Statement by the Government of Turkey on their Participation in OGP

The Government of Turkey joined the Open Government Partnership in April 2012 and is one of 65 participating countries. Turkey’s participation has been under review by the OGP Criteria and Standards subcommittee after they were found acting in contrary to the OGP process for two consecutive action planAction plans are at the core of a government’s participation in OGP. They are the product of a co-creation process in which government and civil society jointly develop commitments to open governmen... cycles due to inactivity. The Criteria and Standards subcommittee invited the Government of Turkey to participate in a meeting in Washington DC on March 9, 2015, to discuss steps to fully re-engage in OGP. The official point of contact in the Government of Turkey was unable to attend due to illness, however, in response to this review the Government of Turkey sent the following statement for public release:

We would like to start again the OGP process with full enthusiasm and make considerable progress to achieve our goals. We are fully aware of the difficulties and challenges of our task, but we also fully know that OGP would be a golden opportunity to move forward our current boundaries of open, accountable and responsive government. To this end, we are planning to invite prominent and related representatives of civil society, private sectorGovernments are working to open private sector practices as well — including through beneficial ownership transparency, open contracting, and regulating environmental standards. Technical specificat... More, academics and think tank to the PM Office with the relevant public institutions.

The main aims of the meeting are to explain what is the OGP initiative, why we joined it, what are the problems we are facing, and how to find solutions to ongoing and upcoming challenges; as well as to receive their expectations for OGP and to discuss their potential contributions to the process. We also intend to consult a wide range of specialists and experts on public management, transparencyAccording to OGP’s Articles of Governance, transparency occurs when “government-held information (including on activities and decisions) is open, comprehensive, timely, freely available to the pub... More, accountability, and integrity, public participationGiving citizens opportunities to provide input into government decision-making leads to more effective governance, improved public service delivery, and more equitable outcomes. Technical specificatio... to policy formulation and implementation process, open and clean government, e-government and open dataBy opening up data and making it sharable and reusable, governments can enable informed debate, better decision making, and the development of innovative new services. Technical specifications: Polici....

The OGP Steering CommitteeThe Steering Committee is OGP’s executive decision-making body. Its role is to develop, promote and safeguard OGP’s values, principles and interests; establish OGP’s core ideas, policies, and ru... and Support UnitThe OGP Support Unit is a small, permanent group of staff that work closely with the Steering Committee and the Independent Reporting Mechanism to advance the goals of the Open Government Partnership.... stands ready to support the Government of Turkey with all appropriate technical knowledge, peer exchange opportunities, and guidance so that Turkey can re-engage in the OGP process.

Minutes of the Criteria and Standards March 9, 2015, meeting can be downloaded here.