Turkish Right to Information Blog

Turkish FOI System explained in a nutshell

In a nutshell, and as can be seen below, an applicant can lodge a right to information request to any public authority. If the request is denied (or if there is no response) the applicant can appeal to the Right to Information Assessment Council (BEDK) but there is no internal appeal process within the public authority (for example like within the UK system). If the information is still denied and the Council rejects the applicant’s appeal, the applicant then can lodge an appeal with an Administrative Court to review the decision of the Council. In certain circumstances, a subsequent appeal can be lodged with the Council of State.

Leaked Classified Turkish Military Document lists those who received financial support from abroad

An interesting story hit the Turkish news in the first few weeks of April 2008. According to various articles in the Turkish media the military found to be recording dissidents and their activities. Parts of a 73-page document which lists all academics, journalists, NGOs and businessmen that have been classified as having received support from the US or EU was leaked to the media. Details of this story is provided below through an article published in English in the Turkish Daily News. More interestingly, I am also listed in this story as having received funding from George Soros’s Open Society Institute (which is true – see publicly available information on this) and am classified as working in the field of freedom of information, very interesting classified stuff!

I have now lodged a right to information request and asked the Chief of General Staff (the top military organization in Turkey) to provide me information about myself included within the classified document, and the legal basis for my inclusion in the classified document. I will report back when I hear from the Chief of General Staff.

Military found to be recording ‘dissidents’ again
Turkish Daily News, Wednesday, April 9, 2008

73-page document lists all academics, journalists, NGOs and businessmen that have been classified as having received support from the US or EU

ISTANBUL – TDN with wire dispatches

The military listed all institutions, academics, journalists and businessmen who in any manner received European Union or United States support in a top-secret report dated March 2006, newspapers reported yesterday.

The story was first reported Monday in daily Taraf and it was not refuted by the Office of the Chief of General Staff. The report was prepared by a colonel and submitted to the deputy chief of staff of the time, Işık Koşaner, the current gendarmerie commander.

According to the document, the report was prepared to highlight the efforts of NGOs that were supported by the EU and the United States for their own purposes.

Of the 73-page-report, 25 pages are allocated to financier George Soros, cited in the report as the man responsible for the chaos in eastern Europe since the end of the Cold War. The report also noted the meetings between Soros and President Abdullah Gül, who was the foreign minister at the time.

Figures were included in the report to illustrate the links between various NGOs and intermediaries. Various Turkish institutions received 88.5 million euros from the EU for 335 projects.

It also lists friendly NGOs and companies that need to be supported.

Taraf yesterday argued that the military objected to the funds provided by the EU because the recipients were civilian, noting that the Office of the Chief of Staff had received 12.7 million euros in 2007 for its project to teach conscripts to read and write and various professional skills.

Forthcoming Report announced by BilgiEdinmeHakki.Org

During May 2008, BilgiEdinmeHakki.Org will publish a report entitled Freedom of Information in Turkey: A Critical Assessment of the Implementation and Application of the Turkish Right to Information Act 2003. The report drafted by Dr. Yaman Akdeniz will be made available initially in English through BilgiEdinmeHakki.Org. A Turkish version will be published in June 2008.

Workload of the Turkish FOI Council as of September 2007

I regularly obtain detailed statistics through the Turkish FOI Council (BEDK) on the behalf of my organization BilgiEdinmeHakki.Org. The below information was obtained in September 2007 following a right to information request I lodged on 28 August, 2007.

The detailed statistics obtained from the Council in September 2007 reveal the following:

➢ Total No. appeal applications to the Council between 24/05/2004 – 28/08/2007: 3,413
➢ Total Number of Council decisions: 3,205
➢ Total number of decision books: 81
➢ Number of decision books published: 28
➢ Number of unpublished decision books: 53
➢ Number of decisions published: 641 (20%)
➢ Number of unpublished decisions: 2564 (80%)
➢ Number of decisions cleared for publication but not yet published: 332
➢ Number of decision books cleared for publication but not yet published: 10
➢ Number of applications proceeded: 3,264
➢ Number of applications non-processed: 149
➢ Total Number of successful appeals: 1,210
➢ Total Number of partially successful appeals: 501
➢ Total number of rejected appeals: 1120
➢ Total number of appeals in which further review was necessary: 20
➢ Total number of appeal applications to be discussed by the Council: 208

As can be seen above, only 20% of the 3205 decisions of the Council were publicly made available as of September 2007 and no further decisions were published since March 2007.

