Turkish Parliament passes personal data protection bill

Parliament passed a bill on protection of personal data into law late Thursday, pushing Turkey closer to the visa liberalization for Turkish nationals traveling to the European Union's Schengen zone.

The EU requires Turkey to fulfill 72 criteria points to achieve visa liberalization, 35 of which have been fulfilled while 37 are in the process of being finalized by the government. Commenting on the bill, Justice Minister Bekir Bozdağ identified it as the first self-contained law and said that it will be an antidote against being blacklisted. Now with the bill passed into law, a nine-member Committee of Personal Data Protection will be established under the Personal Data Protection Institute that will be affiliated with the Prime Ministry.

According to the official statement from Parliament, the committee is to ensure the security of personal data and the restriction of access to security databases, enabling all citizens to learn whether their personal data is being stored properly. The board will also investigate any complaints regarding breaches of personal data. Furthermore, citizens' ethnicity, political views, philosophical beliefs, religion, sects, mode of dress, organization or any other associations that they may be members of, health records and sexual life will be considered special personal data.