Dear Citizens and Foreign People (Subject to The Principle of Reciprocity)
As it is known, the right to information, which was guaranteed by the 2010 Constitutional Amendment, entered our legislation as a democratic reform with the Law No. 4982 on the Right to Information on October 9, 2003. For the first time, real and legal persons' ability to exercise their right to information has been legally guaranteed by this law.
The right to information is a right that is of great importance in establishing and strengthening the principles of equality, impartiality and openness, which are a requirement of transparent and accountable management in a democratic state of law. In the exercise of this right, in order to examine the decisions made based on the reasons listed in the Law No. 4982 on the Right to Information, upon objections to be made regarding the application to obtain information, and to make decisions regarding the use of the right to information for institutions and organizations; The Review Board of Access to Information (RBAI) was established.
As RBAI, we are excited to selflessly fulfill the duties assigned within the framework of the Constitution and laws, based on justice and impartiality, solution-orientedness, reliability, transparency and awareness of responsibility. By observing the rights of our citizens against public institutions and organizations, we always continue to stand by the right and the law in reaching our citizens' and foreign people (subject to the principle of reciprocity) right to information.
With nearly 20 years of experience, our information units and RBAI have created a significant accumulation in their field. While meticulously examining and deciding on appeal applications, on the other hand, it has given importance to informing activities both on our website and on our social media account regarding the correct understanding, use and implementation of the right to information by individuals and public institutions. In this context, we have opened our website in order to inform our citizens and foreign people (subject to the principle of reciprocity) about the use of the right to information in a continuous development and citizen-oriented approach in order to ensure that they have access to information in the most appropriate way. We aim to facilitate our citizens' and foreign people’s (subject to the principle of reciprocity) access to RBAI by improving the communication channels on our website over time.
Our Board, which was elected on November 12, 2019 with the appreciation and approval of our Honorable President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, started its duty with great enthusiasm. Having held its first meeting on December 4, 2019, the new RBAI has concluded 3,357 applications as of 09.09.2021. We publish and will continue to publish our decisions that can set a precedent by extracting personal data at our address www.bedk.adalet.gov.tr.
Our work to update our legislation continues. We are happy to update our publications titled "Legislation and the Right to Obtain Information in 25 Questions", which we previously published as RBAI and publish them on our website. Our similar publications will continue.
We are pleased to learn that with the Human Rights Action Plan announced at the Presidential Complex on March 2, 2021, RBAI will also be strengthened.
Expressing our satisfaction with the point reached by the use of the right to information in our country, we thank the sensitivity of our public institutions and organizations regarding the use of the right to information, and we respectfully present to the public that the rights-based and freedom-oriented works carried out by our board and information units will continue to strengthen.
Best regards. September 9, 2021
Prof. Dr. Hasan Tahsin FENDOĞLU
President of the Review Board of Access to Information