GC Connect Istanbul 2026

Mustafa Tırtır

Co-Founding Partner·Mustafa Tırtır Law Firm

Mustafa Tırtır graduated from Istanbul University Faculty of Law in 1999. After working with his professor Prof. Dr. Köksal Bayraktar for 11 years, he established Mustafa Tırtır Law Firm in 2011. Atty. Mustafa Tırtır has been in criminal law for over 23 years. While continuing his profession, Mustafa Tırtır completed his master's degree with his thesis on the control of communication at Istanbul Ticaret University. He is in the thesis phase of his doctoral studies at Istanbul Medipol University. In addition, he gave lectures at Istanbul Medipol University Vocational School of Justice. He has nearly 30 articles in the field of criminal law. He gives training on criminal law on various platforms. Mustafa Tırtır, with his distinguished team in his office, provides services to local and foreign clients, especially in the field of corporate crimes and white-collar crimes.

Muharrem Kazak

Partner·Mustafa Tırtır Law Firm

Muharrem enrolled in the Faculty of Law at Bahçeşehir University in 2008 after ranking 642nd on the Turkish university entrance exam. Following the completion of an English preparatory program at California State University, San Bernardino, he returned to Istanbul to complete his legal education. He has been practicing as an attorney registered with the Istanbul Bar Association since 2015. He provides legal services in criminal law to both domestic and international clients.

Ömer Çollak

Partner·Paksoy

Ömer leads Paksoy's capital markets practice, representing corporate and bank issuers, underwriters and lead managers on cross-border public and private debt and equity offerings, regulatory capital, and structured and Islamic finance transactions. He has been ranked for many years as a leading capital markets lawyer by Chambers & Partners, The Legal 500, Who's Who Legal and Legal Experts, and also advises on high-ticket cross-border M&A across sectors including financial institutions and retail. Previously a foreign associate at a US firm in California, he is a member of the International and American Bar Associations and a board member of TÜYİD.

Ökkeş Şahan

Partner·Paksoy

Ökkeş specialises in securities law, capital market transactions, corporate governance, and public company law. Before joining Paksoy, he spent nearly 15 years at the Capital Markets Board of Turkey as legal counsel, advising the Board's other departments. He acts for issuers and underwriters in equity, debt, and equity-linked instruments across international public offerings, Eurobond offerings, and private placements. He also has significant experience in listed-company M&A across financial institutions, retail, and telecommunications, with deep understanding of disputes among investors, shareholders, listed companies, investment institutions, and independent audit firms.

Mehmet Baysan

Partner·Fieldfisher

Mehmet Baysan began his career as a corporate lawyer at a prestigious AmLaw 100 law firm. He then transitioned to become a trial lawyer, initially in Boston, Massachusetts, and later in New York City before joining Fieldfisher's dispute resolution practice in London. In recognition of his outstanding contributions to the field, Mehmet was named a “Trail Blazer” in 2021 and has been consistently honoured as a “Rising Star” by SuperLawyers in the United States. His legal expertise extends to representing a diverse clientele, including entities, individuals, and sovereign-owned entities, in complex multi-jurisdictional matters and government investigations. Mehmet also acts as outside general counsel for clients, where he offers valuable advice to global companies on their cross-border legal matters. He has successfully represented clients before various arbitral bodies, such as the International Court of Arbitration (ICC) and the International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID), as well as in U.S. State and Federal courts and various U.S. administrative bodies.

Arne Koeppel

Managing Director·FTI Consulting

Arne Koeppel is Managing Director in the energy and industrials practice in Brussels in the Strategic Communications segment at FTI Consulting. Arne has extensive experience in a vast variety of sectors and grown a strong expertise in the intersection of sustainability, trade and industry. Arne, a trained lawyer, has a proven track record in planning, managing and implementing public affairs programmes, campaigns and perception studies, enabling dialogue between policy-makers and stakeholders and conducting in-depth intelligence gathering and analysis. Currently Arne advises clients on issues relating to economic security, the debate on European content requirements and trade policy. To that end he engages with European policy makers, provides input into policy papers and designs strategies for multinational companies to navigate the EU policy environment. Among notable projects, Arne supported a steel company in shaping the Commission's industrial policy, carried out campaigns to influence trade defence cases and helped clients navigating the tariff dispute with the US.

