TotalThe Turkish Competition Authority ("TCA") published its annual activity report for 2024 on 28 May 2025. The annual report shows that, as in previous years, the TCA remained active in 2024 in its efforts to ensure a healthy competitive environment, more choices for consumers, more affordable prices, and higher quality services. In this article, we have compiled an overview of the TCA's activities in 2024 for your reference.
BELOW ARE THE KEY HIGHLIGHTS
The TCA concluded a total of 487 cases in 2024, representing a 32% increase compared to the previous year. Of the 487 final decisions, 311 related to merger and acquisition cases, while 166 related to competition infringement cases. Approximately 64% of the cases concluded were related to merger control, while 34% were related to competition violation cases.
The number of cases decided, broken down by year and case type, is presented in the table below:
| Year | Competition Violation | Exemption/ Negative Clearance | Merger Control | Total |
| 2020 | 65 | 34 | 220 | 319 |
| 2021 | 74 | 22 | 309 | 405 |
| 2022 | 78 | 19 | 245 | 342 |
| 2023 | 145 | 8 | 217 | 370 |
| 2024 | 166 | 10 | 311 | 487 |
TCA's Enforcement Activities
In 2024, the TCA conducted investigations in a wide range of sectors, including education, healthcare, food, construction, digital platforms and the labour market, and imposed administrative fines totalling approx. TRY 7.5 billion (approx. EUR 168.3 million)1 for violations of Law No. 4054 on the Protection of Competition ("Law No. 4054"). The total amount of administrative fines imposed in 2024 increased by approximately three times compared to the previous year. The three sectors that accounted for 85% of the total administrative fines imposed and received the highest fines were, in order, (i) information technology and platform services, (ii) food industry, and (iii) construction sector.
Among the administrative fines imposed, the highest amount was imposed on information technology and platform services. The TCA stated that it closely monitors digital markets and digital platforms, which have become an integral part of our lives since the pandemic, and that as a result of the investigations conducted, this sector received the highest administrative fines, amounting to approx. TRY 4 billion (approx. EUR 89.7 million).
The TCA's activities aimed at protecting competition in the labour market continued actively in 2024, and as a result of investigations conducted within this scope, a total of approx. TRY 580 million (approx. EUR 13 million) in administrative fines were imposed on the grounds of restricting competition in the labour market.
In 2024, the TCA issued a total of 487 decisions. Of these decisions, 166 were related to suspected violations of Law No. 4054. Of such decisions, 139 were made as a result of the investigation process, while 27 files were concluded at the preliminary investigation level. Out of the 139 investigation files relating to competition violation allegations, administrative fines were imposed on 20 undertakings as a result of the regular investigation process, while 90 decisions were concluded through settlement and 23 decisions were concluded through commitments.
In six decisions, the investigations were concluded with no finding of a violation at the end of the full investigation process. In this context, the ratio of cases concluded through settlement to the total number of investigation decisions was approximately 58% in 2023, while this ratio increased to approximately 65% in 2024. This indicates that settlement and commitment mechanisms were effectively applied in 2024. The table below shows the increase in the application of settlement and commitment mechanisms by year:
When looking at the number of concluded investigations, preliminary investigations, and onsite inspection assignments, it appears that although there has been an increasing trend in the number of completed investigations with onsite inspection assignments over the years, there was a decrease in 2024 compared to previous years. The number of completed investigations, preliminary investigations, and onsite inspection assignments by year are shown in the table below:
| Year | Concluded Investigations | Preliminary Investigations | Onsite Inspection Assignments |
| 2021 | 44 | 29 | 653 |
| 2022 | 54 | 24 | 831 |
| 2023 | 61 | 28 | 1642 |
| 2024 | 49 | 27 |
In 2024, the decisions taken by the TCA regarding whether Law No. 4054 had been violated, similar to previous years, mainly concerned violations of Article 4. The distribution of decisions taken regarding competition violations between anti-competitive agreements (Article 4) and abuse of dominant position (Article 6) is shown in the table below:
| Year | Article 4 | Article 6 | Hybrid (4 and 6) | Total |
| 2020 | 36 | 22 | 7 | 65 |
| 2021 | 40 | 23 | 11 | 74 |
| 2022 | 58 | 14 | 6 | 78 |
| 2023 | 121 | 18 | 6 | 145 |
| 2024 | 148 | 13 | 5 | 166 |
TCA's Merger Control Reviews
The TCA decided on 212 merger and acquisition cases in 2023, while this number increased by 43% to 311 in 2024. You can read our summary of the TCA's merger and acquisition activities in 2024 here.
The table below provides figures on merger and acquisition decisions by year:
| Year | Merger | Acquisition | Joint Venture | Privatisation | Total |
| 2020 | 8 | 150 | 62 | 0 | 220 |
| 2021 | 5 | 214 | 83 | 7 | 309 |
| 2022 | 2 | 160 | 76 | 7 | 245 |
| 2023 | 2 | 139 | 73 | 3 | 217 |
| 2024 | 2 | 198 | 105 | 6 | 311 |
In 2024, the TCA granted unconditional approval for 274 of the 311 transactions reported, granted conditional approval for eight transactions, and determined that 29 transactions were out of scope. Overall, approximately 99% of the transactions subject to the TCA's approval in the last five years were granted unconditional approval.
When looking at the sectoral distribution of reported merger control cases, the information technology and platform services sector ranks first with 71 files. In second place is the infrastructure services sector with 32 cases. Following these two sectors are the chemicals and mining sector with 30 cases, the healthcare services sector with 25 cases, and the automotive and transportation sector with 23 cases. The sectoral distribution of merger and acquisition transactions is presented in the following graph:
Conclusion
The TCA continued to increase its activities in 2024:
487 decisions were issued in total.
Administrative fines amounting to TRY 7.5 billion (approx. EUR 168.3 million) were imposed, approximately three times the amount imposed in 2023.
A total of 311 merger and acquisition cases were decided, reaching the highest number in the last five years.
The information technology and platform services sector was the largest focus for all decision types.
The TCA continued to effectively implement the settlement and commitment mechanisms.
Footnote
1. The exchange rate used for currency conversion is 1 EUR = 44.57 TRY.
The content of this article is intended to provide a general guide to the subject matter. Specialist advice should be sought about your specific circumstances.
