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In the first chapter of the first book of the Turkish Civil Code (TMK) entitled Law of Persons, which is devoted to real persons, personality is protected under Article 24. It has been examined in detail in the previous sections that the personality rights are comprehensive rights that includes all values on the material and spiritual integrity of a person, and personal data is often included in this value.

Article 24 of the Turkish Civil Code (TCC) which regulates the protection of personality rights states that “-The person subject to assault on his/her personal rights may claim protection from the judge against the individuals who made the assault. Each assault against personal rights is considered contrary to the laws unless the assent of the person whose personal right is damaged is based on any one of the reasons related to private or public interest and use of authorisation conferred upon by the laws.” Everyone whose personality rights are attacked by violating the right to the protection of their personal data in accordance with Article 25 of TCC; can demand from the judge to take an action for prevention of assault, elimination of such threat and determination of unlawful consequences of the assault even though it is discontinued. In addition to such action, the claimant may also request publication or notification of the recovery or the judgment to the third parties.  Right of the claimant to demand compensation for physical and moral damages and to request the transfer of gains incurred from unlawful assault in his favour under the provisions stipulating performance of business without requirement of proxy, is hereby reserved.

In Article 646 of Turkish Code of Obligations (TCO) it is stated that  “This law is the Fifth Book of the Turkish Civil Code dated 22/11/2001 numbered 4721 and is its complement.” In Article 49 of TCO it is regulated that “Anyone who harms someone else with a flawed and unlawful act is obliged to remedy this damage. Even if there is no legal rule that prohibits harmful act, it is also obliged to remedy this damage, which deliberately harms anyone else with an immoral act.”  The TCO also protects personality rights against attacks with a special provision in Article 58. Article 58 of the TCO states that “The person who suffers from the damage to his right of personality may request that a certain amount of money be paid under the name of moral compensation for the moral damage he has suffered.Instead of paying this compensation, the judge may decide or add another form of remuneration; in particular, it can make a decision condemning the attack and rule the publication of that decision.”

In the decision of the General Assembly of Civil Chambers  numbered 2014/56 E, 2015/1679, the sharing of personal data containing a person’s name without his/her consent was decided to rule on moral compensation, also referring to the right to be forgotten.“If the name of the person who was the victim of an incident that took place 4 years ago is clearly written and included in the book, it should be recognized that the right to be forgotten is violated, as a result of which the privacy of the claimant’s private life is violated. As explained by the Court of Justice of the European Union in the ‘Google Decision’, personal data should not be explicitly included in the decision taken on a scientific work, since there are no special reasons that demonstrate a superior public interest in the important role that relevant data plays in public life and the intense interest of the public in the relevant data. The minority members argued that the names contained in the court decisions do not need to be pseudonymous, that the trial was conducted openly, except for exceptions, that the provision was publicly interpreted, therefore the confidentiality of private life was not violated, while this opinion was not accepted by the majority of the board on the grounds that ‘the problem is not that the names are included in the court decisions without pseudonyms, but whether the decisions should be pseudonymized during the recording’. Then, considering that the inclusion of the claimant’s name in the book without a pseudonym, violates the right to be forgotten and as a result the confidentiality of private life, it is obligatory to accept that the conditions for immaterial compensation have been met in favor of the claimant.”

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