What are the role and main responsibilities of the Risk, Internal Control, Ethics and Compliance Department within the company?

In today's business world, there is a growing expectation that companies not only achieve financial success, but also operate in accordance with ethical values. In this context, the role and responsibilities of the Risk, Internal Control, Ethics and Compliance Department are becoming increasingly important, and we fulfill our fundamental responsibilities with this awareness. In fulfilling our responsibilities, it would be appropriate to evaluate the operation by dividing it into two parts: the Ethics and Compliance Department and the Risk, Internal Control Department. Both departments have a common responsibility to prevent reputational and financial loss and to disseminate this increasingly important culture in all regions where ATÜ operates, both domestically and internationally.

The Ethics and Compliance Department plays a key role in ensuring the credibility, accountability and transparency of the company. Accordingly, it undertakes duties such as protecting ethical standards, ensuring compliance with laws and regulations, organizing various trainings to raise awareness on these issues within the company, and adopting methods of doing business in accordance with the rules on gifts, hospitality and conflict of interest in the fight against corruption and bribery. At the same time, it has a responsibility to communicate this ethical culture to third parties and to guide them in this direction. As part of corporate social responsibility, the department is also responsible for managing business processes in light of the company's social impact.

The Risk and Internal Control Department has responsibilities such as managing business processes efficiently, establishing and monitoring an effective internal control mechanism, preparing all units for external audits, and minimizing risks in business processes. Our department plays a critical role in providing credibility to the company's management, employees, customers and other stakeholders, and ensuring the sustainability of the company.

Which departments and organizations are you in contact with from internal and external stakeholders?

As I mentioned above, this is a culture, and we are in communication with all departments to spread this culture within the company. Through this strong communication, we believe we are making rapid progress toward our goals of creating a strong ethical culture in our company, enhancing our ability to comply with the law and being prepared for risk. We are also in contact with all our 3rd parties. Before starting a business relationship, we make the necessary examinations in order to realize the principle of cooperating with third parties that are in line with our ethical culture. In addition, we are in constant communication with our shareholders TAV Havalimanları Holding and Unifree Duty Free İşletmeciliği A.Ş., as well as our shareholders' stakeholders Gebr. Heinemann and ADP. We are in contact with the Ethics and Reputation Association and the Ethical Values Center, which are well-known in the sector for their activities to protect the ethical culture and raise awareness on this issue.

Can you tell us about the strategy and activities of the Risk, Internal Control, Ethics and Compliance department?

Of course, risk management, internal control, ethics and compliance are important areas of corporate governance. Our strategy and activities in these areas include the following elements; setting the company's ethical standards and managing compliance processes, Guiding the ethical behavior of employees, increasing sensitivity to ethical issues, encourage adherence to ethical rules, Identify situations that do not comply with ethical rules and ensure that necessary measures are taken, conduct regular risk assessments to identify potential risks in business processes, develop and implement strategies to manage identified risks, continuous monitoring of risks and providing regular reports to senior managers, establish and maintain an effective internal control system, manage internal control processes in a transparent manner and ensure accountability of relevant parties. Implementation of these strategies strengthens a company's commitment to ethical values and compliance standards, increases its resilience to various risks and thus provides an important foundation for sustainable success.

Our company was recently awarded the ETİKA award for its Ethics and Compliance activities. What were the evaluation criteria for these awards?

We are very proud to receive this award as a company. We started developing the Ethics and Compliance Program at ATU at the beginning of 2020, and seeing that we have established an effective program in a very short time with this award has excited my team to do better work. Our current Ethics and Compliance program was scrutinized on a wide range of issues, from our compliance with gifts, hospitality and conflicts of interest procedures to our awareness trainings, the functioning of our ethics hotline and our corporate social responsibility awareness. As a result of this comprehensive evaluation, we were deemed worthy of the ETIKA award as a symbol of our company having a strong Ethics and Compliance Program and successfully implementing this program.

Can you give information about the awareness trainings and information processes you have realized within the company regarding ethics and compliance? What is the impact of these processes on the company culture?