Dr Sebastian Jungermann

Partner·ASD LEGAL

Dr. Sebastian Jungermann is a Frankfurt-based partner at ASD LEGAL / ARNECKE SIBETH DABELSTEIN, where he advises on German and EU antitrust, competition, corporate, and M&A matters. With more than 25 years of experience, he represents clients in merger control, cartel and abuse proceedings, compliance investigations, litigation, and cross-border regulatory matters. He has acted before German competition authorities, courts, the European Commission, and the U.S. Department of Justice, and is recognized for his work in competition/antitrust and M&A law.

Sinan has more than 10 years of competition law experience and assists clients with all aspects of Turkish competition law including merger control, antitrust investigations, exemption filings, and daily compliance queries. His expertise extends to administrative and private litigation, designing competition law compliance programs, and delivering bespoke training sessions. Sinan also provides support for international merger control requirements. Throughout his career, Sinan has successfully advised clients on over 75 merger control filings before the Turkish Competition Authority across diverse sectors. He has handled multiple Phase II investigations, full-fledged antitrust investigations, and preliminary reviews. Sinan represented clients in antitrust investigations and other matters across a diverse range of industries such as digital platforms, automotive, telecommunications, electronics, mobile games, banking, FMCG, pharmaceuticals, medical devices, chemicals, insurance, infrastructure, steel, building materials, refractories, cosmetics and parcel delivery services. Sinan's impressive track record includes drafting defence submissions, presenting cases before the Turkish Competition Board, assisting clients during dawn raids, and providing strategic advice on responding to information requests.

With more than 20 years of experience, Koray brings extensive expertise in corporate and commercial litigation, administrative proceedings, and criminal matters. He focuses in particular on shareholder and M&A disputes, disputes arising from distribution contracts and unfair competition, real estate disputes, bankruptcy, and white-collar crime. His clients include governments, international corporations, private equity firms, banks, and large industrial conglomerates, whom he represents before courts at all levels in Türkiye. Koray is also a mediator and has significant experience in international arbitration matters.

Prof. Dr. Kerem Cem Sanlı is a Turkish legal scholar and professor at İstanbul Bilgi University Faculty of Law. He graduated from Istanbul University Faculty of Law in 1996. He received master's degrees from Marmara University's private law program in 1999 and from Harvard University's law department in 2000. He completed his doctorate in private law at Marmara University Institute of Social Sciences in 2006, became associate professor of civil law in 2017, and was appointed professor in 2023. His academic work focuses on civil law, competition law, liability law, and law and economics.

Bora Yazıcıoğlu, LL.M

Managing Partner·Yazıcıoğlu Legal

Bora Yazıcıoğlu specializes in data protection, technology/internet/IT law, consumer protection/advertising, commercial and corporate law, commercial contracts, administrative investigations/reviews, and dispute resolution. Mr. Yazıcıoğlu began his career at Yarsuvat & Yarsuvat Law Firm, founded by Prof. Dr. Duygun Yarsuvat. He later joined the Istanbul office of Dentons (then known as Denton Wilde Sapte), an international law firm, where he practiced for many years. Prior to founding Yazıcıoğlu Legal in 2016, he served as a partner responsible for technology/internet/IT law and dispute resolution at his previous firm. Bora is listed as one of the leading individuals in IT and Telecoms Law in Turkey by The Legal 500. He is also listed as a Ranked Lawyer in TMT and Fintech in Turkey by Chambers and Partners. He is the current president of Data Protection Association-Turkey.

