Turkish Right to Information Blog

Archive for May, 2008

CHP eavesdropping allegations proven false

Allegations that the government bugged Republican People’s Party (CHP) Secretary-General Önder Sav’s private office without authorization were proven false when the daily that sparked the controversy revealed the source of the conversation transcript the CHP had based its accusations on.

Today’s Zaman, your gateway to Turkish news: Wiretapping and slandering

Politician: What is the political atmosphere like in Bolu?
Governor: Your job is not that easy. However, it wouldn’t be right to give up just because it is difficult.

Politician: Do you have the determined and careful human resources required to facilitate the political formation that will win the public over in the town?

Governor: Yes, we do, albeit small. It is necessary to know that we don’t have many people.

Politician: How do you view Bolu, in particular from the political perspective? What can be done?

Governor: Bolu’s base is the Republican People’s Party [CHP]. We can see that the CHP’s votes are growing — particularly in local elections. If a large group is established in Bolu, things could change for the better for the CHP to such an extent that the CHP may well win the elections.

This dialogue is from a conversation that took place between Önder Sav, the CHP secretary-general, and Mehmet Ali Serindağ, the former governor of Bolu, who has been relieved of duty through a recently enacted bylaw on governors. I should first of all note that this type of relationship and conversation should never take place between a political party official and the highest-ranking bureaucrat who represents the state in his province. It’s impossible for us to approve of either this dialogue or relationship. An understanding of public administration based on impartiality and a democratic culture never allow for such a relationship or dialogue.

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Today’s Zaman, your gateway to Turkish news: Who is wiretapping the CHP?

The wiretapping of the Republican People’s Party (CHP) headquarters is a very grave situation despite the ruthlessness, rashness and inconsiderateness of CHP leader Deniz Baykal’s statement about it. The duty of taking the very first action is incumbent on the government and the judiciary.

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Today’s Zaman, your gateway to Turkish news: Bug, By Ekrem Dumanli, 30.05.2008

Unusual things are happening in Turkey. At a time when the Justice and Development Party (AK Party) closure case is being reviewed at the Constitutional Court, one of the 11 members of the court met with Turan Çömez. Who is Çömez?

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Turkish press is full of stories about illegal interception of communications of politicians in Turkey as well as news about a new draft Data Protection Bill. I will post further information about these developments too.

Watergate scenes in Ankara: Who bugged the CHP? - Turkish Daily News May 29, 2008: ” It was two weeks ago when the Constitutional Court’s Vice President Osman Paksüt alleged he was being stalked, and yesterday a political party also denounced security officials for eavesdropping on private meetings in the party’s headquarters and providing the illegally acquired information to an Islamic daily, likening it to a Turkish Watergate.

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This is not related to Turkey but nevertheless an interesting news item.

Britain Opens Archives on UFO Sightings: “More than 1,000 reported sightings of unidentified flying objects, heretofore kept locked away in the National Archives, have been released. Of particular interest is a 1984 sighting, made simultaneously by several experienced (and sober) air traffic controllers.

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(Via Wired News.)

BilgiEdinmeHakki.Org Press Release: 08.05.2008

A report prepared by Dr. Yaman Akdeniz entitled Freedom of Information in Turkey: A Critical Assessment of the Implementation and Application of the Right to Information Act 2003 is made available by BilgiEdinmeHakki.Org, a Turkish pressure group on 08 May, 2008.

The report incorporates data and research gathered between 2004-2008, and provides a detailed analysis of the implementation and application of the Right to Information Act in Turkey. High numbers of right to information applications between 2004-2006 (1,886,962 in total) suggest wider awareness of the existence of the law and the availability of a right to information and access to official documents in Turkey.

The report includes an assessment of the work of the Turkish Right to Information Review Council (BEDK) between June 2004 and March 2008 as well as the assessment of the implementation of the law by central and local government agencies. The report further assesses whether the enactment of a freedom of information law in Turkey helped to achieve an open and transparent regulatory process and whether the new law promotes openness and good practice within government institutions in terms of provision of information.