We, as the department, attach great importance and value to awareness trainings. The trainings help us touch all employees, better express our purpose and raise awareness of these intangible issues. Following our online trainings, we prepared our trainings to touch all our employees, including our overseas operations, and provided trainings on these issues to 986 employees in total. Thus, for the first time, we had the opportunity to share the new ways of doing business, which we have incorporated into our business processes as part of our anti-bribery and anti-corruption program, with our employees face-to-face as well as via e-mail. This gave our employees the opportunity to ask questions and better understand what we expect from them for the sustainability of this program. I would also like to add that we would like to continue these trainings in certain periods.

The trainings have important and positive effects such as ensuring that all employees embrace this culture for the sustainability of this culture, which is considered important by our company. It also creates a transparent and accountable organization that embraces the company's values. In addition to strengthening the company's reputation, this culture also enhances employee motivation and creates a solid foundation for long-term success.

Can you tell us about the platforms that employees have access to for their questions and reports regarding ethics and the way it works?

First of all, we express at every opportunity that we adopt an open door policy in our communications. In this way, we ensure that our stakeholders have the freedom to reach us at any time and trust us. In addition, we have a Share Line managed by a 3rd party company completely independently. Both our employees and third parties can report ethical violations anonymously on this line. They can access this line via web, phone and e-mail channels. In addition, our department has an e-mail address of ethicscomplaince@atu.com.tr and our stakeholders can report their questions and/or ethical violations to us via this e-mail.

Do you think digitalization and new technologies that have changed the way of doing business have had an impact on ethical standards and compliance policies? Can you tell us about the updates you have made to ATU's ethics and compliance policy in this regard?

Yes, digitalization and new technologies have had a significant impact on ethical standards and compliance policies. Strengthening data privacy and security standards are included in our compliance policies. The spread of artificial intelligence and automation will also raise issues such as considering the ethical aspects of automated decisions, and we will include these issues in our policies. These are very important issues of our age and we follow them closely. While we were explaining data privacy, one of our operation employees reported that the names and surnames of the employees were clearly written on the invoices. After carefully examining the Customs Legislation, which we are obliged to comply with, we decided that it is important to keep this data confidential and we updated the invoices and now we have removed the names and surnames of our employees from the invoices. This update is an important example of an update that shows our sensitivity to the rights of our employees.

Can you share your experiences about the challenges you have faced in ATÜ's overseas operations in complying with the local regulations and policies of the relevant country and how they were overcome?

Before establishing our Ethics and Compliance program, we gave serious consideration to this issue. We determined our strategies within the framework of the necessity to create a standardized ethical culture by taking into account the differences created by each country's unique culture, different legal structure, local regulations and human assets. First, we shared our tailor-made Ethics and Compliance standards and all our procedures with Compliance Officers in the relevant countries for their review and legal opinion. We made our revisions in line with the information received from them. In order to internalize this culture, we prepared and published rules, policies and announcements in the languages of each country. We are in strong cooperation and communication with local teams so that we can identify potential difficulties in advance and take precautions.

How many years have you been working for ATÜ and what have you gained from being a part of this structure?

I have been working at ATU for 15 years and I have worked in many different positions. Each position has given me different perspectives. As a result, I think my 360-degree evaluation ability has increased. Thanks to my doctoral study in social sciences in addition to engineering, I never ignore the human aspects as well as looking at the issues from an analytical perspective. The opportunity to use this characteristic to the fullest in my new position has given me the opportunity to realize myself. It has always made me feel good to be a part of ATÜ, to be able to reflect the education I have received, my philosophy of life, and the worldview that makes me who I am in my professional life.

How many people does your team consist of? Can you tell us a little about your team?

We are a small team of 3 people. We attach great importance to good communication, which helps us manage our projects more effectively and achieve success. I can say that we are a team that is aware of their responsibilities, always focusing on the success and sustainability of the company while fulfilling their duties, and we are a team that likes to take quick action.