1. What first inspired you to become a lawyer, and when did you realise that law was the career you wanted to pursue?
"My inspiration to pursue law didn't come from text books; it was forged in the absolute realities of my childhood, where my innate talent for governance and crisis management manifested very early. Being chosen as the Child Governor of Ankara (Ankara Çocuk Valisi) at a young age was my first formal introduction to institutional responsibility and public leadership. However, the defining catalyst that cemented my path occurred during a profound personal crossroads—my parents' divorce. Finding myself in front of a judge, even as a young child, I instinctively bypassed emotional paralysis and proactively designed a balanced, strategic solution regarding my own custody that perfectly harmonized the familial crisis. It was in that courtroom, achieving that delicate balance, that I realized my life's calling: I possessed a natural mastery for problem-solving, strategic mediation, and structural governance. I understood that law was the ultimate vehicle that would allow me to step into any complex arena, navigate chaos, and architect sustainable solutions where others only saw conflict."
2. Could you tell us about your education and the experiences during your studies that had the greatest influence on the lawyer you became?
"My legal education laid a rigorous analytical foundation, but the experiences that truly shaped my professional identity were those that forced me to look beyond local frameworks. Engaging with comparative law, international trade dynamics, and participating in multi-disciplinary discussions taught me to view the law through a global and commercial lens. It taught me that black-letter law is merely the starting point; the real skill lies in interpreting the spirit of the regulation to drive sustainable progress."
3. Looking back at your first legal internship at Arçelik Group, what do you remember most clearly, and what did that experience teach you about working in law?
"Starting my journey at Arçelik Group was a masterclass in institutional excellence. What I remember most vividly is the sheer scale of the operations and the meticulous attention to corporate governance. It was there I first learned that a legal department in a major corporate player cannot function as an isolated island. It taught me that corporate law requires a perfect synthesis of legal precision and industrial reality—a lesson that formed the cornerstone of my later roles as an in-house leader."
4. At the beginning of your career, did you ever consider working in private practice, and what ultimately attracted you to an in-house legal career?
"While private practice offers valuable litigation and advisory exposure, I was naturally drawn to the heartbeat of the business itself. In private practice, you are often called in to fix a broken window or advise on an isolated transaction. As an in-house counsel, you are part of the architecture crew. I wanted to be in the room where executive decisions are made, where corporate strategy is forged, and where I could witness the long-term impact of legal guardrails on business growth."
5. How has your role evolved over the course of your career, and what have been the most important milestones on your journey to becoming a Head of Legal and Compliance?
"My career evolved from managing international corporate affairs and retail expansion across multiple jurisdictions to leading complex regulatory governance in highly regulated sectors like insurance, pensions, and financial technologies. Key milestones include spearheading multi-country M&A and brand integrations early on, establishing corporate compliance frameworks from scratch, and leading data protection committees at the industry level. Transitioning into a combined Head of Legal and Compliance role meant expanding my horizon from pure legal risk mitigation to holistic corporate governance, RegTech management, and board-level strategic advisory."
6. What do you believe are the key characteristics required to become a leading and successful in-house legal counsel?
"A leading in-house counsel must transcend the role of a traditional legal advisor and act as a strategic business partner. The absolute key characteristics are commercial acumen, intellectual agility, and absolute resilience. You need the ability to synthesize complex, overlapping regulations—such as cross-border data protection, AML, and corporate governance—into clear, actionable executive insights. Furthermore, a successful leader must possess deep emotional intelligence and communication mastery, enabling them to build trust at the board level while guiding the business safely through shifting regulatory terrains."
7. How do you balance the need to provide robust legal advice with the commercial realities and strategic priorities of the business?
"The balance is achieved by shifting from a mindset of 'rejection' to one of 'co-architecture.' An effective Head of Legal and Compliance does not simply say 'no' to mitigate risk; instead, they deeply analyze the commercial objective and design alternative legal structures to achieve it safely. By embedding legal and compliance thinking into the very initiation phase of products—whether it is an InsurTech initiative, a new bancassurance framework, or an M&A deal—we eliminate friction early on. Legal guardrails should not look like emergency brakes; they must function as navigation systems that enable the organization to move faster and with greater confidence."
