Episode 27- Liana Japaridze and Ece Ban - Brussels effect in action: Competition Law in Digital Markets from the Caucasus and Türkiye

In this episode, Anush Ganesh and Kena Zheng are joined by Dr Liana Japaridze (Lecturer in Competition Law, University of Glasgow) and Dr Ece Ban (DPhil, University of Oxford) to explore how competition law travels across borders and adapts to the challenges of digital markets. Liana discusses her pioneering work on legal transplants of competition frameworks from the EU and the US into the Western Balkans, Eastern Europe, and Central Asia, including the creation of the first Georgian-language textbook on competition law. Ece draws on her experience as a qualified lawyer at the Istanbul Bar to examine the Turkish Competition Authority's approach to platform dominance, data-driven conduct, and algorithmic practices, and whether a DMA-inspired conversation is taking shape in Türkiye. She also presents her research on how regulation functions as an input in abuse analysis under Article 102 TFEU, proposing a "reality check" framework for managing the growing overlap between competition law, the DMA, and the GDPR. The conversation moves from the maturity of digital markets in the Caucasus and Türkiye to the broader question of whether Article 102 will stagnate in the shadow of the DMA or continue to evolve alongside it, with particular attention to jurisdictions that must rely on abuse of dominance provisions alone.