Turkish Daily News: Democracy Test and Freedom of Information
Turkish Daily News, February 10, 2009 Tuesday
PRESS SCAN-RADIKAL
RADIKAL [HH] Turkey failed democracy test An academics inquiry about the British Queens gifts revealed how Turkey was different from Britain in terms of transparency and freedom of information, daily Radikal reported yesterday
Dr. Yaman Akdeniz from Leeds University Law Faculty applied simultaneously to Turkish and British government agencies in order to learn what Queen Elizabeth had given to the Turkish president and prime minister and to their wives during her visit to Turkey. According to the freedom of information law, the agencies had to respond to the request within 15 days
While the British Foreign Ministry responded within a month, Akdeniz did not receive a response from either the Turkish presidency or the prime ministry. Britains response said Queen Elizabeth gave a history book and a special frame with her picture to the first ladies
“The incident is distressing in terms of the implementation of freedom of information law,” Akdeniz said, adding that the law was not taken seriously in Turkey. “There is a board within the Prime Ministry that evaluates information requests, but it is ineffective. State polices should be open and transparent.”
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