Biography
Dr. Melih Sonmez is an academic currently serving as a faculty member at Erzincan Binali Yıldırım University's Law School in Turkey, specializing in Private Law. His educational journey is marked by an academic record, having completed his doctorate at the University of Durham, where he focused on the role of transparency law in corporate governance and financial markets, comparing the legal systems of the EU and Turkey. He also holds a master's degree from the University of Leicester, where he analysed the role and importance of central banks in modern economies through a comparative study of the banks of England and Turkey.
In addition to his teaching responsibilities, which include courses on Company Law, Securities Law, and Competition Law, Dr. Sonmez has taken on significant administrative roles. He has been the head of the Commercial Law Department since 2019 and has served as the Deputy Head of the Private Law Department since 2016 at. His leadership extends to his involvement in the editorial board of the university's Law Faculty Journal, where he contributes as a Foreign Language Editor.
As an academic visitor at the EUI, he has been granted with the TUBITAK Scholarship to launch a book project on the subject of “The Importance of the Independent Audit in Joint Stock Corporations and Its Legal Ground Under the Turkish Law and the EU Law”. This research will primarily focus on the definition of independent auditing and the advantages it offers over internal auditing. Fundamentally, it will delve into the criteria for determining which companies are subject to audit, the appointment criteria for independent auditors, the tenure for which they can audit the same companies, the oversight of independent auditors, the criteria for optimal independent auditing, and the applicable punitive measures in the event of illegal activities. These elements constitute the key questions of this investigation, aiming to enhance the understanding and implementation of effective auditing practices.