Currently available decisions of the Turkish Council can be obtained (in Turkish I am afraid) through the BilgiEdinmeHakki.Org pages.

Right to Information and the Obligation to Provide Information

Right to Information 

Everyone has a right to obtain information under Article 4 of the Right to Information Act 2003.

All natural and legal persons could apply to the public institutions for exercising their right to information. However, the Act also includes some limitations on this general right to information. Foreigners domiciled in Turkey and the foreign legal entities operating in Turkey can only exercise this right on the condition that the information that they require is related to them or the field of their activities; and on the basis of the principle of reciprocity.

Obligation to Provide Information

All public institutions are required to provide the information requested under article 5. They also have a legal obligation to respond to the applicants.

The public institutions are required to take administrative and technical measures to deal with requests under the 2003 Act.

They have a legal obligation to provide access to information and documents (subject to the exceptions set out in this law) and to review and decide on the applications for access to information promptly, effectively and correctly.

Definition of “information” and “document” provided in the Right to Information Act

Information is defined as “every kind of data that is within the scope of this law and are included in the records of the institutions” by article 3(c) of the 2003 Act. Article 3(d) defines “documents” as “any written, printed or copied file, document, book, journal, brochure, etude, letter, software, instruction, sketch, plan, film, photograph, tape and video cassette, map of the institutions and the information, news and other data that are recorded and saved in electronic format that are within the scope of this law.”

Article 3(3) also provides a definition for “access” to information and documents. The law requires access to “information” and the public institutions need to provide copies of any documents that are available. This could be photo-copies or documents in electronic format.

However, in cases were it is not possible to provide a copy of the document requested, an applicant may be permitted to examine the original information or the document or see the contents of such documents, or any form of data, and should be allowed to take notes.

Workload of the Turkish FOI Council as of February 2007

I regularly obtain detailed statistics through the Turkish FOI Council (BEDK) on the behalf of my organization BilgiEdinmeHakki.Org. The below information was obtained in March 2007 following a right to information request I lodged on 26 February, 2007.

The detailed statistics obtained from the Council in March 2007 reveal the following:

➢    Total No. appeal applications to the Council between 24/05/2004 – 26/02/2007: 2,676
➢    Total Number of Council decisions: 2,475
➢    Total number of decision books: 69
➢    Number of decision books published: 28
➢    Number of unpublished decision books: 41
➢    Number of decisions published: 641 (25%)
➢    Number of unpublished decisions: 1,834 (75%)
➢    Number of applications proceeded: 2,321
➢    Number of applications non-processed: 355
➢    Total Number of successful appeals: 977
➢    Total Number of partially successful appeals: 419
➢    Total number of rejected appeals: 888
➢    Total number of appeals in which further review was necessary: 10
➢    Total number of appeal applications to be discussed by the Council: 213

I have received further statistics through the Council in August 2007, and more recently in March 2008. I will publish these on these pages within the next few weeks together with some analysis. However, as can be seen above, only 25% of the 2475 decisions of the Council were publicly made available as of February 2007 and these 641 decisions were published following pressure from BilgiEdinmeHakki.Org through a number of right to information requests.

Until March 2007, while a total of 2475 decisions were laid down by the Council, only 71 of these were made public between 2004-2006! Following yet another request made in February 2007 by BilgiEdinmeHakki.Org the Council decided to change its policy in terms of the publications of its decisions. It was revealed that the Council would start publishing all its decisions from 09 March, 2007, the day the Council’s decision was sent to BilgiEdinmeHakki.Org.

Right to Information Assessment (Review) Council

Following the enactment of the Right to Information Act in Turkey, a Right to Information Assessment (Review) Council (Bilgi Edinme Degerlendirme Kurulu) was established to deal with appeals on rejected right to information requests. The Council’s activities are regulated by article 14 of the Right to Information Act 2003. Furthermore, the Prime Ministry prepared and put into force the regulation concerning the procedure and the basis for the activities and tasks of the Council almost two years after the Council started to convene, and this was published in the Official Gazette on 07 June, 2006. In addition to dealing with appeals, and resolving the disputes between the applicants and the public institutions, the Council also has the responsibility to prepare an annual statistical report on the application of the Right to Information Act in Turkey. The Council can also recommend amendments to the existing law if necessary.

