Data Protection Around the World: Turkey

Abstract

Like elsewhere in the world, data protection law is a popular topic as an emerging branch in the legal world in Turkey. After the adoption of Law no. 6698 on the Protection of Personal Data (“DPL”) and the formation of the Turkish Data Protection Authority (“DPA”) in 2016, the protection of data subjects’ rights with regards to personal data and privacy has become a major subject of discussions both in the academia and in practice. This chapter deals with Turkey’s stand concerning personal data protection in comparison with the General Data Protection Regulation (“GDPR”). To that extent, this chapter firstly analyses Turkey’s main laws and regu- lations and case-law with regard to the protection of personal data. This is followed by a comparison of the Turkish DPL with the GDPR, where the strengths and weak- nesses of Turkish law in the field of data protection are demonstrated. The chapter concludes with the possible application of the GDPR in Turkey and its impact on the Turkish data protection law.