Minister denies reports of data theft

Transport and Infrastructure Minister Abdulkadir Uraloğlu has dismissed media reports claiming that the personal data of millions of people had been stolen.

"There is currently no issue in Türkiye regarding data theft," Uraloğlu told reporters on Sept. 16 in the capital Ankara.

His comments came in response to allegations linked to his previous statement on Sept. 11, where he mentioned a "leak from the health system" during the COVID pandemic.

"It is never right to bring up a topic that has been discussed in the past and present it as a current issue years later," Uraloğlu said.

Türkiye's data protection authority KVKK also said no breach notification had been received concerning the data of citizens.

For its part, the Communications Directorate refuted the claims that the Information Technologies Authority (BTK) had sought assistance from Google.

Authorities have previously denied claims over data leakage on e-Devlet, the official website offering government services.