AI x Defense: Türkiye redefines the next chapter of its National Technology Initiative
On Dec. 25, Türkiye published a set of decisions in the Official Gazette that reorganize how the state develops, deploys, and governs artificial intelligence. The changes create a clear split between national AI policy and public-sector AI operations, with central oversight for each. For government leaders, this means fewer silos, clearer rules, and a faster route from policy to implementation.
The headline changes
- The National Technology General Directorate is expanded and renamed the National Technology and Artificial Intelligence General Directorate within the Ministry of Industry and Technology.
- A new Public Artificial Intelligence General Directorate is established under the Presidency's Cybersecurity Directorate to handle AI across government institutions.
Why this matters for public institutions
AI will sit inside core industrial planning and public-service delivery, not on the sidelines. Central teams will set standards for data, cloud, security, ethics, and training-reducing overlap and guesswork across agencies. Expect clearer procurement criteria, shared data infrastructure, and stronger compliance expectations.
Mandate of the National Technology & AI General Directorate
- Lead national AI policy with a data-driven focus tied to industrial strategy and competitiveness.
- Set policy and standards for data centers and cloud infrastructure operating in Türkiye, including certification and authorization processes.
- Advance ethical and trustworthy AI, including principles, guidance, and oversight mechanisms.
- Grow national capacity: data resources, infrastructure, and human capital through programs and incentives.
- Support startups and R&D; prepare legislative groundwork; expand international cooperation.
- Reduce fragmentation by coordinating institutions working on digital and advanced technologies.
Mandate of the Public AI General Directorate
- Develop and coordinate AI legislation specific to public administration.
- Contribute to national AI strategies and action plans with a public-sector lens.
- Harmonize domestic rules with international standards on transparency, accountability, and risk management.
- Define data governance rules for the full lifecycle: creation, storage, use, sharing, and deletion.
- Build shared data space infrastructure for government, with strict quality criteria and technical standards.
- Embed cybersecurity, data protection, and system integrity into public AI systems from day one.
Data centers, cloud, and digital resilience
Türkiye will set national technical criteria for data centers and cloud services to improve consistency, security, and reliability. Certification and authorization will create a baseline of trust across facilities. The goal is to boost investment, protect sovereignty of critical data, and reduce exposure to external risks.
Ethics, trust, and workforce
Ethics is treated as infrastructure. Standards for fairness, transparency, and reliability will guide development and deployment. Training programs will scale a skilled workforce across the public sector and industry, ensuring talent matches the policy push.
Public-sector data governance: what to prepare now
- Inventory datasets by purpose, sensitivity, retention period, and legal basis.
- Adopt common metadata, quality rules, and interoperability profiles.
- Define sharing rules and logging for cross-agency access and audits.
- Set deletion processes and exception handling for legal holds.
- Run risk assessments for AI uses, including bias, security, and safety impacts.
"Genesis Mission": shared data spaces for government
The state will build shared environments to provide secure, standardized access to datasets used in public-sector AI. Quality gates will sit before model training or deployment to prevent biased or unreliable outputs. This puts data quality on equal footing with model performance.
Coordination and delivery
Central coordination is the default. Ministries and agencies will plug into a single strategy rather than launch isolated projects. Expect faster policy cycles and clearer accountability for outcomes.
What agency leaders can do this quarter
- Appoint an AI lead and define a cross-functional working group (IT, legal, data, security, procurement, operations).
- Map top 3-5 AI use cases tied to measurable service improvements or cost savings.
- Stand up a minimal MLOps and data pipeline for pilots using approved security baselines.
- Prepare procurement guardrails: model evaluation criteria, documentation requirements, and vendor security attestations.
- Launch targeted training for policymakers, product owners, and data teams.
- Agree on shared KPIs with the central directorates and set quarterly reviews.
Procurement and risk: match international good practice
As rules mature, procurement will benefit from established frameworks on risk, transparency, and testing. Two useful references while domestic standards are finalized: the NIST AI Risk Management Framework and the EU AI Act materials.
Data center and cloud checklist for CIOs/CTOs
- Identify workloads that must run in-country and plan migration timelines.
- Validate providers against upcoming certification and operational criteria.
- Implement encryption, key management, and zero-trust access for AI workflows.
- Set monitoring for data residency, latency, and uptime SLAs aligned with mission needs.
What success looks like
- Reduced project duplication across ministries; more shared services.
- Certified data centers and cloud services meeting national standards.
- Auditable AI systems with clear documentation, monitoring, and redress paths.
- Measured service gains (processing time, accuracy, cost per case) from AI deployments.
- A trained public-sector workforce with defined roles and career paths in AI.
Bottom line
Türkiye is moving AI from experimentation to state capability. With two dedicated directorates, the focus tightens on standards, shared infrastructure, and delivery at scale. Agencies that prepare data foundations and procurement rules now will be first to see real-world gains.
Optional training support
If your team needs structured learning by role, explore curated pathways here: AI courses by job function. It can help compress onboarding time for policy, data, and IT staff.
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