“Congratulations, your daughter is pregnant!”: right to privacy in Turkey

Abstract

The AKP government in Turkey has developed various mechanisms of control (MERNIS, KPS, MOBESE, Sağlık-Net etc.) with the ultimate aim of creating a high security neoliberal state. MERNIS (The Central Civil Registration System) has stood at the heart of all these mechanisms as a grand database. This grand database involves personal information while connecting personal information with medical, financial, educational and other form of information through integration with other databases. However, people have no control over the volume of information stored and shared. Identity Information Sharing System (KPS), a sub-component of MERNIS, allows public institutions and private corporations to access information stored in MERNIS. But it is not clear what amount of information is shared with which institution. Thus, there is no comprehensive law for the protection of privacy- considering that this Law was draft at the time of writing of this paper but it was turned into an actual law on April 7, 2016. This huge surveillance assemblage not only targets individuals’ right to privacy but also aims at eliminating the right to failure by keeping bodies visible and coordinated, defining what is possible and what is not possible, and rendering individuals calculable and programmable.

Keywords:

• surveillance
• MERNIS
• neoliberalisation
• right to failure
• privacy
• biopower
• governmentality

Notes

1. MERNIS, the Turkish abbreviation of the Central Civil Registration System, is Turkey's 31-year-long project towards keeping civil registries in electronic environment and thus sharing them with other public institutions. MERNIS database MERNIS database keeps track of transactions like education, health and tax etc. in addition to information like personal information, registry events, and address information.

2. “A Report on the Surveillance Society”, Surveillance Studies Network, September 2006, p. 42.

3. Here I use the English translation provided by General Directorate of Civil Registration and Nationality. But MERNIS can also be translated as “the Central Population Administration System”.

4. All technical and statistical information are taken from the website of the General Directorate of Civil Registration and Nationality,.

5. Please refer to Ministry of Health’s Health Statistics 2010 Book.

6. “Savcı: Dilan suçsuz, elindeki de molotof değil sirke”, http://www.hurriyet.com.tr/gundem/25774209.asp

7. Please see “İşte Dilan’ın Molotof atma görüntüleri”, http://www.haber7.com/guncel/haber/1021863-iste-dilanin-molotof-atma-goruntuleri and “Dilan’ın molotof atma görüntüleri”, http://www.sabah.com.tr/gundem/2013/05/03/dilanin-molotof-atma-goruntuleri

8. Tezel, Ali, “Tebrikler kızınız hamile”, http://ekonomi.haberturk.com/makro-ekonomi/haber/753536-tebrikler-kiziniz-hamile.

9. Soon after the start of public discussion, Ministry of Health announced that it launched an investigation about the family doctor in question.

10. “Erdoğan: İş işten geçmeden en az 3 çocuk”, http://www.ntvmsnbc.com/id/25008774/

11. “Erdoğan raises three-child advice to four”, http://www.todayszaman.com/_erdogan-raises-three-child-advice-to-four_327690.html

12. “Erdoğan: Sezaryene karşıyım, kürtaj cinayettir”, http://www.radikal.com.tr/politika/erdogan_sezaryene_karsiyim_kurtaj_cinayettir-1089120

13. “Normal doğum, doktora daha çok puan getirecek”, http://www.on5yirmi5.com/haber/saglik/bilimsel-calismalar/92743/normal-dogum-doktora-daha-cok-puan-getirecek.html

14. “Samsun’da normal doğum yapan kadına 5 yıldızlı otel konforu”, http://www.diken.com.tr/samsunda-normal-dogum-yapan-kadina-5-yildizli-otel-konforu/

15. “Sezaryen yerine normal doğum sakat bıraktı”, http://haber.stargazete.com/guncel/sezaryen-yerine-normal-dogum-sakat-birakti/haber-903671

16. “Doğum yapan kadına ırkçı yaklaşım iddiası”, http://www.cumhuriyet.com.tr/haber/turkiye/50495/Dogum_yapan_kadina_irkci_yaklasim_iddiasi.html#.

17. Draft Law on Protection of Personal Data, http://www2.tbmm.gov.tr/d23/1/1-0576.pdf

18. The draft law lists a lot of exceptions. But I will not discuss them here since it is not the main concern of this dissertation.

19. Draft Law on Protection of Personal Data, p. 20., http://www2.tbmm.gov.tr/d23/1/1-0576.pdf