8. What areas of law, regulation and compliance currently take up most of your attention, and how have those priorities changed in recent years?
"Currently, my primary focus centers on the intersection of Financial Technologies (InsurTech/RegTech), strict MASAK/AML compliance, complex data governance, and corporate board secretarial management. In recent years, the landscape has radically shifted from reactive compliance to highly sophisticated data privacy and digital regulation management. With the acceleration of artificial intelligence, digital banking frameworks, and complex cross-border sanction dynamics, the legal mandate has evolved from standard contract negotiation into presiding over holistic, technology-driven corporate governance systems."
9. What does a typical working day look like for you, and how much of your time is spent on legal matters, compliance, management and wider business strategy?
"No day is static, but my time is deliberately partitioned to balance immediate governance and long-term enterprise strategy. Approximately 30% of my day is dedicated to core corporate legal matters, major agreements, and critical litigation oversight. Another 30% focuses on evolving compliance frameworks, MASAK protocols, and data protection governance. The remaining 40% is strictly strategic: sitting with senior management, participating in board-level strategy, aligning with industry working groups like TÜSİAD and TSB, and mentoring my team to ensure our legal operations perfectly synchronize with the overarching commercial targets."
10. How do you build strong relationships with senior management and other business functions while maintaining the independence and judgement expected of the legal team?
"Independence is not maintained by isolation; it is built on a foundation of professional credibility and mutual respect. I build strong relationships by demonstrating that the legal team thoroughly understands the market realities, financial targets, and operational pressures facing our business peers. When senior leadership sees that your primary goal is to help them win safely, they welcome you into the inner circle. This deep professional trust allows me to deliver unflinching, independent legal judgment when critical, high-stakes decisions require absolute objectivity and firm ethical guardrails."
11. What are the biggest challenges currently facing General Counsel and Heads of Legal in Türkiye?
"The paramount challenge for legal leaders in Türkiye is navigating a hyper-dynamic, rapidly evolving regulatory landscape alongside complex macroeconomic shifts. We operate in an environment where regulatory frameworks—ranging from data privacy amendments and capital markets rules to digital finance and MASAK compliance—are constantly updating. Balancing these fast-moving compliance mandates with the corporate need for agile, rapid decision-making requires exceptional resilience. General Counsel must possess the ability to instantly decipher the commercial impact of a new regulation and steer their organizations safely without slowing down momentum."
12. How would you describe the current state of diversity and inclusion within Türkiye's legal profession and in-house legal community?
"Türkiye possesses an incredibly vibrant and highly intellectual legal community, with women legal professionals holding formidable, leading positions, particularly within corporate in-house legal departments. However, true diversity and inclusion must extend beyond numbers into cultural equity and systematic support systems. While we see exceptional female representation at the General Counsel level, the challenge lies in ensuring that this inclusion trickles down to equal opportunities in specialized tech-driven legal sectors, senior private practice partnerships, and board-level appointments across all traditional industries."
13. What more do you believe law firms, companies and legal leaders need to do to improve diversity, inclusion and equality of opportunity in the Turkish legal sector?
"It requires a definitive shift from passive policy to active mentorship and structured corporate advocacy. As an active mentor within the Association of Corporate Counsel (ACC), I firmly believe that senior legal leaders must intentionally pull the next generation up. Companies and law firms need to institutionalize transparent meritocracy, flexible work environments that support modern work-life integration, and explicit leadership tracks for underrepresented talents. Furthermore, we need closer alignment between academia, industry groups like TÜSİAD, and legal institutions to create diverse career launchpads early during legal studies."
14. How are you managing the impact of artificial intelligence on the role of in-house legal counsel, both in terms of opportunity and risk?
