In July 2024, Turkey’s president, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, unveiled a US$30 billion package filled with incentives designed to boost investment in advanced technology sectors. With the incentives, Erdogan pledged to bring Turkey to the global stage by attracting at least US$20 billion in private-sector investment.

“With value-added production, we increase our global competitiveness and strengthen our economic independence. We will continue supporting such critical technologies,” Erdogan said of the High Technology Incentive Programme. The government plans to make about US$750 million worth of investments available to small and medium enterprises involved in industrials and green technology. “As we apply our economic programme decisively, we continue taking the necessary steps to improve our investment climate,” he said.

Turkey’s use of technology had already skyrocketed in recent years, according to a report from the World Intellectual Property Organization. The increased use of technology has led to a rise in Turkey’s ranking among the world’s most innovative countries; the country finished 39th in the Global Innovation Index 2023, remaining in the Top 40 of the annual rankings. In 2022, it was ranked 37th, the first time it had ever been ranked in the Top 40.

WIPO said that funding for innovation rose sharply during the Covid-19 pandemic, with particularly significant growth in developing countries. “This is contrary to what we expected,” said WIPO chief Daren Tang. In a meeting with reporters, Tang noted that in previously economic downturns, innovation spending also suffered.

Turkey landed two universities in the Top 100 best overall universities, according to The Times Higher Education, pointing towards an improving outlook at that level, too. Koç University ranked 55th globally, while Sabancı University ranked 89th.

At the same time, Turkey found itself on a technology list it might prefer not to be part of: The Global Peace Index 2023, a measurement for ranking domestic and international conflict released annually by the Australia-based think tank Institute for Economics and Peace. Turkey ranked in the bottom 10 on the list for ongoing domestic and international conflict, ranking below Mali, South Sudan, Iran, Burkina Faso and Pakistan, but ahead of nine nations including Russia, Ukraine, Syria and Somalia.

Turkey was cited as one of the most active exporters of military technology in recent years; Medya News reported that Turkey has exported drones to more than 20 countries; globally, the number of states using drones has increased by 50 percent since 2018, the institute found.

Turkey delivered 28 heavy weapons deals in 2022, 12 of which included armed drones. It “remains the least peaceful country in the region, and is the only European country ranked outside the top half of the index,” the institute reported. “This is the least peaceful [Turkey] has been since the inception of the GPI in 2008.”

It is with this ongoing increase in the use of technology that we turned to IP professionals in the region in order to understand better what clients need today. Asia IP asked a large number of professionals – mostly in-house counsel and corporate legal managers – what they were looking for from their legal service providers. From their answers, we have compiled our first-ever list of Turkey’s IP Experts, those lawyers who understand what their clients need and are able to provide them with the best practical advice.

We have been watching Turkey from afar in recent years in preparation for planned increased coverage of the region, and it came as no surprise to us that a handful of firms dominated the rankings: Gün + Partners placed seven lawyers on our list. Deriş NSN Law Firm, Kenaroğlu Avukatlik Burosu and Suluk Intellectual Property Law Firm each placed four lawyers on the list. Eight firms each placed two lawyers: Alfa Patent Stan Advoka, ATG Law Firm, Invokat Intellectual Property Services, Istanbul Patent, Kodiak Law & IP Services, Orbis IP & Law, Simaj Patent & Trademark Attorneys and Yalçıner Patent.

Our survey includes only those lawyers working at law firms in Turkey. Most of the lawyers named to our list have multiple practice specialties. Many of them are litigators, while others concentrate on prosecution work or provide strategic advice.

All of them have something in common: they are Asia IP’s IP Experts for Turkey.

– Gregory Glass

Turkey’s IP Experts is based solely on independent editorial research conducted by Asia IP. As part of this project, we turned to thousands of in-house counsel in Asia and around the world, and asked them to nominate private-practice lawyers, including foreign legal consultants, advisers and counsel.

The final list reflects the nominations received combined with the input of the editorial team at Asia IP, which has nearly 50 years of collective experience in researching and understanding the legal market in Asia.

All private practice intellectual property lawyers working at law firms in Turkey were eligible for inclusion in the nomination process; there were no fees or any other requirements for inclusion in the process.

The names of our 50 IP Experts are published here. Each IP Expert was given the opportunity to include their biography and contact details in print and on our website, for which a fee was charged.