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Türkkan Law Firm
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Our Story

Türkkan Law Firm is a law firm founded in Istanbul in 2017 by Attorney at Law M. Abdullah Türkkan. The firm works in foreign exchange legislation and capital movements covering transactions in precious metals (gold, silver, platinum, palladium), precious stones (diamond, brilliant, ruby, sapphire, emerald, topaz, peridot, pearl) and foreign currency.

Our founder is the author of two books on the legal framework of this field: Kambiyo Mevzuatı Rehberi: Yasal Düzenlemeler ve Uygulama [Guide to Foreign Exchange Legislation: Rules and Practice], written with R. Bülent Demirbağ, and Kıymetli Maden ve Kıymetli Taş Ticaretinden Kaynaklanan Uyuşmazlıkların Tahkim Yoluyla Çözümü [Arbitration of Disputes Arising from Trade in Precious Metals and Precious Stones] (Vedat Kitapçılık, 2026). He is currently working with Osman Dereli, former President of MASAK (the Financial Crimes Investigation Board), on a book to be published in the first quarter of 2027.

The firm works at every link of the precious metals and precious stones supply chain: from metal mining companies, the first link in the chain, to refineries and workshops; from the sector's wholesalers and retailers to intermediary institutions and authorised institutions; from jewellers to importers and exporters. It provides training to the sector's chambers and associations. Its practice areas are foreign exchange legislation, foreign trade and customs regimes, MASAK (AML/CFT) compliance, corporate and commercial law, and dispute resolution and arbitration. The same client's other legal matters are also handled within the firm.

We work in Turkish, English, German and Russian.

Türkkan Law Firm · Istanbul · 2017
Chapters of Our Story

For us, law is not merely a profession in which rules are applied, but a craft in which every detail is worked with care. This firm took its present shape by choosing to go deep in a single field rather than be a workshop that takes on everything.

Our Founding

A Philosophy Put into Practice

Less the founding of a law firm than the story of a craft that found its focus.

01

Roots: Struggle and the Foundations of the Craft

Every master has an apprenticeship. For our founder, Attorney at Law M. Abdullah Türkkan, it was a search that began in İskenderun and reached as far as Kyrgyzstan. That journey taught him, alongside the theory of law, the realities of life, patience, determination and the value of hard work.

02

Turning Point: Narrowing the Focus

After law school, he began working as an attorney at BOTAŞ (Boru Hatları ile Petrol Taşıma A.Ş., Petroleum Pipeline Corporation), and until 2017 worked on the Trans-Anatolian Natural Gas Pipeline Project (TANAP). Seeing the legal workings of a cross-border energy project at close range laid the first foundation of the perspective that would later become a focus on foreign exchange and foreign trade.

Our office, established in Istanbul in 2017, sharpened its focus during the global pandemic in 2020. It was in this period that our boutique, niche approach took shape — concentrating all our energy on a single field rather than being a workshop that “takes on everything”.

The master's programme begun in 2023 was the second turning point, reshaping practical experience with the strength of scholarship.

03

Moment of Clarity: The Risk Becomes Visible

Academic and sector research made visible the complex foreign exchange legislation (kambiyo mevzuatı) risks at the heart of the Grand Bazaar (Kapalıçarşı) ecosystem and of foreign trade. This is how our focus became clear: to make a scattered body of legislation readable for those who have to live with it every day.

04

Our Philosophy: Working by Measure

Gold is measured by its fineness, a diamond by its cut. In this sector, legal work too must be measurable: which provision, which time limit, which authority. Türkkan Law Firm continues to work with the mindset of a founder who reads the past.

How Do We Work?

“We exist to teach what is not known, to recall what has been forgotten and to show what is not seen.”

At Türkkan Law Firm, no client is merely a file. There are five principles to how we work, and all five come from the same place — taking the measure of the matter.

01

First, we measure.

A person who comes to an assay office (ayar evi) does not want to be persuaded; they want to know what the piece in their hand is. So we first establish what the matter is, and then write what is to be done. When the order is reversed, the solution does not fit the problem.

02

Every answer comes with its basis.

Everything we say has a source, a date and an article; we put them all beside the answer — so that you can check them. An answer without its source shown is not an answer but a guess.

03

The cheapest case is the one that is never opened.

In this field, legislation changes several times a year: a communiqué (tebliğ), a circular (genelge), a board decision. We follow the change and give warning while the transaction is being structured. A defence written after a penalty arrives is always more expensive than arrangements made before it does.

04

We explain.

It is not we who make the decision; it is you. A decision cannot be made without understanding what an option gains and what it costs; that is why explaining how the matter works is part of the work itself. It is also why we write in the magazine, in books and on this site.

05

We come to the table prepared.

In negotiation, in court and in arbitration. Preparation comes before the contest: what is said at the table often does not determine the outcome; the work done beforehand does.

Our Team

The People Who Put the Philosophy into Practice

Our team, each member sharing the same calm and transparent working culture. We work in Turkish, English, German and Russian.

M. Abdullah Türkkan, Founding Partner M. Abdullah Türkkan Founding Partner Handles foreign exchange legislation, foreign trade and precious metals matters. Co-author of Kambiyo Mevzuatı Rehberi [Guide to Foreign Exchange Legislation] and author of Kıymetli Maden ve Kıymetli Taş Ticaretinden Kaynaklanan Uyuşmazlıkların Tahkim Yoluyla Çözümü [Resolution through Arbitration of Disputes Arising from Trade in Precious Metals and Precious Stones].

