Year: 2024
Type: article
Abstract: The right to information is one of the fundamental rights and freedoms regulated in the Constitution. This right is also a necessity for the rule of law. The right to information is in close relationship with many other fundamental rights, freedoms and principles such as freedom to seek justice or freedom to express opinion, included in the Constitution. If a person has the right to information, he/she can exercise his/her freedom to seek justice or his freedom to express his opinion.The right to information is not an unlimited right. If the right to information is regarded as an unlimited right, administrations will be unable to make decisions and rights and benefits of people will be suffered. In a democratic state of law, the right to information should be limited by law in accordance with the requirements of a democratic society, the principle of proportionality and the public interest. In other words, the limitation must consider the balance of public interest and personal benefit.The right to information limits the public power and allows the administration to act more carefully and be supervised. Thus, public interest is established. From this standpoint not only the legislator but also the administration has important duties. Administrations should facilitate the use of the right and remove obstacles that delay and/or make it difficult to get results. In other words, administrations should not reject requests for information by hiding behind their discretionary powers or vague provisions in the law.The enactment of the Law on the Right to Information No. 4982 has been an important step in terms of administrative procedure in Turkish administrative law. However, the use of vague provisions such as "state secret" and "trade secret" in the Law, as well as the discretionary practices of the administrations, prevent the required clarity.In the incident subject to this article, although it is not included in the exceptions in the Law on the Right to Information No. 4982, application for information is rejected by Interuniversity Board and even Review Board of Access to Information. This situation shows that the principle of clarity has not yet been fully assimilated in Turkish public administration.
Source: DergiPark (Istanbul University)
Author: Evren, Çınar Can
Institution: Ankara Hacı Bayram Veli University
Language: English
Field: Social Sciences
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W4416591075
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