The Council is composed of 9 members, and the Council members serve for four years. The names of the members of the Council were announced by the Prime Ministry on 27 May, 2004. The Council of Ministers appointed two members amongst the four candidates nominated by the General Board of the Court of Appeals and the Council of State from their members; three members, each amongst the scholars of criminal, constitutional and administrative law who bear the title of Professor or Associate Professors; one member among the two candidates that have the qualifications to be elected as chief of Bar and are nominated by the Turkish Bar Association, two members amongst those who have been serving as general director; and a member among judges in service of the Ministry of Justice as recommended by the Minister.

It is required under article 14 that the Council convenes at least once a month or anytime upon the call of the President when there is need. The Council can set up commissions and working groups and in addition may invite representatives from the ministries, non-governmental organisations and other institutions to participate in the meetings as it finds appropriate.

Turkish Right to Information Act 2003

There were calls for the enactment of a Turkish freedom of information laws for many years. The 1982 Turkish Constitution through article 26 only provided a right of free expression including the right to receive information but this did not include a right to seek information from public authorities. There was a serious attempt at legislation between 1998-2001. A draft bill entitled Idari Usul ve Bilgi Edinme Hakki Kanunu (Administrative Procedural and Right to Information Law) was developed by the Prime Ministry but this was never discussed at the Parliament.

Subsequently, the 58th Government Plan of 2003 (Ak Party -Justice and Development Party) announced that the government would legislate and provide its citizens with a right to information to ensure transparency, participation, and public accountability. This was a welcome announcement towards openness, and democratization in Turkey. Turkey, was not for example, obliged by the European Union to adopt a freedom of information law with regards to its pending membership negotiations with the European Union. In fact, on the contrary, Turkey was quicker than Germany to adopt such a law and to provide its citizens with a right to receive information from public institutions. Further details for the legislation were revealed within the Government’s January 2003 Emergency Action Plan, and it was announced that the work towards the drafting of a Right to Information Act would be conducted within the next three months. This was part of the government’s plan to reform the central public administration and the lead responsibility was given to the Ministry of Justice.

The draft legislation prepared by the Ministry of Justice was introduced to the Parliament on 25 June, 2003. A Parliamentary report by the EU Compatibility Commission of the Parliament was published on 16 July, 2003. A subsequent report on the draft bill prepared by the Justice Commission of the Turkish Parliament was published on 24 July, 2003.

On 08-09 October, 2003 the Turkish Parliament discussed the Right to Information Bill. 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 from the opposition) unanimously voted for the Bill to become law. The Turkish Parliament enacted the Right to Information Act 2003, Bilgi Edinme Hakki Kanunu (No: 4982). The government also announced the drafting of two further legislation to clarify the meaning of “state secrecy” and “trade secrets” on the day the Right to Information Act was enacted. Although the draft bills on these related secrecy laws (Devlet Sırları Kanunu Tasarısı, and Ticari Sırlar Kanunu Tasarısı) were published by the Ministry of Justice during 2004, they are yet to become law as of this writing.

The Right to Information Act 2003 came into force six months after the date of its publication in the Official Gazette on 24 April, 2004.

The 2003 legislation aims to regulate the procedure and the basis of the right to information according to the principles of equality, impartiality and openness that are the necessities of a democratic and transparent government (article 1). The law covers all public institutions and private institutions performing public functions.

The Right to Information Act 2003 ( Law No. 4982) is accessible in English through the BilgiEdinmeHakki.Org pages.

Turkish Right to Information Blog

This new blog is set up by Dr. Yaman Akdeniz who is a senior lecturer in law at the School of Law, Universit of Leeds, United Kingdom. Yaman 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.

While the BilgiEdinmeHakki.Org pages are predominantly in Turkish this new blog at foia.bilgiedinmehakki.info will provide information about the Turkish developments in English. It is my intention to inform the world at large about the freedom of information related developments from Turkey.