He was born in 1987 in İskenderun, Hatay. He completed his university education at Beykent University Faculty of Law, graduating in 2014. After graduating, he began working as an attorney at BOTAŞ (Boru Hatları ile Petrol Taşıma A.Ş., Petroleum Pipeline Corporation) and, until 2017, worked on the Trans-Anatolian Natural Gas Pipeline Project (TANAP). In 2017 he left BOTAŞ and established his own law firm in Istanbul. He completed his master's degree in Private Law at Altınbaş University; his thesis entitled Kıymetli Maden Ticareti Uyuşmazlıklarının Tahkim Yoluyla Çözümü [Resolution of Precious Metals Trade Disputes through Arbitration] was accepted unanimously on 28 April 2026. The work was expanded to include precious stones and published by Vedat Kitapçılık under the title Kıymetli Maden ve Kıymetli Taş Ticaretinden Kaynaklanan Uyuşmazlıkların Tahkim Yoluyla Çözümü. In the same year, Kambiyo Mevzuatı Rehberi: Yasal Düzenlemeler ve Uygulama [Guide to Foreign Exchange Legislation: Legal Framework and Practice], which he co-wrote with R. Bülent Demirbağ, was published by Vedat Kitapçılık. He holds a Financial Crimes Investigation Board (MASAK; Mali Suçları Araştırma Kurulu) compliance officer certificate (Uyum Görevlisi Yetki Belgesi) under Law No. 5549 and a CCBE (Council of Bars and Law Societies of Europe) identity card, which certifies attorney status in cross-border matters, and he is a member of the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) Türkiye National Committee. He serves as legal editor of KUYUMTIME magazine and as founding editor of the kambiyorehberi.com portal. As founder of our firm, he currently handles matters relating to foreign exchange legislation, foreign trade law, customs regimes, and the precious metals and jewellery sector, and provides MASAK compliance and risk management advice to obliged parties (yükümlü) under Law No. 5549.

Academic identifier: ORCID 0009-0000-4496-9129

Emrah Erdi, Managing Attorney Emrah Erdi Managing Attorney Served as a judge from 2009 to 2018. Handles real property, inheritance and contract law matters.

He was born in 1986 in Kemaliye, Erzincan. He completed his university education at Istanbul University Faculty of Law, graduating in 2008. Having passed the examination for judges of the ordinary judiciary, he began serving as a candidate judge in Ankara in 2009. After his judicial traineeship, he served as a judge in the Tomarza district of Kayseri, the Saray district of Tekirdağ and the courthouses of Diyarbakır. In 2018 he left the judiciary and moved into practice as an attorney. He currently handles real property law, inheritance law and contract law matters at our firm as Managing Attorney. He is continuing his master's studies in the Department of Private Law at the Atatürk University Institute of Social Sciences.

Feride Kara Koşar, Senior Attorney and Mediator Feride Kara Koşar Senior Attorney Registered in the Ministry of Justice Mediation Registry. Handles commercial, contract and family law matters.

She was born in 1995 in Çatalca, Istanbul. She completed her university education at Istanbul University Faculty of Law, graduating in 2017 as an honours student. She is registered in the Ministry of Justice Mediation Registry. She has completed certificate programmes in various fields, notably commercial law and personal data protection law. Throughout her professional career, she has taken part in the contract processes of national and international companies. She currently handles commercial law, contract law and family law matters at our firm as Senior Attorney and regularly follows professional training programmes.

Mustafa Demir, Senior Attorney Mustafa Demir Senior Attorney Completed a master's degree in Law and Business at Bucerius Law School. Handles contract law and cross-border advisory matters.

He was born in 1998 in Gaziantep. He completed his university education at Istanbul University Faculty of Law, graduating with honours in 2022. During his studies, he spent a year at the Chair of American Law at the University of Cologne in Germany, taking courses from US academics. He completed his master's degree in the Law and Business (LL.M.) programme at Bucerius Law School in Hamburg; in 2024 he completed his thesis entitled Yapay Zekânın M&A Süreçlerindeki Legal Due Diligence Sürecine Etkisi [The Impact of Artificial Intelligence on the Legal Due Diligence Process in M&A Transactions]. During his master's studies, he worked on legal technology and legal operations. He has worked at various law firms in Türkiye and the United States. He currently handles contract law and cross-border legal counsel matters at our firm as Senior Attorney, and advises start-ups and international companies on legal structuring and compliance. For clients who are natural persons, he also advises on consumer law, family law and inheritance law.

Serdar Gencer, Bookkeeping Serdar Gencer Bookkeeping Responsible for the firm's bookkeeping records, current account tracking and reporting processes.

He was born in 1990 in Istanbul. He completed his university education in the Department of International Trade at Azerbaijan State University of Economics, graduating in 2014. From 2015 onwards, he worked in managerial roles at various accounting firms, covering the monitoring and reporting of office processes and general coordination. He obtained his Certified Public Accountant (Serbest Muhasebeci Mali Müşavir) certificate in 2020. He is currently responsible for the firm's bookkeeping records, current account tracking and reporting processes.

Zeynep Önem, Summer Intern Zeynep Önem Summer Intern Is a third-year student at Istanbul Medeniyet University. Began a summer internship at our firm in 2026.

She was born in 2006 in Bolu. She completed her secondary education at Mevlana Anatolian High School, graduating in 2024. During her high school studies, she studied in Vienna, Austria, under the Erasmus programme. She is currently a third-year student at Istanbul Medeniyet University Faculty of Law. She began a summer internship at our firm in 2026. During her internship, she takes part in research work on case files.

Our founder signing the Türkkan blog by hand.
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What this page describes has a single measure: asking the right question at the right time.

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