At the occasion of the meeting which hosted civil society, academic circles and representatives from the business community was launched IKV’s publication entitled “Protection of Personal Data within Turkey and the EU”, which was prepared by IKV Junior Researcher Ahmet Ceran.

After the opening speech of IKV Deputy Secretary-General and Research Director Melih Özsöz; Chair of Transparency International Turkey Oya Özarslan and the founding and managing partner of ELIG Attorneys-at-Law, Gönenç Gürkaynak shared their views in regard to the protection of personal data.

During his opening speech, Melih Özsöz highlighted the new momentum witnessed in Turkey-EU relations. He also emphasized the importance of the protection of personal data within the scope of the accession negotiations as well as within the upgrading process of the Customs Union and the visa liberalisation process. On the other hand, he stressed that the issue of data protection has a great influence not only on international systems, but also on social lives of individuals.

Before his presentation, IKV Junior Researcher Ahmet Ceran pointed out that the publication focuses on the identification of the problems and on raising awareness among the public opinion.  He also highlighted that one of the main problems in this area is the non-existence of a European level regulation in Turkey. He also explained the reasons for which IKV focuses on this subject. In fact, the protection of personal data plays an important role in the alignment to of some the chapters in the accession process, in the fulfilment of the requirements of visa liberalization roadmap and in the upgrading process of the Customs Union. On the other hand, IKV Junior Researcher Ceran stressed the difficulty encountered by Turkey against the increasing protectionism in the EU. He also emphasized that Turkey is the only Council member who has not ratified European Council Convention No. 108, which is the first international level regulation concerning the subject.

During their speeches, Oya Özarslan and Gönenç Gürkaynak have mentioned priority issues like the culture of fundamental rights and freedoms in Turkey and the intercourse between the protection of personal data and related rights; such as the limits of the right to access to information and freedom of expression.

It was highlighted that campaign funds and financial assets of politicians should be transparent. In addition to that, it was stressed that the issue of violation of personal space is put forward as a pretext around the world, and that in certain countries such as Mexico, Croatia and England, public can call politicians to be more accountable. It was emphasized that limits of the right of privacy are abstract and that areas such as the right to be forgotten are wide open to abuse. The existence of a regulation aligning with the EU acquis and the need of the establishment of an independent supervisory authority were also highlighted. Besides, two criteria regarding processing, sharing and storing personal data were underlined: determinability of the data and consent of the data owner. 

The issue of data processing was also one of the topics discussed during the meeting. In this regard, the importance of financial gains of efficient data processing and R&D potential were highlighted. It was indicated that some existing regulations that empowers public institutions regarding the processing of the personal data, such as MIT Kanunu (National Intelligence Organization Law) has the potential to cause risks.

It was mentioned that the most essential requirement in the area of personal data processing is the transparency. In this respect, data owners must be informed and enlightened about the process at all stages. During the debate session of the meeting; assessments on some key issues such as the compatibility of the draft law comparing the EU standards; difficulty of its application in the short term and the possible reactions of the EU institutions’ regarding the draft law has been also brought forward.