Dr. Kerem Canbazoğlu

Dr. Kerem Canbazoğlu is a founding partner of CAC Law Firm, with a practice centered on mining and natural resources, administrative law, energy, construction and infrastructure, public procurement, environmental law, and dispute resolution and arbitration. With over two decades of experience, he advises Turkish and international clients on complex regulatory, contractual and contentious matters, with particular depth in highly regulated industries and in projects sitting at the intersection of private investment and public authority. He was admitted to the Ankara Bar Association in 2006. In the early years of his career, having had the opportunity to work with a New Zealand lawyer then based in Ankara, he gained experience in the supervision of construction contracts and in project management and arbitration relating to international construction projects, and during that same period he also provided legal advisory services on a number of superstructure projects in Russia. In 2013, he became one of the founding partners of CAC Law Firm together with Cinel Altay Law Firm, and since 2012 his practice has focused on mining law, alongside administrative law — the field in which his academic work is concentrated.

Dr. Canbazoğlu is widely regarded as one of Türkiye's most respected legal figures in mining and natural resources law, representing investors, operators and industry associations across the full project lifecycle — from exploration and mining licences and tender procedures under mining law (including the amendments introduced by Law No. 7554), through land acquisition, expropriation and easement rights, forestry permits and environmental impact assessment (EIA) disputes, to regulatory compliance and post-mining rehabilitation and closure. His mining practice further covers the transfer and acquisition of mining licences, advisory work throughout permitting processes, and legal counsel through EIA (ÇED) procedures for mining and industrial projects. He has advised on many of Türkiye's landmark mining projects, spanning shareholder structuring, permitting, expropriation and land acquisition, and site operations, including major gold and silver mining projects from the investment phase through to production. He has provided continuous, long-term legal advisory — spanning the full period from initial acquisition through to production — for several gold mines now in production, and provides comparable advisory services for a number of further projects approaching production. He also advises on mining projects abroad, including in Central Asia, Eastern Europe and Africa, on partnership agreements and related processes.

He regularly advises clients — currently at various stages of investment — on gold, copper, silver, molybdenum and polymetallic projects, including acquisitions, exploration and operating agreements and NSR arrangements, and represents mining companies in related disputes. A distinctive part of his practice is advising investors on organized industrial zones (OIZ) and private/special industrial zones (SIZ), covering land allocation, permitting and the full range of regulatory and operational matters involved in establishing and running facilities within these zones. He also has particular expertise in environmental due diligence and compliance reviews for mining and industrial facilities, and in defending clients in environmental administrative investigations, prosecutorial inquiries and criminal proceedings arising from environmental pollution, regularly representing both metallic mining companies and industrial operators; he also advises industrial facilities in the food technology sector on their operations.

In the energy sector, Dr. Canbazoğlu is active in the renewable energy market and is experienced across the full range of processes involved in renewable energy projects — site selection, licensing, licence amendments, land acquisition, zoning, permitting, EIA and transmission line permits — and has completed offshore wind energy training organized by the Turkish Offshore Wind Energy Association (DÜRED). He successfully represented the investor in a significant environmental case concerning the electricity generation licence of a conventional coal-fired thermal power plant, and since 2010 has advised one of the world's leading oil and geothermal drilling service companies on its Turkish operations, contracts and legal processes. In competition law, he has represented major companies in proceedings concerning administrative fines.

Beyond mining, Dr. Canbazoğlu has significant experience in litigation and international arbitration. In 2008, he acted as claimant's counsel in an ICC arbitration governed by the law of England and Wales, and has represented parties in ICC arbitrations ever since. He has also advised on major construction, infrastructure and energy matters, including internationally financed projects backed by the EBRD and the World Bank and FIDIC-based (including EPC) contracts, and his practice covers public procurement and tender disputes, urban planning and zoning, and administrative litigation involving electricity and water distribution. In 2010, together with Prof. Dr. Z. Akıncı and E. Altay, he was part of the team that first translated the IBA Rules on the Taking of Evidence in International Arbitration into Turkish, and later brought the 2020 revisions into Turkish as well; he has also completed the Istanbul Arbitration Centre's (ISTAC) training programmes on party representation in arbitration and on arbitrator training.

Dr. Canbazoğlu holds an LL.B., an LL.M. and a Ph.D. in Public Law from Ankara University, and is currently pursuing dual qualification in the common law jurisdiction of Ireland, with the Law Society of Ireland. His academic work in mining, energy, environmental, forestry, pasture and agricultural land law gained particular weight once he advanced to the doctoral stage of his studies. He is the author of Prohibition from Participating in Tenders under Turkish Law and has published extensively on administrative law, public procurement, mining, zoning and related regulatory matters, including regular contributions to Madencilik Türkiye and Madencilik ve Sonrası (Mining and Beyond). He is a frequent speaker at national and international mining conferences and serves as legal adviser to leading industry associations in the mining and cement sectors. His professional roles include Honorary Member of MAYEM and, since 2020, membership of the Association of Geoscience, Mining and Metallurgy Professionals (YERMAM) — reflecting a practice that combines rigorous academic grounding with practical, results-driven representation across Türkiye's mining and energy sectors.

Publications by This Author