A naive attempt to understand Open Data in Turkey

Day April 25, 2026
Time 11:10–11:35
Room Tiyatro salonu
Duration 25 min
Spoken language English
Format Talks

Dénes JägerSpeaker profile

For a [short research](https://ipc.sabanciuniv.edu/en/denes-jager-b8f569) project I looked into Turkey's open data landscape and tried to make sense of it. I'll talk about my preliminary findings, present some ideas from an activist's perspective and discuss whether there can be open data in an "unopen" country.

Open Data as defined by the Open Definition or the principles of the Sunlight Foundation has become an important, yet often overlooked infrastructure of modern states. However, certain conditions must be met to unlock the potential of open data: Is there an existing legal framework? Is there a sufficient level of data literacy and willingness to cooperate among government officials? Is there a space for exchange between data providers and users? Keeping these questions in mind, that I also used for our annual Open Data Ranking in Germany , I delved into the Turkish (open) data scene and attempted to map its ecosystem.