Those public institutions and professional organizations that qualify as public institutions are obliged to give information requested by anyone within fifteen working days. This is the law as set out in the Right to Information Code. However, in cases where the requisite information or document must be obtained from another unit within or associated to the institution, then access must be provided within thirty working days. In cases where the application pertains to multiple institutions, the time limit is also extended to thirty days. In both cases the applicant must be notified of this delay within the first fifteen working days. The fifteen working day time limit is deemed to be suspended from the point when the person/organization seeking access is notified of the cost involved. The applicant then has fifteen working days to pay the cost. If it is not paid within this period, the application is deemed to be withdrawn. Once the payment is received, the fifteen day ‘clock’ starts ticking again.
Clause 5 of the Code gives right of use of this law to foreigners domiciled in Turkey as well as foreign legal entities operating in Turkey, on condition that the information they require is related to them or the field of their activities, as well as on the basis of the principle of reciprocity. The Code reserves the rights and obligations of the Turkish State under international conventions.
The actual application should be made with a petition containing your given name, surname, place of residence or work address, and your signature. When the applicant is a company, its title and address, as well as the signature of an authorized person, together with a certificate of authorization, to the relevant institution should be contained. The application may only be made electronically or by fax if the identity and signature of the applicant may be determined without sight of the original signature. The petition must also specify the information requested and document(s) required.
The Code does contain some exemptions whereby the petitioner will not receive the requested information. Should the document contain classified material, then only that information which is not classified will be made available. Whatever the reason, the petitioner must be told of the reason for this exemption.
İn the event that an application for access to information is rejected by decision of the ‘Information and Documents Pertaining to State Secrets’ and/or ‘Information and Documents Pertaining to Economic Interests of the State’ the petitioner may appeal to the Board before appealing for Judicial Review. The Board must render a decision within fifteen days. The institutions involved are required to present all relevant material to the Board in the first fifteen days of this period.Appeal to the Board suspends the time limit to refer to Administrative Jurisdiction (aka judicial review). In the event of rejection for reasons not covered thus far, the petitioner may apply to the Administrative Court.
