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There is no specific right of access to information in the 1982 Turkish Constitution. Article 26 gives right of free expression including the right to receive information. Article 74 provides for a right of petition and Article 125 provides for judicial review and compensation of administrative decisions.

The Law on Right to Information was adopted unanimously by the Parliament in October 2003 and went into effect in April 2004.

Citizens and legal persons have a right to information from public institutions and private organizations that qualify as public institutions. Non-citizens and foreign corporations based in Turkey also have a right to information related to them or their interests if the country they are from allows Turkish citizens to demand information from their authorities. Requests are to be made in writing or in electronic form if the identity of the applicant and their signature can be verified using a digital signature.

Government bodies are required to respond in 15 working days. They must provide either a certified copy of the document or when it is not possible to make a copy, requestors can examine them at the institution. Oral requests are to be treated "with hospitality and kindness" and immediately reviewed and resolved if possible.

There are exemptions for state secrets which would clearly cause harm to the security of the state or foreign affairs or national defense and national security; would harm the economic interests of the state or cause unfair competition or enrichment; the duties and activities of the civil and military intelligence units; administrative investigations; judicial investigations or prosecutions; violate the private life or economic or professional interests of an individual; privacy of communications; trade secrets; intellectual property; internal regulations; internal opinions, information notes and recommendations if determined by the institution to be exempt; and requests for recommendations and opinions. Information relating to administrative decisions that are not subject to judicial review or which affect the working life and professional honour of an individual are still subject to access. Other legal regulations which withhold information are overridden by the law.

There is no internal appeals mechanism. Appeals of withholdings are to the Board of Review of the Access to Information. Its jurisdiction was originally limited to cases relating to national security and state economic interests but the law was amended in November 2005 to allow appeals in all cases. Prior to the amendment, the Board still heard cases relating to the other issues. It can set up commissions and working groups and invite government representatives and outside organizations to participate. Its secretariat is handed by the Prime Ministry. The Board received 1566 appeals through March 2006. It accepted 567 cases.

Appeals can then be made to the administrative court. There are a few pending cases mostly related to non-compliance with board decisions by public authorities but there have been no decisions.

Sanctions can be imposed under the criminal law and administratively against officials for negligently, recklessly or deliberately obstructing the application of the law.

Institutions must prepare reports on the application of the law and submit them to the Board of Review. The Board must produce an annual report to submit to the National Assembly which will be made public. As of June 2005, there had been 395,557 requests, 87 percent of which the information was given fully. It was only partially given in 13,300 cases and denied in full in 20,000 cases.

An initial review of implementation made in October 2004 by NGO BilgilenmeHakki.org found that the major ministries had made serious efforts to implement the law. All had set up their FOI units and were taking requests through Internet portals. Over 75 percent of requests were being provided in full, some ministries such as Justice and Trade and Industry replying in the same day. However four ministries had not responded to requests.

A review by BilgilenmeHakki.org in 2004 and 2005 of municipalities and governorships found that few local authorities websites were following the rules while the governorships were somewhat better but still were failing a significant number of times.

The government published drafts of bills on "State Secrecy" and "Trade Secrets" in February 2004. It is expected that the draft bill on "State Secrecy" will codify the existing practice of allowing officials to classify documents with little oversight or restrictions. The bills have not been adopted yet. The Criminal Code prohibits the unauthorized disclosure, obtaining, or publishing state secrets, including of another country. Penalties include jail time up to ten years. Obtaining or publication of "banned documents" (non-public official documents) is also prohibited.

A draft data protection bill was also produced by the Ministry of Justice during 2003. It has also not advanced.

[Footnotes for this section are currently unavailable but will be posted the week of July 10. All footnotes and references are also available in the full study, available here.]

2004 freedominfo.org Global Survey Results - Turkey

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24 OCTOBER 2003
TURKEY: Turkey Approves Right to Information Law
According to the Turkish Daily Zaman, President Ahmet Necdet Sezer has approved Turkish 'Right to Information' law.

In terms of the law, citizens will now have access to information regarding activities of civil and military intelligence units. Partial information can be obtained about the Supreme Military Council (YAS), the Presidency, and the Judges and Prosecutors High Council (HSYK), which are not subject to inspection.

The Right to Information law was presented for the Presidency's approval on October 10, 2003 after being passed in parliament.

9 OCTOBER 2003
TURKEY: Freedom Of Information Law Enacted
The Turkish government enacted the Right to Information Law (Law No: 4982). The Law was initially prepared by the Ministry of Justice and was introduced to the Parliament on 25 June, 2003.

237 Turkish MPs out of a total of 550 were present for the final voting on the Right to Information Bill and all of the present MPs (including those from the opposition) voted for in favor of making Access to Information a right for Turkish citizens.

The new law itself does not say anything on implementation and there will be further regulations published within the next six months clarifying issues related to implementation.

Click here to see the text of the law.

29 AUGUST 2003
TURKEY: Access to Information Bill to be Debated in Parliament
Turkishpress.com reports on the progress of an Access to Information Bill in turkey. The current ‘right to know’ bill is one of most important legal arrangements towards democratization, since it stipulates that any person genuinely needing information from the state will have access to it, which will make democracy both more participatory and meaningful.

The bill was first presented to the Parliament at the end of June. The relevant parliamentary commissions have discussed the measure and prepared their reports on it. Therefore, the next step for the bill is debate in the full Parliament.

Providing the right to access state information will promote openness and transparency in the state and ensure the effective participation of citizens in the administration. Under the bill, any person wanting access to state information may apply to the competent authority responsible for providing it. However, the bill contains certain exceptions: information the disclosure of which could endanger the security, integrity or sovereignty of the nation or state; confidential communications between state officials; information whose disclosure would harm the ability of the government to manage the economy; information which would reveal personal information concerning another person; information including trade secrets; or information whose disclosure would harm public safety or public order, etc.

11 JULY 2003
TURKEY: Parliament to Tackle Draft Law to Limit State Secrets
The Turkish Daily News reports that the government has presented Parliament a draft law limiting the scope of state secrets and enabling citizens the right to obtain information about state works.

Arranging procedures regarding the usage of the right to obtain information, which is the requisite of a democratic and transparent administration, the bill stipulates that public institutions are to provide information about their works to citizens upon written demand.

According to the bill, citizens will apply to public institutions from which they want to obtain information with a petition. The public institutions will have to provide information or document within 15 days upon demand.

These institutions will then be required to clarify their reason if they reject the applications of citizens. The citizens, on the other hand, will be able to raise an objection with the Information Obtaining Evaluation Board within 15 days after their demand is refused. The board will give a decision on the application in 60 days.

Notes

[Footnotes for this section are currently unavailable but will be posted the week of July 10. All footnotes and references are also available in the full study, available here.]

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