Dr. Ezgi Ediboğlu Sakowsky

Senior Research Fellow

Intellectual Property and Competition Law

+49 89 24246-5401
ezgi.ediboglu(at)ip.mpg.de

Areas of Interest:

International Energy and Environmental Law, Climate Change Law, International Institutional Law, International Economic Governance, Patent Law, Technology Transfer

Academic Résumé

Since 01/2023
Senior Research Fellow
Department of Intellectual Property and Competition Law, Max Planck Institute for Innovation and Competition

11/2020 – 09/2021 and 05/2022 – 01/2023
Lecturer, Adana Science and Technology University, Department of International Relations

10/2021 – 04/2022
Mercator-IPC Fellow, Istanbul Policy Center

09/2019 – 12/2019
Tutor, University of Aberdeen, Faculty of Law

2017 – 2018
Co-Editor in Chief, Aberdeen Student Law Review, University of Aberdeen, UK

2016 – 2020
Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.) in Law, University of Aberdeen, UK

2015 – 2016
LL.M. International Law, University of Aberdeen, UK

01/2014 – 04/2015
Aykul & Topçu Law Firm, Law Intern until 09/2014, Attorney at Law since 10/2014

09/2013– 12/2013
Turhan Law Firm, Law Intern

2009 – 2013
LL.B. University of Istanbul, Turkey

Advisory and Voluntary Activities

01/2024 – 12/2024
Co-organizer and mentor, Maxminds working group of the Max Planck Society

30.11. – 13.12.2023
World Climate Conference Dubai COP28, Official Observer for the Max Planck Society

Since 04/2023
Co-founder and academic advisor to a research group on food and nutrition issues (Gidanin Durumu)

02/2022 – 12/2022
Voluntary Consultant, Istanbul Planning Agency of Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality, Turkey

2018 – 2019
PhD Representative, Faculty of Law, University of Aberdeen, UK

2018 – 2019
President, Legal Research Society of the University of Aberdeen, UK
 

Scholarships, Academic Prizes and Honors

2015 – 2020
Scholarship for Master and Doctorate Studies, Ministry of Education of Turkey

2017
The Most Outstanding Article Prize, University College of Dublin Law Review

Publications

Edited Works

Aberdeen Student Law Review Vol. 8, Aberdeen 2018 (together with Kieran Buxton).

Contributions to Collected Editions, Commentaries, Handbooks and Encyclopaedias

An Imported Problem? - Plastic Waste Effects on Türkiye’s Environment with Specific Emphasis on Relevant Multilateral Environmental Agreements, in: Sedat Gündoğdu (ed.), Plastic Waste Trade - A New Colonialist Means of Pollution Transfer, Springer, Cham 2024, 217 - 246 (together with Sedat Gündoğdu). DOI

  • This chapter examines the impact of plastic waste on the environment in Türkiye, a major importer and generator of plastic waste. Poor waste management exacerbates the harmful effects of plastic waste on the land, the seas, and the air. We analyze whether waste management litigation and practices in Türkiye are in conformity with the country’s obligations under the Basel Convention. We further evaluate the impact of Türkiye’s waste management on plastic waste in Turkish seas according to regional sea regimes in the Mediterranean and the Black Sea. Lastly, we consider the emissions from plastic waste in Türkiye and argue that they are detrimental for air quality and for the achievement of the objectives of the United Nations climate change regime. Türkiye struggles to manage the large amount of plastic waste it generates and imports. This chapter indicates that Türkiye’s plastic waste management practices have serious environmental consequences. These practices also raise concerns about the country’s ability to fulfill its commitments and obligations under the aforementioned multilateral environmental agreements. Considering the country’s position in ongoing Plastic Treaty negotiations, a significant improvement in plastic waste management seems unlikely. We suggest that Türkiye withdraws itself from being a subject of the transfer of plastic waste pollution and improves its waste management practices by focusing on the execution of domestic regulations that comply with international standards.

Türkiye: A Climate Financing Opportunist?, in: Michael Kaeding, Johannes Pollak, Paul Schmidt (eds.), Climate Change and the Future of Europe. The Future of Europe (The Future of Europe (TFOE)), Springer, Cham 2023, 163 - 166. DOI

  • Türkiye finally ratified the Paris Agreement in 2021, declaring that Türkiye ‘will implement the Paris Agreement as a developing country’, thereby continuing its ongoing battle to be recognised as such under the United Nations climate change regime, a development which would prompt considerable climate financing. It was probably no coincidence that Türkiye ratified this Agreement after the World Bank, Germany and France had promised some additional bilateral climate financing. Considering that climate change-related activities have amounted to a very low percentage of public spending so far, a legitimate concern for Türkiye’s efforts emerges: is the country merely a climate finance opportunist?

