The TCA will host this year’s ICN annual conference in Istanbul. Istanbul is the cultural and financial center of Turkey, as well as the European Capital of Culture in 2010. The conference will take place on 27-29 April 2010.
The TCA was established in 1997, three years after the enactment of the Act No. 4054 on the Protection of Competition (Competition Law). The TCA consists of the Competition Board, the Office of the President, four main service units divided among industry lines and the Department of Research, as well as auxiliary service units and advisory units such as the Office of Legal Counsel.
The Competition Board includes seven members, each appointed for six year terms. Currently, Chairman Prof. Dr. Nurettin Kaldırımcı, Board Members Mehmet Akif ERSİN, Associate Professor Mustafa ATEŞ, İsmail Hakkı Karakelle, Associate Professor Cevdet İlhan Günay, Murat Çetinkaya, and Reşit Gürpınar serve on the Board.
The Chairman of the Board is also the President of the TCA. The decisions of the Board are administrative in nature and subject to appeal at the Council of State, the supreme administrative court of Turkey. Lodging an appeal, however, does not stop the implementation of decisions and any collection of administrative fines.
As a newer but active competition agency, the TCA gives particular importance to international relations, coordinated by Yaşar Tekdemir, acting head of the Directorate of International Relations.
The TCA has been a member of the ICN since 2002 and currently co-chairs the Agency Effectiveness Working Group and the Annual Conference Planning Committee. The TCA also works closely with the OECD and UNCTAD, and builds close bilateral relations with several competition agencies around the world.
A famous Turkish poet Orhan Veli Kanık once wrote:
I am listening to Istanbul, intent, my eyes closed
The Grand Bazaar’s serene and cool
An uproar at the hub of the Market
Mosque yards are full of pigeons
While hammers bang and clang at the docks
Spring winds bear the smell of sweat
I am listening to Istanbul, intent, my eyes closed.
For more information related to the TCA, please visit: http://www.rekabet.gov.tr/index.php?Lang=EN
– The TCA