In Türkiye, data protection has been a constitutional right since 2010, and the main regulation in this area, the Personal Data Protection Act numbered 6698 (the DP Act), came into force in 2016. The DP Act, which consists of 33 articles, is based on the EU Directive 95/46/EC. However, harmonization of the DP Act with the GDPR has been on the agenda for some time.

This issue has been reflected in various action plans in recent years. The Human Rights Action Plan announced by the Ministry of Justice in 2021, the Economic Reform Action Plan released by the Ministry of Treasury and Finance, and Türkiye’s Medium-Term Program 2024-2026 all include goals to comply with the GDPR. In this direction, it is expected that the DP Act will be modernized by a comprehensive amendment. Before that time, though, certain provisions of the DP Act were amended by Parliament and published in the Official Gazette on 12 March 2024.