate at Tier One firms in Istanbul. Zeynep graduated from Koç University, Faculty of Law, where she served as a student assistant for a professor and as a member of the debate team.

Zeynep was also a member of the European Youth Parliament during her studies in Robert College and was elected and sent to represent Turkey in the international session took place in Finland.

She was admitted to the Istanbul Bar Association in 2018.

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Zeynep is an associate at COPARTNERS.

Umut Bakanoğulları

Umut advises clients on all aspects of Turkish competition law, including but not limited to cartel/behavioural investigations, abuse of dominant position, individual exemption analysis, and merger control, including merger notifications to the Turkish Competition Authority, submissions on behalf of interested third parties. He has substantial experience representing various multinational and national companies before the Turkish Competition Authority as well as the Turkish courts in appeal lawsuits arising from Turkish Competition Board decisions.

He has represented clients from a diverse range of industries including digital platforms, FinTech, automotive, and aerospace among others.

Umut has a strong interest in the digital markets, as well as the growing regulation of technology companies around the world (including through the EU Digital Markets Act and proposed UK Digital Markets Unit). Umut also has developed a thorough knowledge of the financial services, software, and online advertising sectors.

Prior to joining COPARTNERS, Umut was an associate at Tier One firms in Istanbul. There, he regularly advised and represented multinational clients before the Turkish Competition Authority in investigations of cartels and abuse of dominant position and antitrust clearance of international transactions. He also served as a legal counsel to one of the Europe’s largest fintechs and provided regulatory consultancy to various fintech clients.

Umut graduated from Istanbul University, Faculty of Law. During his undergraduate studies, he also served as the president of the Türkiye branch of the European Law Students’ Association, among other positions. Umut also completed master of laws courses in the Information Technology Law Institute of Istanbul Bilgi University.

He was admitted to the Istanbul Bar Association in 2018.

[email protected]

Umut is an associate at COPARTNERS.

Bahadır Bektaş

Bahadır advises clients on all aspects of Turkish competition law, including but not limited to antitrust risks in the context of mergers and acquisitions, abuse of dominant position, internal investigations processes in the context of competition law investigations or mock reviews, compliance programmes, training, e-learning and audits for Turkish and international clients. He specializes in addressing issues related to anti-competitive agreements and cartel investigations.

He has represented clients from a diverse range of industries including e-commerce, technology, financial services, consumer goods, infrastructure and among others.

Bahadır has a strong interest in the TMT, gaming & consumer goods sectors, as well as the growing regulation of technology companies around the world (including through the EU Digital Markets Act and proposed UK Digital Markets Unit).

Prior to joining COPARTNERS, Bahadır worked as an in-house counsel in a well-known group of companies in Türkiye, where he assisted the group’s legal team in relation to the firm’s competition law compliance and training program, internal investigations, and antitrust advisory.

Bahadır graduated from Istanbul Şehir University, Faculty of Law. He holds a Master’s degree in competition law at Istanbul University with his thesis on the restriction of online sales.

He was admitted to the Istanbul Bar Association in 2019.

[email protected]

Bahadır is an associate at COPARTNERS.

Merve Demirkaya

Merve advises clients on all aspects of Turkish competition law, including but not limited to merger control, including merger notifications to the Turkish Competition Authority, submissions on behalf of interested third parties, legal proceedings before the Turkish courts in respect of the competition authority’s decisions, cartel/behavioural investigations compliance programmes, training, e-learning, and audits for Turkish and international clients.

She has represented clients from a diverse range of industries including FMCG, digital platforms, food and beverages, mining and metals, energy and among others.

She has a great interest in matters at the intersection of data privacy and competition law since she worked in personal data protection department before joining COPARTNERS.

Prior to joining COPARTNERS, Merve practiced in the competition/antitrust department of a global law firm, where she mainly advised clients on competition law investigations, personal data protection and e-commerce legislation.

Merve graduated from Koç University, Faculty of Law, where she served as a research assistant of 5 professors who teaches insurance law, private international law, international law, investment law and law of obligations. Also, during her university life, she worked as a Moot Court Team competitor and as a coach of Koç University Frankfurt Investment Arbitration Moot Court Team.

She was admitted to the Istanbul Bar Association in 2022.

[email protected]

Merve is an associate at COPARTNERS.

İlayda Akça

İlayda advises clients on all aspects of Turkish competition law, including but not limited to compliance programmes, training, e-learning and audits for Turkish and international clients, competition due diligence, legal proceedings before the Turkish courts in respect of the competition authority’s decisions, anti-competitive risks of particular business strategies (including distribution agreements).

She has represented clients from a diverse range of industries including food and beverages, insurance, pharmaceuticals, energy, oil and gas, and among others.

Prior to joining COPARTNERS, İlayda served as legal intern at White & Case where she gained an in-depth knowledge of M&A transactions, bank and finance law and sectoral experience.

İlayda studied as an exchange student for a half academic year at Humboldt University in Berlin and she graduated from Bahçeşehir University with full scholarship, Faculty of Law, where she served as team member and oral pleader in Vis International Commercial Arbitration Moot Court Competition and team captain in ELSA Human Rights Moot Court Competition.

She was admitted to the Istanbul Bar Association in 2023.

[email protected]

İlayda is an associate at COPARTNERS.

Selin Altaç