Türkiye expands AI governance: New public AI directorate and upgraded national tech body
Türkiye has moved to strengthen AI policy and delivery across government. Decisions published in the Official Gazette rename the Ministry's National Technology directorate and create a new Public Artificial Intelligence Directorate under the Presidency's Cybersecurity Directorate.
Industry and Technology Minister Mehmet Fatih Kacir said the goal is clear: coordinate national AI efforts, build capacity, and set practical standards so agencies can deploy AI safely and at scale. "With strong coordination among stakeholders in the public sector, academia, and the private sector, we will ensure that Türkiye becomes one of the leading countries in the field of artificial intelligence," he noted.
What changed
The Directorate General of National Technology is now the Directorate General of National Technology and Artificial Intelligence. Its scope expands from core tech policy to full AI strategy and oversight.
- Develop policies to grow data center and cloud infrastructure.
- Set standards and certification criteria for data centers; manage authorization processes.
- Ensure AI is developed and used in line with ethical and reliable principles.
- Expand data, infrastructure, and workforce capacity across sectors.
- Support startups and research initiatives; coordinate national-level AI governance.
- Promote international cooperation on AI policy and standards.
New Public Artificial Intelligence Directorate
A Public Artificial Intelligence Directorate General is established under the Presidency's Cybersecurity Directorate. Its brief is to guide how AI is used across government institutions.
- Lead regulatory work for AI applications in government.
- Align national legislation with international frameworks and best practices.
- Set principles and standards for data governance in digital government and AI use.
- Identify institutional needs and build a shared data-space infrastructure.
- Define quality standards for datasets used in public-sector AI systems.
What this means for agency leaders
Expect clearer rules, stronger coordination, and practical support for deployment. This is a signal to move from pilots to production-responsibly.
- Map your top 3-5 AI use cases and confirm legal basis, risk controls, and security requirements.
- Stand up data governance: assign data stewards, document lineage, and rate dataset quality against the coming standards.
- Update procurement: require model transparency, evaluation results, bias testing, and incident reporting in contracts.
- Form an AI review board with IT, legal, data, and program owners to approve use cases and monitor outcomes.
- Plan workforce upskilling for analysts, auditors, and frontline staff; track training completion and impact.
- Coordinate early with the Cybersecurity Directorate on shared data spaces and inter-agency requirements.
Standards and alignment
The public AI directorate is tasked with aligning national rules with international frameworks. Look to the OECD AI Principles and the EU AI Act for direction on risk management, transparency, and accountability.
For the legal basis of these changes, see the Official Gazette announcements: Resmî Gazete.
Build capacity now
The directives emphasize workforce development and practical readiness. If your team needs structured learning paths for policy, procurement, data governance, or AI operations, explore role-based options here: AI courses by job.
Bottom line
Türkiye is moving from broad intent to concrete governance. Agencies should get ahead of the new standards, prepare data foundations, and formalize AI oversight so projects clear review quickly and deliver measurable public value.
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