Att. Dr. Çiğdem Ayözger Öngün

Moderator·SRP-Legal

Att. Dr. Çiğdem Ayözger Öngün, as the second generation of law practice, is the founder and managing partner of SRP-Legal in Istanbul, Turkey. She has extensive experience in Technology, Media and Communications Law, Financial Technology Law, Commercial and Corporate Law, Competition Law and Data Protection and Privacy Law. She is a thought leader, and highly recognized by the community as a lawyer. After graduating from TED College and Ankara University Faculty of Law, she completed her master's degree in Competition Law at London School of Economics and Istanbul University and her PhD in Data Protection and Privacy Law at Istanbul University. Dr. Öngün also completed the Turkcell Executive MBA Program at Koç University. Dr. Öngün is also a Doctoral Visiting Professor at Istanbul Technical University. Dr. Öngün is also the author of the Personal Data Protection Law Book. Dr. Öngün is the co-author of Applied Competition Law Book, “Hüseyin Hatemi'ye Armağan” book and “Metaverse” book as well as the first Legal Almanac of Türkiye's since 2022. Dr. Öngün is the President of the International Women's Forum Association (IWF) Türkiye, President of the Data Protection and Technology Law Working Group of the Turkish Industrialists' and Business Association (TÜSİAD), Executive Board Member of the Blockchain Turkey Platform (BCTR), Member of the FinTech Sector Assembly of the Union of Chambers and Commodity Exchanges of Turkey (TOBB), Founding Member of the Women in Technology Association (Wtech), and President of the Presidency of the 3rd Informatics Council Information Technology Law and Ethics. Dr. Öngün received Thomson Reuters' “2025 The Standout Lawyer Award” and “2024 The Standout Lawyer Award” and The Gentleman Magazine “2024 International Achievement Award”.

Oğuzhan Arslan

Deputy GM and Legal Director·Microsoft Türkiye

With over 19 years of legal experience, Oğuzhan is Deputy GM and Legal Director for Microsoft Türkiye and the Adriatic countries within Microsoft Europe South. In 13+ years at Microsoft he has covered commercial strategy, IP, privacy, and digital crimes; led extensive regional work on responsible AI, privacy, digital transformation, and strategic partnerships across the Middle East and Africa; and now leads commercial legal for Türkiye and the Adriatics, sitting on the Microsoft Türkiye and Microsoft Adriatics leadership teams. Earlier, he served as in-house counsel in automotive and FMCG between 2006 and 2013. He holds an LL.M. and is based in Istanbul.

Assoc. Prof. Dr. Cenk Y. Şahin is an Associate Professor at Istanbul University Faculty of Law, Department of Administrative Law. He is a scholar of public and administrative law with extensive academic, teaching, and administrative experience at one of Turkey's leading law faculties. Dr. Şahin received his LL.B. from Istanbul University Faculty of Law in 1999. He went on to complete an LL.M. in Public Law at Istanbul University Institute of Social Sciences in 2002. In 2006, he earned a second LL.M. from American University Washington College of Law in the United States, where he studied in the Program on Law and Government. He completed his Ph.D. in Public Law at Istanbul University Institute of Social Sciences in 2009. His academic career at Istanbul University began in 2002, when he joined the Faculty of Law as a Research Assistant in the Department of Administrative Law. He served in that role until 2010, after which he was appointed Assistant Professor. Between 2010 and 2020, he continued his teaching and research in administrative law. Since 2020, he has served as Associate Professor in the Department of Administrative Law. In addition to his academic work, Dr. Şahin has held significant leadership responsibilities within the Faculty of Law, serving as Vice Dean of Istanbul University Faculty of Law from July 2017 to April 2018 and again from January 2021 to March 2022.

Prof. Kurşat is a tenured professor teaching civil law at Istanbul University's Law School. He has been working at this university since 2000. He has taught and continues to teach on the following subjects: “Law of Persons,” “Family Law,” “Law of Obligations,” “Property Law,” “Inheritance Law,” and “Health Law.” He also teaches on various specialized subjects in the graduate and doctoral level law school programs offered by the Institute of Social Sciences at Istanbul University. He has been in Germany as part of his doctorate and associate professor studies, and in the USA as part of his studies about his last book named Construction Contract. Dr. Kurşat has published four scholarly books and several academic articles. He provides consultancy services to various organizations on subjects such as contractual law, liability law, property, inheritance and family law, and provides expert opinion on the same subject areas in certain courts. Dr. Kurşat served as arbitrator in various disputes brought before the Turkish Football Federation Dispute Resolution Committee and as the Chairman of the Disciplinary Board of the Turkish Sailing Federation. In 2014, he received Certified Mediation training, passed the exams and was awarded the title of mediator. Prof. Kurşat served as Vice Rector of the Turkish–German University between 2018 and 2022, where he also taught Property Law.