"As a member of the Artificial Intelligence Policy Association (AIPA) and an alumnus of global training programmes in AI & Data, I approach AI with a dual strategy of aggressive adoption and rigorous risk governance. The opportunities are immense—AI accelerates contract analytics, automates repetitive compliance tracking, and elevates our RegTech frameworks. However, the risks regarding data privacy, intellectual property boundaries, algorithmic bias, and cross-border data transfer limitations require unwavering legal guardrails. My approach is to cultivate an AI-literate legal team that knows exactly how to leverage these tools as intellectual accelerators while remaining the ultimate custodians of corporate ethics and data integrity."
15. Where do you believe AI will take the Turkish legal sector over the next five to ten years, and which parts of legal work do you think will change most significantly?
"Over the next decade, AI will fundamentally redefine the value proposition of the Turkish legal profession. Routine, volume-heavy tasks such as initial document discovery, standard contract drafting, and preliminary regulatory mapping will be entirely automated via specialized legal-AI tools. The Turkish legal sector will shift toward a premium advisory model. The lawyers who thrive will be those who operate as high-level risk strategists and data ethicists. The focus will migrate from 'information gathering' to 'strategic interpretation' and 'complex dispute architecture'—redefining the very nature of corporate counsel."
16. As technology becomes more embedded in legal work, which skills do you think lawyers will need to develop to remain effective and valuable to their organisations?
"The future belongs to the multi-disciplinary lawyer. As routine tasks become automated, the premium value of a legal professional will hinge on emotional intelligence, complex problem architecture, and data literacy. Lawyers must develop a deep understanding of technology and business mechanics—becoming bilingual in both legal statutes and commercial analytics. To remain indispensable, one must master the art of strategic influence, high-level negotiation, and the ability to deliver clear, definitive executive guidance under conditions of absolute ambiguity."
17. How do you approach developing and mentoring members of your legal and compliance team, and what do you look for when identifying future legal leaders?
"As a certified executive work coach, an active mentor, and a dedicated practitioner of Transactional Analysis (TA), my approach to leadership centers on psychological safety, maturity, and structural empowerment. I leverage TA frameworks to foster 'Adult-to-Adult' corporate communications, mapping out behavioral patterns to eliminate organizational friction and cultivate high accountability. When identifying future leaders, I look beyond technical legal competence. I seek professionals with high emotional intelligence, intellectual curiosity, resilience under pressure, and those who possess the rare psychological maturity to navigate complex human and corporate dynamics with absolute grace."
18. How do you manage your work-life balance in a senior legal leadership role, particularly during periods of intense business or regulatory activity?
"I view balance not as a static equation, but as a deliberate emotional and cognitive rhythm. In high-stakes corporate roles, intense periods of transformation are inevitable, but my ultimate grounding stems from my dedication to equestrian sports and tennis. Immersing myself in these active disciplines provides a profound mental sanctuary that instantly puts corporate pressures into a healthy perspective. Engaging with these sports forces me to practice complete mindfulness and energy management, ensuring that I return to the boardroom fully recharged, clear-minded, and strategically sharp."
19. What do you enjoy doing outside of work, and are there any interests or activities that help you switch off and bring a different perspective to your professional life?
"Outside the boardroom, my anchors are tennis, equestrian sports, and caring for horses—all of which heavily enrich my perspective on executive leadership. Tennis is a magnificent masterclass in mental stamina, laser-sharp focus, and rapid, independent strategy-shifting under pressure. My passion for horses and riding goes far beyond the sport itself; it is about the profound connection of understanding their non-verbal cues, and mastering assertive yet calm leadership. Both disciplines require you to be 100% present, offering a flawless mental reset that brings creativity, patience, and a well-rounded clarity back to my professional life."
20. What advice would you give to young lawyers who aspire to become General Counsel, Heads of Legal or other senior legal leaders during their careers?
"My primary advice is to master the business first and the law second. Never allow yourself to be confined to a silo as just 'the lawyer in the room.' Sit with the product teams, understand the financial statements, study market behaviors, and immerse yourself in technology. Cultivate a reputation as someone who finds creative paths to 'Yes' rather than an obstacle who says 'No.' Most importantly, invest early in your emotional intelligence, build robust professional networks through continuous learning, and never lose your intellectual curiosity. True leadership is not about managing risk; it is about guiding your organization to win safely."