Statements by Vice President Yilmaz
Vice President Yilmaz shared important information at the Digital Turkey and Reducing Bureaucracy Coordination meeting. He began his speech at the opening of the meeting by saying, “Welcome to the Digital Turkey and Reducing Bureaucracy Coordination meeting.” Yilmaz emphasized that the basic principles of the meetings are high-level political ownership, participatory understanding, effective coordination, monitoring and reporting, and stated that they have held 16 meetings to date.
Stating that these meetings played a critical role in the adoption of the digital transformation approach, Yılmaz said that significant progress had been made in the e-Government Gateway with the decisions taken in the meetings held regularly since 2018. Yılmaz stated that studies had been initiated in many areas such as the national data dictionary, data needs inventory, integrated service design and satisfaction survey, and that decisions regarding artificial intelligence and big data had also been implemented.
“The focus of our 12th 5-Year Development Plan, which was adopted last year, is on the twin transformations called green and digital transformation. Within this framework, we are determined to continue the digital transformation strongly,” said Yilmaz. The main agenda items of today’s meeting included the progress of the e-Government Gateway, our position in international indices and planned new studies.
Yilmaz stated that the e-Government Gateway will reach over 66 million users as of August 1, 2024. “As you know, you need to be over 15 years old to log in to the e-Government Gateway. With 66 million users, 96 “percent of the population over the age of 15 in Turkey are e-Government Gateway users today,” he added. He stated that this figure shows that digital literacy is on the rise.
Stating that Turkey e-Government Gateway continues to be a source of pride not only with its quantitative but also qualitative development, Yilmaz shared the following information:
- Turkey’s e-Government Gateway received 83 points in the 2024 European Commission e-Government Benchmark Report, above the EU average, and ranked 10th among 37 countries.
- It is defined as one of the best leaders among non-EU countries, and is ranked 1st with a full score of 100 in the subheadings of user support, digital mail, basic data sources and cross-border user support.
- In the report, Turkey ranked 2nd in the user-centricity category with 99.6 points, 5th in the transparency category with 82 points, and 4th in the key enablers category with 95 points. Turkey has achieved success above the EU average in all of these categories.
- Additionally, Turkey is among the top 10 countries in the categories of health, transportation, relocation and justice.
Yılmaz stated that 12 percent of the usage of more than 8 thousand services on the e-Government Gateway is made up of integrated services. He stated that the momentum that the e-Government Gateway has gained since 2018 with the establishment of the Presidency Digital Transformation Office is admirable.
He explained the results of the work carried out on the e-Government Gateway between 2018 and 2024 as follows:
- Number of integrated institutions: 114% (>1000)
- Number of services provided: 101% (>8309)
- Number of users: 60% (most the entire population has been reached)
- Number of entries: 329% increase (per capita usage also increases)
Emphasizing that these achievements are a reflection of the institutions’ devoted and citizen-oriented service delivery approach, Yılmaz thanked all employees and institution representatives who took part in this process.
Yilmaz announced the publication of the action plan covering the 2024-2025 period of the national artificial intelligence strategy announced in 2021. He also stated that studies such as the digital state strategy, public cloud strategy, public data area and national data strategy will be implemented in line with the national technology initiative and digital Turkey goals.
Stating that the digitalization of services not only reduces bureaucratic burdens but also enables citizens to receive more effortless, faster, safer and higher quality services, Yılmaz provided information about the newly designed services on the e-Government Gateway:
- Museum card integration (390 thousand mobile museum cards)
- The mobile accident report was opened on May 20, and 59 thousand people have already used it.
- e-Government Gateway users will be able to make their rental contracts through the e-Government Gateway until the end of the year.
- With the gradual development of the “My Private Insurances” integrated service, users will be able to access all policy information and carry out their transactions from a single point.
- We are launching a mobile wallet application. Users will be able to use the data they transfer to their digital wallets while using public services even in environments where there is no internet.
- With the categorization and dissemination of municipal services, a standard has been set for the digital services of local governments and municipal services have begun to be offered under 12 categories. Today, 3,981 digital services belonging to 494 municipalities are offered on the e-Government Gateway.
Yilmaz stated that efforts to eliminate deficiencies in existing services and increase service quality are ongoing, adding that they have also made categorization in higher education. “It is a source of pride for all of us to see that every step taken by our institutions on the path to Digital Turkey continues to grow like a snowball,” he said.
Yılmaz stated that their greatest wish is for Turkey to reach a competitive point in the digital economy, and wished that the meeting would contribute to the vision of the “Century of Digital” and be auspicious. On this occasion, he thanked all the Ministries, relevant institutions and everyone who contributed, especially the Presidential Digital Transformation Office, who worked devotedly. He also expressed his gratitude to President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, who led them on this path with his human-centered development approach, for his close follow-up and support.
