AŞIYAN SÜLEYMANOĞLU

Senior Fellow – Turkey

Aşiyan Süleymanoğlu specializes in dispute resolution and practices as a professional mediator, negotiator, trainer and conflict management consultant. She is an internationally trained mediator and an independent adviser on mediation policy to international bodies and national governments.

About Aşiyan Süleymanoğlu

Aşiyan Süleymanoğlu specializes in dispute resolution and practices as a professional mediator, negotiator, trainer, and conflict management consultant. She is an internationally trained educator, and an independent adviser on mediation policy to international bodies and national governments.

Ms. Süleymanoğlu has more than 13 years of field experience working on multi-million dollar international ADR projects. She provides analysis, design, strategic direction, training, and technical assistance to international and national non-governmental organizations, civil society groups, universities, government agencies, and the private sector on rule of law, education, human rights, and citizen governance and engagement programs.

Ms. Süleymanoğlu was one of the first mediators in Turkey. Since 2015, under FCO grants, she has acted as the program consultant and director of the Improving Access to Justice Turkey through ADR Mechanisms I-II Project, sponsored by the British Embassy, in association with the Ministry of Justice Mediation Department, under which she directed a negotiation project called “Commercial Mediation at the Grand Bazaar.”

Ms. Süleymanoğlu is a member of the European Network of International Family Mediators, experienced in cross-border negotiations and mediations. During her career, she has worked with business associations, chambers, lawyers, judges, prosecutors, law faculties, bar associations, human rights clinics, and human rights organizations in a number of countries including Turkey, Syria, Iran, Egypt, and Pakistan, as well as several countries in Europe and the Americas. She has presented at mediation conferences in many different countries and serves as a judge in the international mediation and negotiation competitions of ICC Paris and IBA- VIAC Vienna.

Ms. Süleymanoğlu is the founder of Akina Consulting, which develops innovative training materials and international consulting services on project design, management, and implementation.

Mediation Practice

Ms. Süleymanoğlu has been a mediator since 2007, and manages a busy national and cross-border mediation practice in conjunction with teaching and training. She is experienced in family disputes, including family business disputes, international child abduction cases, and highly complex inheritance cases. Since 2018, she has mediated over 300 labor disputes.

ADR Achievements and Training

As Project Director for the Improving Access to Justice Turkey through ADR Mechanisms I-II Project, sponsored by the British Embassy, in association with the Ministry of Justice Mediation Department, Ms. Süleymanoğlu provided advanced mediation skills training to more than 1000 mediators and organized international mediation conferences and meetings reaching more than 2000 business professionals.
She conducted public awareness campaigns and improved the implementation of Turkey’s Law on Mediation for the resolution of disputes for over 3500 shops and more than 25,000 business professionals in Istanbul, Turkey.
Awarded a Weinstein JAMS International Fellowship (2013)
Visiting Scholar at Columbia University’s Mediation Clinic Program (2013)
Over the past ten years, Ms. Süleymanoğlu has been awarded several well-recognized scholarships and attended various international negotiation programs in Germany, Italy, the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, Belgium, and the United States.

ADR Teaching and Mentoring

Since 2011, Ms. Süleymanoğlu has provided training on conflict resolution, mediation, negotiation, and advocacy skills at Istanbul Bilgi University, Kemerburgaz, Okan, and Hasan Kalyoncu Universities in Turkey.
As a consultant to the Ministry of Justice Mediation Department of Turkey, she has developed a comprehensive ADR curriculum, basic and advanced mediation skills trainings, mediation advocacy trainings, and public awareness campaigns by fostering cooperation between legal and business community leaders to expand the ADR culture in Turkey.
She has partnered with the Turkish Justice Academy and directed the Improving Access to Justice of Refugee and Unaccompanied Children, which aims to build capacity and awareness of the rights of refugee and unaccompanied children among public institutions, bar associations, judicial bodies, and civil society organizations, which facilitates access to justice and improves provided services for these communities.
In 2017, Ms. Süleymanoğlu provided technical assistance and training in conflict resolution and mediation for the Elimination of Forced Labor and Child Labor in Hazelnut Supply Chain, piloting the USDA Guidelines in the Hazelnut Supply Chain in Turkey.
She is currently one of the Steering Committee members and a leading trainer of the “Mainstreaming ADR for Equitable Access to Justice Project” implemented by the Asia Foundation in Pakistan. In 2018, she trained more than 100 judges, in three different provinces of Pakistan. In 2019, she presented to over 400 judges at the International Conference on ADR Best Practices.
In 2019, she provided 40 hours of mediation training for judges and the administrative staff and social workers in Cotabato City, Philippines.

Publications and Education

Publications

Her LL.M. Thesis and final project entitled Balancing the Tension for Sustainable Architectures: The Relational Dynamics of ADR and the Rule of Law within Legal Development Programs received an award of 55,000 British Pounds from the British Embassy.

In 2017, she edited the Turkish translation of Mediation Advocacy and Preparation for Mediation series by Professor Andrew Goodman.

Educational Qualifications

Master of Laws (LL.M) in Rule of Law for Development from Loyola Chicago University (2015)
Bachelor of Laws (LL.B) from Istanbul Bilgi University, with full-fellowship (2005)