The Türkiye Artificial Intelligence Action Plan (2026-2030) (“Action Plan”) entered into force with Presidential Circular No. 2026/9 (“Circular”) published in the Official Gazette No. 33344 dated 18 August 2026.
The Circular recalls that significant gains were achieved through the “National Artificial Intelligence Strategy (2021-2025),” which was put into effect by Presidential Circular No. 2021/18 published in the Official Gazette No. 31574 dated 20 August 2021 and implemented in line with the 11th Development Plan. It is stated that, in this new era in which artificial intelligence is reshaping public services, the global economy, production models and social structures, there is a need for a new action plan that will update Türkiye’s vision in line with the objectives of technological sovereignty, competitiveness, data-driven development, trustworthy artificial intelligence and sustainable digital transformation.
- Scope, Coordination and Fundamental Principles
The Action Plan was prepared under the coordination of the Ministry of Industry and Technology, in cooperation with public institutions, the private sector, universities and civil society organizations. The Plan aims to ensure that all stakeholders act in coordination in line with the principles of human-centeredness, reliability, ethical responsibility, digital sovereignty and sustainable development.
The Action Plan aims to (i) increase artificial intelligence awareness throughout society, (ii) develop qualified human resources in this field, (iii) strengthen data and artificial intelligence infrastructures, (iv) expand artificial intelligence applications in the public and private sectors, and (v) establish a competitive and trustworthy artificial intelligence ecosystem at the international level.
The Action Plan is built on four fundamental principles: “Recognize, Benefit, Produce and Govern.” These four principles are addressed under separate headings below.
The implementation of the Action Plan will be monitored by the National Artificial Intelligence Board (“Board”), which will operate under the chairmanship of the President with the participation of relevant ministries and affiliated bodies. The Board will serve as the supreme decision-making and coordination body in terms of strategy, prioritisation, resource allocation and risk-ethics principles, approving national priorities and annual implementation plans and resolving inter-institutional obstacles and jurisdictional disputes. Implementation follow-up will be carried out through the Programme Office within the Directorate General of National Technology and Artificial Intelligence of the Ministry of Industry and Technology.
A multi-stakeholder National Artificial Intelligence Ethics Board (“Ethics Board”), comprising representatives of public institutions, the private sector, academia and civil society, will be established to ensure the widespread adoption of artificial intelligence applications within an environment of public trust. The Ethics Board will publish practical guidelines in the areas of fairness and bias, explainability, data provenance, security and robustness, and human oversight. A National Artificial Intelligence Progress and Transparency Portal will be established to publicly monitor the target-budget-timeline alignment of all actions.
I. Recognize
Under this heading, it is aimed to provide training to 5 million citizens over a two-year period by organizing artificial intelligence literacy workshops in 81 provinces. In addition, in order to strengthen the talent base of the ecosystem, it is envisaged that 10,000 advanced artificial intelligence specialists and 100,000 artificial intelligence application professionals will be trained.
It is planned to prepare and make available at least 2,000 public datasets to support artificial intelligence development activities. Data Spaces and the National Artificial Intelligence Champions programme will render data accessible and transform it into solutions in strategic sectors. The Action Plan also envisages the establishment of a national legal and ethical framework taking into account the European Union’s proportionate risk approach. Within this framework, graduated obligations will be defined according to risk level; an Algorithmic Impact Assessment and a publicly accessible summary Model Card will be mandatory for high-impact artificial intelligence systems. KVKK-GDPR alignment will be strengthened to cover AI-specific data processing scenarios, including explainability obligations in automated decision-making processes, personal data processing rules in model training and cross-border data transfer conditions. In the field of intellectual property, the TÜRKPATENT Artificial Intelligence Fast Track application will incentivise industrial property applications for artificial intelligence technologies.
II. Benefit
Under this heading, a Computing Portfolio comprising public reserve capacity, domestic data centres and international cloud partnerships will be established, with the aim of increasing the total installed capacity of data centres to at least 1 gigawatt (GW) by 2030. A minimum 60 percent low-carbon electricity requirement will apply in contracts. Through the “GPU for All” Programme, flexible access of 10 million GPU-hours per year will be provided to researchers, startups and small and medium-sized enterprises (“SMEs”) according to sectoral priorities.
It is aimed to allocate at least 2 percent of public investment programs to artificial intelligence projects. Public sector artificial intelligence transformation will be carried out through a “scan-pilot-scale” cycle, with artificial intelligence use cases systematically identified across all ministries. The Action Plan also envisages the implementation of sectoral pilot programs in priority areas, particularly healthcare, energy and smart manufacturing, as well as the launch of an SME Artificial Intelligence Voucher and Ready-Made Solutions Package Programme to facilitate SME access to artificial intelligence applications.
III. Produce
Under this heading, the establishment of Artificial Intelligence Growth Zones with energy and infrastructure readiness, together with Regional Centres of Excellence offering rapid prototyping facilities for SMEs and researchers across the country, is envisaged in order to support the scaling of artificial intelligence companies. A comprehensive Financing Ladder comprising the Artificial Intelligence Research Fund and Growth Fund is intended to be introduced to finance research, development and commercialization activities in the field.
The Action Plan supports the development of Turkish sectoral language models and their introduction to the global market through an export-ready package standard. It also aims to develop physical artificial intelligence and robotic solutions, particularly in the fields of defence, manufacturing, agriculture and healthcare.
IV. Govern
Under this heading, it is aimed to mobilize artificial intelligence and data center investments totaling at least USD 10 billion, predominantly from private sector resources. Türkiye is intended to play an active role in shaping international artificial intelligence governance through the OECD, G20, United Nations and Organisation of Turkic States platforms, and to enter into bilateral artificial intelligence cooperation agreements.
The Action Plan also envisages the development of a joint “Turkic Languages Large Language Model” in cooperation with other countries where Turkic languages are spoken. In addition, the safety assessment capacity within the TÜBİTAK BİLGEM Artificial Intelligence Institute will be strengthened to evaluate the safety of artificial intelligence systems; and regulatory sandboxes will be operated in at least five priority sectors, primarily finance, healthcare, energy, mobility and telecommunications, in order to facilitate the safe testing of artificial intelligence applications within a controlled legal framework.
- Basic Infrastructure Layers
The infrastructure of the Action Plan consists of short- and long-term layers comprising energy, compute hardware, infrastructure, models and data, and applications. These core layers are supported by cross-cutting layers, such as talent, financing, regulation, and security, which are intended to support all four principles outlined above.
You can access the full text of the Circular through this link, and the full text of the Action Plan through this link.
