The Right To Know

BY TURGUT TARHANLI
RADIKAL- Columnist Turgut Tarhanli writes on a bill proposing greater public access to information held by the state. A summary of his column is as follows:
The current ‘right to know’ bill is one of most important legal arrangements towards our democratization, since it stipulates that any person genuinely needing information from the state will have access to it, which will make democracy both more participatory and meaningful. The bill was first presented to the Parliament at the end of June. The relevant parliamentary commissions have discussed the measure and prepared their reports on it. Therefore, the next step for the bill is debate in the full Parliament.
Providing the right to access state information will promote openness and transparency in the state and ensure the effective participation of citizens in the administration. Under the bill, any person wanting access to state information may apply to the competent authority responsible for providing it. However, the bill contains certain exceptions: information the disclosure of which could endanger the security, integrity or sovereignty of the nation or state; confidential communications between state officials; information whose disclosure would harm the ability of the government to manage the economy; information which would reveal personal information concerning another person; information including trade secrets; or information whose disclosure would harm public safety or public order, etc.
Transparency cannot be maintained unless public servants at all levels are held accountable for their actions before the law. It is of course not possible for citizens to have access to every kind of information. However, the interpretation and implementation of such an important bill would vary significantly in different countries. For example, the bill states that the right to information won’t apply to information whose disclosure would jeopardize the security of the state, national defense or national security. Let’s consider how a public servant in a truly democratic country would interpret this clause, and contrasts this to the likely approach in countries where anti-democratic practices are common. The same situation applies to other exceptions. Therefore, the bill also should deal with legal criteria differing from one country to another in order to ensure effective implementation of this right. In addition, nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) should also feel responsible to monitor parliamentary discussions on this bill and should pursue an effective follow-up policy once it’s approved.