Karadeniz’deki Ekolojik Krizin Hukuki Analizi ile Türkiye ve Rusya’nın Duruma Etkileri (The Legal Analysis of the Ecological Crisis in the Black Sea and the Effects of Turkey and Russia on the Issue), in: Elife H. Kılıçbeyli (ed.), 100. Yılında Türkiye Rusya İlişkileri: Çok Taraflı Gelişmeler, Karşılıklı Etkileşimler, NIKA Yayınevi 2021, 55 - 91.

    WTO's Environmental Goods: Technical and Legal Scope, in: Proceedings of the 15th International Symposium on Applied Informatics and Related Areas 2020, 52 - 56.

    Journal Articles

    The Paris Agreement: Effectiveness Analysis of the New UN Climate Change Regime, University College of Dublin Law Review 17 (2017), 164 - 201.

      Ecosystem Rights in Respect of Ecologic Law, Union of Turkish Bar Associations 121 (2015), 257 - 276.

      • Rights of environmental law are regulated in several legislations such as the constitution and other laws. However, the inadequacy of the scope and wide base of regulations of the environmental law and environmental rights bring about the need of reregulation. As a result of this need, ecosystem rights, which approach the ecosystem as a subject, and ecological law, which covers a wider scope than the environmental law, have become a topic in the area of law. This article addresses the existing regulations, which include judicial and non-judicial ways, and the expectations on future regulations on ecosystem rights in accordance with ecological law.
      • http://tbbdergisi.barobirlik.org.tr/m2015-121-1530

      Research Papers

      The Legal Personality of the Conference of Parties to the United Nations Climate Change Regime Treaties (Max Planck Institute for Innovation & Competition Research Paper, No. 23-24), 2023, 19 pp. DOI

      • The Conference of Parties (CoP) serving the United Nations climate change regime treaties – the Framework Convention on Climate Change, the Kyoto Protocol, and the Paris Agreement – is responsible for promoting the effective implementation of these treaties. Actions it has undertaken to fulfil this duty include cooperating with other legal persons via binding agreements, creating mechanisms for facilitating the compliance with obligations under the climate change regime treaties, and creating an international institution with legal personality – the Green Climate Fund. The diversity and the nature of its actions bring about an interesting legal question of whether the CoP itself possesses legal personality. This question is also linked to the effectiveness of the climate change regime as the CoP is tasked with the facilitation of the implementation of the regime treaties. This article analyses the legal personality of the CoP by three criteria extracted from the Advisory Opinion of the International Court of Justice on the Reparation for Injuries case, and the subsequent scholarly literature.

      Paris Anlaşması Öncesi ve Sonrası İklim Değişikliğine Yönelik Bütçeler: Büyükşehir Belediyesinin Çevre Koruma ve İklim Değişikliği (ÇKİD) ile ilgili Performans Hedeflerinin Karşılaştırılması: 2021 - 2022 İzleme Sonuçlarının Karşılaştırılması (Budgets for Climate Change Before and After the Paris Agreement: Comparison of Performance Targets of 14 Metropolitan Municipalities on Environmental Protection and Climate Change (ÇKİD): Comparison of Monitoring Results from 2021-2022), 2022, 32 pp. (together with Nurhan Yentürk et al.).

      İklim Değişikliği ile Mücadelede Teknoloji, Türkiye için Öneriler, Bölüm I: Çevreye Duyarlı Teknolojilerin Transferi, Istanbul Policy Center, Istanbul 2022, 20 pp.

      Technology for Combating Climate Change, Proposals for Turkey, Part I: The Transfer of Environmentally Sound Technologies, Istanbul Policy Center, Istanbul 2022, 20 pp.

      • The transfer of environmentally sound technologies (ESTs) is universally recognized as one of the most effective ways to combat climate change. 1 These technologies contribute to our fight against climate change by lowering emissions and improving our resilience to climate change. 2 This series of papers will discuss the concept of ESTs, assess the compatibility of international laws and Turkish laws related to the transfer of ESTs, and propose new domestic laws and policies to create an environment conducive to their transfer.
        These proposals will also identify international projects, funds, mechanisms, and institutional frameworks that
        are available for Turkish actors to transfer ESTs. Since Turkey is planning to achieve its recently announced carbon-zero target by 2053,3 this paper series aims at bringing much-needed awareness to the issue of EST
        transfer and proposing regulatory and practical remedies. This paper is the first paper in the series and aims at setting the scene and clarifying the concept of the
        transfer of ESTs. First, the role of technologies in combating climate change is identified. Following this, the concept of ESTs and the transfer of ESTs are discussed. Subsequently, the relevant aspects of the United Nations (UN) climate change regime in the transfer of ESTs are outlined. The relevance of the international trading regime in the transfer of ESTs is then discussed. This paper argues that tension between the climate change and international trading regimes related to the transfer of ESTs will likely emerge. How Turkey can
        manage this tension and govern the issue domestically is the main question arising from the analysis. The last section provides a brief explanation of the future papers in this series, which will progressively answer this central question.
      • https://ipc.sabanciuniv.edu/Content/Images/CKeditorImages/20220518-11052689.pdf
      • Also available in Turkish language

