Turkish Statistical Institute (TURKSTAT)

www.turkstat.gov.tr

The TURKSTAT has been set up as an office under the Prime Ministry. The TURKSTAT is governed by a State Minister.

The Ministry of State responsible for the TURKSTAT and the Prime Ministry are informed about the statistical work through weekly, monthly, quarterly and annual work reports. In some cases, briefings are given to the State Minister.

President of the Institute

Vice Presidents

Special Advisers


Main service units:

a) Department of National Accounts and Econometric Indicators

b) Department of Agriculture and Environment Statistics

c) Department of Industry and Business Statistics

d) Department of Social Statistics

e) Department of Methodology

f) Department of Foreign Relations

g) Department of Publication and Data Dissemination

h) Department of Information and Communication Technologies

Advisory units:

a) Department of Strategy Development

b) Legal Advisers

c) Media and Public Relations Adviser

Auxiliary service units:

a) Department of Human Resources

b) Department of Supporting Services

Regional Organizations:

- 26 Regional Offices

The Official Statistics Programme provides the framework for official statistics that will be produced on subjects required at national and international level. Censuses and surveys are carried out within the framework of this Programme.

Taking into account the existing resources, the burden on the respondents and the cost-benefit relation, the Programme covers statistics needed to determine and monitor the status of the country in the fields of economy, social issues, demography, culture, environment, science, technology, etc.

The Programme is drafted by the Turkish Statistical Institute for a term of five years in line with the advisory comments of the Statistics Council and presented to the Council of Ministers. The Programme is put into practice upon the publication of the related decision of the Council of Ministers in the Official Gazette. When needed, amendments to the Programme may be introduced, again by soliciting the opinion of the related organisations, upon the proposal of the TURKSTAT and decision of the Council of Ministers and will be published in the Official Gazette. The TURKSTAT is in charge of implementing the Programme.

In relation to the implementation of the Programme, the TURKSTAT prepares annual monitoring reports to be submitted to the Statistics Council and informs the public with appropriate media.

The Turkish Statistical Institute is a technical and scientific institute which produces publications to fulfill Turkey's information needs on social, economic, and cultural subjects. The main function of TURKSTAT is to comprehensively determine information needs, collect and compile data, and finally, to present information to its users according to the highest international standards.

Collecting statistics has a considerably long past in Turkish history. Historical documents show that the Seljuks and the Ilhanids collected information regarding population. Statistical studies began in the early years of the Ottoman Empire. Special importance was given to collecting information on agriculture and land. For this purpose, between the years of 1326-1360 and 1360-1389, several land population censuses were carried out. Later, between 1512-1520, Sultan Selim initiated a general census and had it written into the constitution that it should be repeated every 100 years. The first population census completed during the era of the Ottoman Empire was taken in 1831, during the time of Mahmut II.

From the beginning of the 19th century statistical offices were opened with a centralized system in every ministry in Istanbul and in every province and district. Additionally, a committee was formed to control and follow their studies. All statistical duties and services were brought into legal status by the formation of a central statistical council at Bab-i Ali (the Central Office of the Imperial Government). In 1918, a statistical department was established through a new law, and separate statistical activities were combined within the same office. A year later, however, with the cancellation of that law, the old system was maintained until the period of the Turkish Republic.

The foundation of the present statistical services began with the establishment of "The Central Statistical Department" in 1926 after the founding of the Republic and functioned as partially centralized system. In 1930, the title of the department was changed to "The General Directorate of Statistics", and "The National Statistical System" became centralized. Between the years 1926-1960, this directorate conducted 11 censuses and surveys; we publish many titles on economic, social and cultural subjects.

Due to the need for improvements in the statistical system of the country, Law No:53 was enacted in June 1962 to set up the State Institute of Statistics under the Office of the Prime Minister. In democratic forms of government, information systems facilitate the transmission of verifiable information. It is this characteristic of widely accessible in formation that allows states to integrate into the world system and function effectively. Because of the almost universal recognition of the importance of statistics and the subsequent demand for them, the State Institute of Statistics (SIS) and its functions were further reorganized and rearranged by legal decrees no.219 and no.357 in 1984 and 1989 respectively, taking into consideration Turkey's newly emerging needs and circumstances.

In the context of compliance to European Union requirements, a new Statistics Law was enacted in November 2005, and the name of the State Institute of Statistics has been changed to “Turkish Statistical Institute” (TURKSTAT). This new law increased the coordinating role of the Turkish Statistical Institute within the Turkish Statistical System, and strengthened the coordination power of TURKSTAT.

The Turkish Statistical Law (No. 5394) was enacted in November 2005. The new statistical law is covering provisions to:

- Determine the confidentiality principles explicitly,

- Regulate the annual and multi-annual planning activities,

- Determine the principles of production, publication and dissemination of statistics,

- Ensure and strengthen the coordination role of TURKSTAT among institutions and organizations involved in the statistical process in the Official Statistics Programme,

- Determine the characteristics of the top management, including the president of the TURKSTAT.

Examples of data compiled by other institutions are: data on the banking sector by the Central Bank, data on government budget and debt by the Undersecretary of Treasury and State Planning Organization.

Official statistics are produced, disseminated and published by the Turkish Statistical Institute and institutions and organisations specified in the Official Statistics Programme. The programme clearly defines the duty realms of these institutions and organisations together with their duties and authorities in the compilation, evaluation and publication of data relating to official statistics in their respective areas. Such institutions and organisations are obliged to submit to the TURKSTAT any compiled data on time upon request. The principle of confidentially including those specified by other legislative arrangements is duly observed in the maintenance and protection of data and information submitted. The TURKSTAT is authorised to publish and disseminate official statistics compiled by institutions and organisations.

