Explicit Consent: For most processing of personal data
Posted: Wed May 21, 2025 5:41 am
The notion of a comprehensive, publicly accessible "Turkey phone number library"—a single, searchable database containing the personal phone numbers of all individuals and businesses in the country—is a common query. However, in line with modern data protection standards and particularly stringent Turkish regulations, such a broad and open directory of personal phone numbers does not legally exist and is not provided by telecommunication companies in a public format. This reality is shaped by Turkey's robust legal framework designed to protect individual privacy and regulate commercial communication.
Turkey's Robust Data Protection Framework: The KVKK
Turkey's primary data protection legislation is the Law on the Protection of Personal Data No. 6698 (KVKK), which entered into force in 2016. The KVKK largely mirrors the principles of the EU's GDPR and significantly impacts how personal data, including phone numbers, is handled:
Definition of Personal Data: The KVKK broadly defines paraguay phone number library personal data as any information relating to an identified or identifiable natural person. This unequivocally covers phone numbers.
especially for direct marketing, the KVKK requires the explicit consent of the data subject. This consent must be freely given, informed, and specific. Unlike the GDPR, the KVKK has a narrower interpretation of "legitimate interest," making explicit consent crucial in more scenarios.
Purpose Limitation: Data can only be collected for specified, explicit, and legitimate purposes and must not be further processed in a manner incompatible with those purposes.
Data Subject Rights: Individuals in Turkey have strong rights to access, rectify, erase, and object to the processing of their data, particularly for direct marketing.
Personal Data Protection Authority (KVKK Authority): This independent body is responsible for enforcing the KVKK, investigating complaints, and imposing significant administrative fines for non-compliance. Most data controllers, especially foreign-owned companies operating locally, must register with the VERBIS system, a public platform operated by the KVKK Authority, detailing their data processing activities.
Turkey's Robust Data Protection Framework: The KVKK
Turkey's primary data protection legislation is the Law on the Protection of Personal Data No. 6698 (KVKK), which entered into force in 2016. The KVKK largely mirrors the principles of the EU's GDPR and significantly impacts how personal data, including phone numbers, is handled:
Definition of Personal Data: The KVKK broadly defines paraguay phone number library personal data as any information relating to an identified or identifiable natural person. This unequivocally covers phone numbers.
especially for direct marketing, the KVKK requires the explicit consent of the data subject. This consent must be freely given, informed, and specific. Unlike the GDPR, the KVKK has a narrower interpretation of "legitimate interest," making explicit consent crucial in more scenarios.
Purpose Limitation: Data can only be collected for specified, explicit, and legitimate purposes and must not be further processed in a manner incompatible with those purposes.
Data Subject Rights: Individuals in Turkey have strong rights to access, rectify, erase, and object to the processing of their data, particularly for direct marketing.
Personal Data Protection Authority (KVKK Authority): This independent body is responsible for enforcing the KVKK, investigating complaints, and imposing significant administrative fines for non-compliance. Most data controllers, especially foreign-owned companies operating locally, must register with the VERBIS system, a public platform operated by the KVKK Authority, detailing their data processing activities.