      İklim Değişikliği ile Mücadelede Teknoloji, Türkiye için Öneriler, Bölüm II: Türkiye’de Çevreye Duyarlı Teknoloji Transferi (Technology for Combating Climate Change, Proposals for Turkey, Part II: Turkish Approach to the Transfer of Environmentally Sound Technologies), Istanbul Policy Center, Istanbul 2022, 14 pp.

      Further Publications, Press Articles, Interviews

      Depremden öğren(eme)diklerimiz: İnşaat ve yıkım atıklarının yönetimi, İklim Masası 2024 (together with Sedat Gündoğdu).

      Sürdürülebilir Gıda Sistemlerini Gerçekten Konuştuğumuz Bir COP Geride Kaldı - Interview, EKOIQ: Tarihi Kazanım Mı, Yeni bir Hezimet Mi? COP28 109 (2023), 75 - 77 (together with Bulut Bagatır).

      COP 28’den neler beklemeliyiz?, İklim Masası 2023.

      Türkiye, iklim değişikliği hedeflerini güçlendirmeli, İklim Masası 2023.

      Uluslararası Çevre Hukukunun Kendine Has Yapısı, Gıdanın Durumu 2023.

      Avrupa Birliği’nin Yeni Genomik Tekniklere Yaklaşımında Yeni Tüzük Taslağı, Gıdanın Durumu 2023.

      Effectiveness Analysis of the United Nations Climate Change Regime, University of Aberdeen School of Law - Blog 2018.

      Presentations and Panels

      11/17/2023
      Protection of Agricultural Production through International Environmental Law
      International Congress on Agriculture and Food Ethics, TARGET Congress
      Location: Ankara, Turkey


      07/11  –  07/12/2023
      The Legal Personality of the Conference of Parties to the United Nations Climate Change Regime Treaties
      The Max Planck Climate Conference for a Sustainable Anthropocene
      Location: Berlin


      10/02/2022
      Panelist
      Local Conference of the Youth, UNFCCC YOUNGO
      Location: Istanbul, Turkey


      11/12/2020
      WTO's Environmental Goods: Technical and Legal Scope
      The 15th International Symposium on Applied Informatics and Related Areas
      Location: Óbuda University, Hungary


      07/25/2018
      The WTO’s Unenthusiastic Approach on Environmental Issues: Is it coming to an end?
      University of Aberdeen Legal Research Society Conference
      Location: University of Aberdeen, UK


      06/16/2017
      Inter-Institutional Cooperation of Global International Institutions: An Emerging Path for Technology Transfer
      Postgraduate Legal Research Conference with the theme of ‘Overturning Paradigm’
      Location: Queen Mary University, UK


      10/28/2016
      Making Laws for the Modern Consumer: Is Law there to Lead or to Adapt?
      Strathclyde Postgraduate Law Conference with the theme of ‘Visualising the Law’
      Location: University of Strathclyde, UK

      Courses

      11/15/2023
      Climate Justice
      Central European University, LLM Course for the Department of Legal Studies
      Location: Vienna, Austria


      09 – 12/2022
      International Political Economy
      Adana Science and Technology University, Faculty of Political Sciences
      Location: Adana, Turkey


      09 – 12/2022
      International Migration and Population Movements
      Adana Science and Technology University, Faculty of Political Sciences
      Location: Adana, Turkey


      09 – 12/2022
      Theories of International Relations
      Adana Science and Technology University, Faculty of Political Sciences
      Location: Adana, Turkey


      09 – 12/2022
      Introduction to Economics
      Adana Science and Technology University, Faculty of Political Sciences
      Location: Adana, Turkey


      02 – 06/2021
      International Environmental Law and Politics
      Çukurova University, Faculty of Economics and Administrative Sciences
      Location: Adana, Turkey


      02 – 06/2021
      Commercial Law II
      Çukurova University, Faculty of Economics and Administrative Sciences
      Location: Adana, Turkey


      02 – 05/2021
      International Organizations
      Adana Science and Technology University, Faculty of Political Sciences
      Location: Adana, Turkey


      02 – 05/2021
      Diplomatic English II
      Adana Science and Technology University, Faculty of Political Sciences
      Location: Adana, Turkey


      09/2019 – 12/2019
      EU Institutions and Law (Tutor)
      University of Aberdeen, Faculty of Law
      Location: Aberdeen, United Kingdom