Work conducted by institutions and organisations in statistical areas not covered by the Programme and outcomes of censuses or surveys administered by real persons and legal entities under special law are not considered as official statistics.

Real persons or legal entities under special law who conduct surveys entailing statistical outcomes are obliged, in case they make their findings public through the media, to inform the public also about the coverage, sampling method used, sampling volume, data compilation methods and time of the survey concerned.

According to Article 20 of the Statistical Law, the Statistics Council is established to advice on the development and implementation of the Official Statistics Programme and on the production and use of official statistics; to determine and assess the areas in which official statistics are needed and to provide opinions and suggestions for future works to be carried out.

The Council shall be composed of the following: Undersecretaries of Ministries; Undersecretary of State Planning Organisation; Undersecretary of Treasury; Undersecretary of Foreign Trade; Undersecretary of Customs; Undersecretary of Maritime Affairs; President of State Personnel Office; President of the Central Bank of Turkey; an academic to be designated by the Board of Higher Education from among those engaged in academic work relevant to the work of the Institute; Executive Director of the Union of Chambers and Stock Exchange; President of the civil society organisation engaged in the field of statistics and having the highest number of academic staff in its membership and President of the civil society organisation having the highest number of real persons or legal entities that are engaged in surveys and researches with statistical outcomes. These full members of the Council may authorise their representatives to attend Council meetings in case they can not.

The President and Vice-Presidents of the Turkish Statistical Institute are natural members of the Council. The Council meets at least once a year.

In case the agenda of the Council requires so, representatives from other institutions and organisations, non-governmental organisations as well as staff from the TURKSTAT may be invited to Council meetings without right to vote.

The President of the Institute is also the chair of the Council. The secretarial services of the Council shall be carried out by the TURKSTAT.

All expenses for the activities of the Council shall be covered with appropriations to be made available in the Institute’s budget.

Working procedures and rules of the Council are laid down in regulations to be issued by the Council of Ministers.

22 October 2000

According to Article 9 of the Statistical Law, institutions and organisations are obliged to submit or open to use by the TURKSTAT, the records and other data files they compile, process and store for the production of official statistics, all kinds of maps and data obtained from remote sensing in their respective areas within the period specified and without any charge.

According to Article 13 of the Statistical Law, confidential data can be accessed only by those assigned to the production of official statistics and to the extent they need for performing their duties properly.

Data appearing in any table format obtained through the consolidation of individual data is deemed confidential in case the number of statistical units in the box concerned less than three or in case one or two statistical units are dominant even if the number of statistical units in the box is three or more.

Confidential data compiled, processed and stored for the production of official statistics can not be delivered to any administrative, judiciary or military authority or person, used for purposes other than statistics or as an instrument of proof. Personnel and other staff in charge of compiling and processing such data are obliged to comply with this restriction. This obligation continues after the departure of relevant personnel from their duties and posts.

Authorities in institutions and organisations producing official statistics shall take all relevant measures to prevent any illicit access, use or revelation of confidential data.

Data or information obtained from sources open to all shall not be deemed confidential.

Data confidentiality ceases when a statistical unit gives approval in writing to the revelation of confidential data concerning itself.

Confidential data can be published only as combined with other data so as not to allow any direct or indirect identification.

Principles and procedures relating to data confidentiality and safety are arranged for by regulations to be issued in line with national and international principles and by soliciting the opinion of relevant institutions and organisations.

All press releases have a fix release date and one year ahead release calendar is announced to the public via the website at the beginning of each year.

The official release time of all press releases is 10.00 a.m. except consumer price index and producer price indexes released at the 3rd calendar day of each month at 17:00 pm (if 3rd of the month is Saturday it is released on Friday, if it is Sunday it is released on Monday) and foreign trade statistics released at the end of each month at 17:00 pm.

TurkStat publishes more than 100 statistical publications a year that are prepared bilingual, both in Turkish and English. All publications are also available in PDF format and distributed also on CDs.

Because of the increasing importance of internet, TurkStat gives priority to electronic publishing. Currently, some cross-section publications like Statistical Yearbook of Turkey, Statistical Indicators and Economic Indicators are available on the web site to give quick access to the users about the general profile of the country. Detailed information on publications is available on the website http://www.turkstat.gov.tr/Satis.do?metod=Giris

Press releases: There are about 50 press releases which are monthly, quarterly or annually announced to the public according to the release calendar. National Data Release Calendar is available on the web site http://www.turkstat.gov.tr/ingtakvim/tkvim.zul#tb1

More than 90% of the publications are bilingual (Turkish and English).

Data are disseminated in all different formats. Depending on the technological changes, TurkStat is trying to improve ways of dissemination to the users. Data dissemination channels have been extended with SMS and Teletext dissemination.

TurkStat library also provides service to its staff and other users. Its collection consists of approximately 25 000 books, periodical publications, etc. which are obtained from the national and international institutions.

After eliminating the private information, micro data shall be supplied to the users (both to the researchers and to the private persons) with the approval of the President of the TurkStat. Confidentiality rules are strictly applied in the micro data requests. Standard anonymised micro data CD’s on special subjects have been prepared and they are being supplied to the users. In addition, for several subjects, there is possibility to work on the micro data at of TurkStat’s headquarters.