In an increasingly globalized world, competition and regulation practices are evolving in step with the demands of the 21^st century society. Research centers play a vital role in meeting those demands. The Application and Research Center for Competition and Regulation (ARCCR) was established in 2014 at the Social Sciences University of Ankara to promote the interdisciplinary study of competition and regulation. The ARCCR is a research-oriented center that brings together academics and practitioners working in the areas of competition and regulation. The main objective of the ARCCR is to foster the development of competition and regulation policy, law, and culture in Turkey and to thereby contribute to economic growth and prosperity in Turkey.

In order to establish and maintain a healthy competitive structure in today’s markets, the ARCCR declares the following as its primary objectives: to seek solutions to existing issues and anticipate new challenges, to foster synergies and exchanges between experience and theory and to strengthen the legislation on competition and regulation. The ARCCR expects to contribute to the practices in competition and regulatory aspects of the oil and gas, energy, banking, telecommunications, and media and construction industries, and to provide a broad range of educational options for professionals who are either already working in the sector or who are interested in moving into the area. The ARCCR plays a strategic role not only in terms of its research interests, but also in terms of its location. Centrally situated in Ankara, the ARCCR has easy access to strategically important institutions, so it can build strong relations and a solid partnership with prominent regulatory authorities such as the Turkish Competition Authority, the Capital Markets Board of Turkey, the Information and Communication Technologies Authority, the Banking Regulation and Supervision Agency of Turkey, the Turkish Standards Institute, and the Turkish Radio and Television Supreme Council.

The ARCCR provides research-led teaching and prepares lawyers, policy makers, academics, and government officials for work in a complex and evolving context, the focus being not only upon current practice but also upon emerging trends. The ARCCR has the ability to accomplish its goals by blending three different legal cultures in competition and regulation areas with experience of its executive board members, who have completed doctoral studies in Germany, the United Kingdom, and the United States.