Simge Kiliç

Simge Kılıç is the Managing Partner at HERDEM Attorneys at Law, an Istanbul-based firm known for its work in export controls, sanctions, and international trade compliance for Turkish and multinational clients. Her practice sits at the intersection of regulatory compliance and commercial strategy, advising companies in defense, energy, aviation, technology, and manufacturing on how to operate and grow inside an increasingly complex web of export control regimes, sanctions programs, and public procurement rules.

Her core focus is export controls and sanctions compliance. She helps Turkish companies navigate ITAR, EAR, and OFAC requirements, and helps multinational clients understand Türkiye’s own export control and dual-use regimes before they invest, transact, or transfer technology in the market. This dual vantage point, advising both sides of cross-border deals, has made her a trusted advisor to companies that need to move fast without stepping outside a shifting regulatory line.

Simge’s clients span some of the most demanding cross-border sectors. She has advised the Turkish subsidiaries of global industrial and technology groups, including Japanese, German, and Middle Eastern multinationals, on the compliance obligations that come with operating in Türkiye, from corporate governance and employment law to sanctions exposure in their supply chains. On the defense and aerospace side, she has counseled government-owned entities and private manufacturers on the legal architecture of military-industrial projects, export control regimes, and public procurement law, including work for a Gulf-state government authority evaluating investments in Türkiye’s defense sector.

Her energy and infrastructure practice includes advising international project financiers on renewable energy transactions in Türkiye, structuring and closing cross-border financings for wind farm projects, and guiding leading Turkish industrial holding companies through public tenders, sanctions compliance, and cross-border component transfers. In aviation, she has advised on multi-jurisdictional aircraft acquisitions, wet-lease approvals before Türkiye’s civil aviation authority, and one of the country’s largest SPAC-driven aviation listings on the NYSE.

Simge also regularly counsels clients on voluntary self-disclosure procedures under Türkiye’s dual-use control framework. This work requires not just regulatory knowledge but judgment about risk, timing, and how a disclosure will be read by both Turkish and foreign regulators. This is a thread that runs through much of her practice: clients come to her not just for an answer to “is this legal,” but for a read on how a transaction, a subsidiary structure, or a compliance gap will actually play out with regulators, counterparties, and auditors.

Beyond individual transactions, Simge is a builder of compliance infrastructure. She co-founded the Turkish Trade Compliance & Sanctions Network (TTCSN), a steering-committee-led initiative connecting compliance professionals across Türkiye, and she is an active member of Mackrell International’s Energy and Natural Resources, Technology, and Blockchain & Cryptocurrency practice groups, extending her network, and her clients’ reach, across dozens of jurisdictions. She has delivered full-day training seminars on ITAR compliance in Ankara and EAR compliance in Istanbul for in-house counsel at major aerospace, energy, and industrial companies, and she regularly leads HERDEM’s internal and client-facing training on trade and export control compliance.