Fatma Karakülah is a senior legal professional registered with the Istanbul Bar Association, serving as a lawyer, mediator, and trademark attorney. With over 15 years of experience, she specializes in international law, corporate law, intellectual property law, investment, and immigration law. Residing in Istanbul and Cologne, Karakülah provides comprehensive legal counsel and representation to clients operating in numerous countries, primarily Turkey, Germany, and Switzerland.
She has published various peer-reviewed and non-peer-reviewed academic articles in trademark and commercial law, frequently speaking at industry events and serving as a mentor in several professional associations. She is also an active member of the Istanbul Bar Association’s Continuing Legal Education Center and its Intellectual and Industrial Property Rights Commission.
Graduating 13th in her class from Istanbul University Faculty of Law in 2009, Karakülah completed her legal internship at one of Turkey’s oldest and internationally respected law firms. Early in her career, she worked as an in-house lawyer for a GSM operator based in Istanbul, gaining extensive experience in contract law, technology, entrepreneurship, and corporate law.
In 2012, she earned a fully-funded LL.M. degree in International Law from the prestigious University of Fribourg, Switzerland. Her studies included European Union legislation, cross-border commercial disputes, arbitration, international construction contracts (FIDIC), intellectual property law, and more. Her master’s thesis focused on “Compulsory Licensing of Pharmaceutical Products under Swiss and Turkish Law.”
Between 2014 and 2016, Karakülah served as a mid-level manager at a long-established Istanbul-based construction company, managing all legal aspects of EPC projects in Libya, Tunisia, and Iraq. She played an active role in international tenders, contracts, payments, and arbitration processes for turnkey projects such as power plants and water treatment facilities. During this time, she handled commercial, labor, administrative litigation, and arbitration under both Turkish and foreign laws, and gained experience in forming joint ventures and consortiums with foreign partners.
From 2016 to 2020, she resided in Switzerland while pursuing doctoral studies in intellectual property law at the University of Neuchâtel. During this period, she practiced as a Turkish law attorney and legal consultant in Switzerland. She built close relationships with the Turkish community and NGOs in Switzerland and collaborated closely with Swiss lawyers, delivering effective legal solutions tailored to the region.
Returning to Turkey in 2020, Karakülah worked as a lawyer and claims handler at an international firm operating in maritime trade and insurance law. Subsequently, she managed the contracts, legal consultancy, and compliance departments at a major Istanbul law firm, advising on international projects across sectors including energy, hospitality, manufacturing, telecommunications, banking, technology, and mining.
She successfully passed the mediation exam in 2023 and the trademark attorney exam in 2024. As a certified expert mediator, she also completed specialized training in banking and finance law, labor law, and commercial law. As a trademark attorney, she manages trademark and industrial design registration, monitoring, and prosecution before the Turkish Patent and Trademark Office, while also providing legal services in intellectual property. Additionally, she is a certified internal auditor with expertise in ISO 27001 information security standards.
Fluent in English with sworn translator certification, Karakülah speaks intermediate French and currently resides in Istanbul and Cologne while actively learning German.
Since 2024, she has been practicing independently as the founder of Turkius Law & Mediation & IP Services. She aims to provide her clients with reliable and effective solutions across investment, company formation, commercial disputes, immigration law, intellectual property, telecommunications, construction, banking law, civil disputes, litigation, enforcement, mediation, and trademark registration. Leveraging her extensive international legal network, she offers comprehensive representation and consultancy services in over 70 countries.
