سوابق دولت و مدیریت سوابق در قانون دسترسی به اطلاعات در ترکیه

Operating of the laws on right to information is related to effective management of government records and information having social value. This article contains the relation of government records and records management considering the role of records management at institutions in execution of law on right to information in Turkey, and the evaluation of Turkish Law on the right to information that came into force in 2004 in view of records management and archival approaches.

The creation and use of government records seems to be an institutional behavior, but in fact it has a social value. Law on right to information frames an approach determining the social value of government records. Right to information acts, in accordance with the principles of equality, impartiality, and openness that are the necessities of a democratic and transparent government are prepared and put into force in order to regulate principles and procedures related to the obligation of public bodies to provide information and right to information of individuals. The basic source of right to information is government records.

Putting the Right to Information Act into action requires that institutions should establish records management and archives units in short notice. Bringing records management and archives units into life effectively requires the guidance and support of national archives that can be defined as “the centre founded by a law in order to manage the archives of central administration and to coordinate and guide other archives procedures and service, that is; the centre carrying out archives services of a country.” In order to obtain this support, it is imperative that the Turkish National Archive should be reorganized and the national archive law be enacted. These days when right to information acts have just been adopted, establishing units at institutions to carry out records management and archives procedures and employing personnel trained in this field are important matters for both government records management and bringing freedom of information into life. There are four library and archive management schools in Turkey.1 Graduate of these schools should be employed in archives. With the enactment of the law and the regulation for the right to information, not all obstacles have been removed. The process just began. Problems that will arise will be solved gradually. All government agencies and institutions must make necessary provisions in order to eliminate all deficiencies, in the light of the new law and the regulation. Decisive steps to ensure the foundation of “records management and archives units” at institutions in accordance with the law and to establish the link with National Archives should be taken as soon as possible. In the meantime, the studies for the Turkish National Archive Act should be finalized. In Turkey, the widespread of Internet use increases information demands of general public, private, and non-governmental organizations. In meeting these demands, the law for the right to information and the Regulation has an important place because it provides new ways and means to agencies and institutions to function more effectively. In conclusion, the new law and the regulation will enforce the agencies and institutions to comply with new regulations required for the modernization of the archival applications and system of recordings. It must be admitted that all the new legal arrangements has an important place in the sphere of public administration. We hope that the realization of these changes for better archival services will meet the aspirations of Turkish people, and others as well.