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On Dec. 25, Ankara took a series of institutional steps to strengthen its artificial intelligence (AI) ecosystem with a series of decisions published in the Official Gazette. The changes aim to consolidate AI-related policymaking, infrastructure development, and public sector coordination under newly defined administrative structures.
At the center of the reform is the expansion of the mandate of the existing National Technology General Directorate within the Ministry of Industry and Technology. The unit has been restructured and renamed the National Technology and Artificial Intelligence General Directorate, signaling a more explicit and comprehensive focus on AI.
The move aligns with Ankara’s broader effort to position digital transformation and high technology as strategic pillars of economic and industrial policy.
Türkiye’s long story of the National Technology Initiative is being redesigned by positioning AI as a strategic component alongside defense technologies, advanced manufacturing, and digital infrastructure.
The newly restructured General Directorate is designed to serve as the main hub for Türkiye’s data-driven and AI-related technology policies. Its responsibilities now extend beyond industrial coordination to include data infrastructure, cloud systems, and national AI capacity building.
By elevating artificial intelligence to the directorate’s official mandate, the government is signaling that AI will no longer be treated as a peripheral technology area. Instead, it will be embedded directly into industrial planning, innovation policy, and long-term competitiveness goals.
This restructuring also reflects a preference for centralized coordination, with the aim of reducing fragmentation among institutions working on digital technologies and aligning them under a single strategic vision.
One of the General Directorate’s core responsibilities will be shaping policies for the development of data centers and cloud computing infrastructure across Türkiye. These systems are seen as foundational for AI deployment, data sovereignty, and digital resilience.
The new framework includes defining technical criteria and operational standards for data centers. Certification and authorization processes will be introduced to ensure consistency, security, and reliability across facilities operating in the country.
By setting national standards, Ankara aims to both attract investment in data infrastructure and reduce dependence on external providers, a concern increasingly shared by governments amid geopolitical and cybersecurity risks.
Ethics and reliability form a central pillar of the new AI framework. The General Directorate will oversee efforts to ensure that AI technologies developed and deployed in Türkiye adhere to ethical principles and trust-based standards.
National AI strategies and policies will be formulated with an emphasis on strengthening domestic data resources, infrastructure capacity, and human capital. This includes expanding training programs and supporting a skilled workforce capable of sustaining AI innovation.
The framework also prioritizes support for startups and research and development activities, while laying the groundwork for new legislation and expanded international cooperation in the AI field.
Beyond infrastructure and ethics, the General Directorate is tasked with improving governance at the national level. This includes ensuring coordination among public institutions and contributing directly to AI-related projects within the public sector.
The goal is to avoid overlapping initiatives and to create a unified approach to AI deployment across ministries and agencies. Central coordination is expected to increase efficiency and policy coherence.
This approach reflects a broader trend in Türkiye’s digital governance model, which favors strong institutional leadership in strategically sensitive technology areas.
In parallel with reforms at the Ministry of Industry and Technology, a separate Public Artificial Intelligence General Directorate has been established under the Presidency’s Cybersecurity Directorate. This unit will focus exclusively on AI applications within government institutions.
Its creation underscores the government’s intention to treat public sector AI deployment as a distinct policy area, separate from industrial and innovation-focused AI development.
By situating the unit within the cybersecurity framework, authorities are also signaling heightened attention to data protection, system integrity, and operational security in public AI systems.
The Public AI General Directorate will be responsible for drafting and coordinating legislation related to AI use in public administration. This includes contributing to national AI policies, strategies, and action plans.
A key task will be aligning Türkiye’s domestic regulations with international frameworks and standards. This reflects growing global efforts to harmonize AI governance, particularly in areas such as transparency, accountability, and risk management.
The unit will also take part in ecosystem-building activities, ensuring that public sector needs are integrated into the broader national AI landscape.
Data governance is another central element of the new framework. The Public AI General Directorate will define principles, procedures, and standards covering the entire data lifecycle within digital government systems.
This spans data creation, storage, usage, sharing, and eventual deletion. Clear governance rules are intended to improve data quality, interoperability, and legal compliance across public institutions.
Such measures are expected to support more effective AI applications in areas such as public services, regulatory enforcement, and administrative decision-making.
To enable AI adoption in government, the General Directorate will work with relevant institutions to identify data needs and establish a shared data space infrastructure. These shared environments are designed to facilitate secure and standardized data access.
Quality criteria and technical standards will be defined for datasets used in AI applications. Ensuring compliance with these standards is seen as critical to avoiding biased, inaccurate, or unreliable AI outputs.
The emphasis on shared data and quality control reflects an understanding that AI performance in the public sector depends as much on data governance as on algorithms.
The approach emphasizes coordination among the public sector, academia, and private industry, as in the examples of developed countries abroad.
While implementation details will determine the ultimate impact, the institutional changes mark one of the most comprehensive steps Türkiye has taken so far to embed artificial intelligence into state policy and governance structures.
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