The report highlights both positive and negative observations with regards to the application and implementation of the Right to Information Act and provides a set of recommendations for improvement of the application of the Right to Information Act in Turkey.

The author of the report, Dr. Yaman Akdeniz, stated that “Although the enactment of the Right to Information Act is a very important step towards openness, transparency, and democratisation in Turkey, the report has identified several problems with the application of the law. As the report will show despite Right to Information Review Council decisions and administrative court orders, there is still resistance to give information, and a high number of public authorities are disputing Council decisions, either by ignoring them, or by appealing to administrative courts to challenge such decisions. Therefore, there needs to be significant improvements to the current system to break down the culture of secrecy and resistance to provide information.”

The report is available at http://www.bilgiedinmehakki.org/doc/Turkey_FOI_2008_Report.pdf
For further information see the Turkish Right to Information Blog: http://foia.bilgiedinmehakki.info
Dr. Yaman Akdeniz can be contacted at akdeniz@bilgiedinmehakki.org

Dr. Yaman Akdeniz is a senior lecturer in law at the School of Law, University of Leeds, United Kingdom. Dr. Akdeniz has been following the enactment of the Turkish Right to Information Act 2003 which came into force on 24 April, 2004 since its inception. He has been a freedom of information activist since 1998 and is also the co-founder of the BilgiEdinmeHakki.Org pressure group which monitors the implementation and application of the Turkish law since 2003.

BilgiEdinmeHakki.Org (www.bilgiedinmehakki.org) has been set up as a pressure group on 09 October, 2003, the day the Turkish Government enacted the Right to Information Act 2003 (No: 4982) to ensure that the Act is effectively used by the Turkish citizens and a greater degree of openness and transparency is established in Turkey as part of its democratization. Bilgi Edinme Hakki stands for Right to Information in Turkish, and the name of the organisation is based upon the Turkish Act.

BilgiEdinmeHakki.Org obtained the following detailed statistics from the Council in March 2008:

• Total No. appeal applications to the Council between 24/05/2004 - 19/02/2008: 4,042
• Total Number of Council decisions: 3,539
• Total number of decision books: 93
• Number of decision books published: 38
• Number of unpublished decision books: 55
• Number of decisions published: 757 (21%)
• Number of unpublished decisions: 2,782 (79%)
• No of decisions cleared for publication but not yet published: 0
• Number of decision books cleared for publication but not yet published: 0
• Number of applications proceeded: 3,893
• Number of applications non-processed: 149
• Total Number of successful appeals: 1,453
• Total Number of partially successful appeals: 601
• Total number of rejected appeals: 1,391
• Total number of appeals in which further review was necessary: 24
• Total number of appeal applications to be discussed by the Council: 95

As can be seen above, majority of the Council decisions (2,782 (79%)) remain unpublished, an there is no “clear” indication in terms of when these decisions will be published by the Turkish Council (BEDK).

EU hails Turkey free speech move: “Turkey’s vote to amend a law that limits freedom of speech is welcomed by the EU.”

On the other hand, Council of Europe Secretary General Terry Davis reacted to changes in Turkish Criminal Code related to freedom of expression:

Strasbourg, 02.05.2008 - “The recent amendments to Article 301 of the Turkish penal Code which criminalises insults to the Turkish nation testify to the readiness of the Turkish authorities to review their legislation against the background of their obligations as a member of the Council of Europe and a party to the European Convention on Human Rights. This is to be welcomed. However, although an analysis of the new wording indicates some progress in this respect, it does not alleviate all concerns about excessive restrictions of the freedom of expression, as guaranteed by Article 10 of the European Convention on Human Rights. The decisive test of compliance with Council of Europe standards will be the interpretation of the new Article 301 by the Turkish courts, and we will follow the situation very closely.”

(Via BBC News.)