IfG.CC -
Institute for eGovernment

The Bursa Metropolitan Municipality signed a protocol with major Turkish software firm HAVELSAN for digital transformation in the city's Botanic Park, which is one of the largest parks in Türkiye's northern province of Bursa.

With the transformation, a wide-ranging work from smart irrigation systems to artificial intelligence-supported applications, will be implemented within the framework of the protocol.

Turkey is drawing a road map for its strategy in the field of artificial intelligence (AI), which can be defined as the realization of actions such as making decisions, discovering meaning and learning in dynamic environments specific to intelligent creatures, by a computer or a computer-controlled machine. Accordingly, the Presidential Circular on the National Artificial Intelligence Strategy for 2021-2025 was published Friday in the Official Gazette.

The document was prepared by the Presidency’s Digital Transformation Office and the Industry and Technology Ministry in line with the 11th Development Plan.

After a long wait, Turkish citizens may finally have a brand new ID that will replace bulky paper documents. Applications were open yesterday in the central city of Kırıkkale, long after authorities first announced the city would be the first to receive new "smart" IDs the size of a credit card.

Kırıkkale, which neighbors capital Ankara, is currently the only city where the IDs will be in use before it becomes compulsory for all citizens to switch to the new cards within three years. The new IDs come with high security to prevent forgery and a data storage chip that will store the fingerprint and other information for every individual. They will also serve as passports for countries with which Turkey has no visa regime.

The Turkish ASELSAN company wants to join the "Smart City" concept in Azerbaijan’s Karabakh region, which was announced by President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev after the second Karabakh war and make contribution, head of the board and director general of the company Haluk Gorgun said in an interview with Azerbaijan’s Xalq newspaper, Trend reports on Dec. 29.

Gorgun said that ASELSAN develops and designs the programs based on network and data that can be used in city management in all spheres, beginning from transport and healthcare and ending with payment systems.

Azerbaijan and Turkey will hold a joint digital transformation forum at the end of 2022, Trend reports on Jan. 15 via the Ministry of Digital Development and Transport of Azerbaijan.

According to the ministry, the forum is aimed at involving the private sector in projects in the field of digital transformation, expanding cooperation in the B2B (business-to-business) and B2G (business-to-state) formats.

With the e-government project undertaken by the State Planning Organization (DPT), public organizations are starting to make the Internet part of their lives. Now citizens can conduct their official transactions over the Internet, ending the era of red tape in bureaucracy.

In another e-readiness index published in May 2008 by the Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU), associated with the London-based magazine The Economist, Turkey was listed in the 43rd slot. In both indexes, Turkey was behind Jordan, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Malaysia, South Africa, Bermuda, Estonia, Chile and the United Arab Emirates.

With the rapid expansion of e-commerce, just about everything, from concert tickets to holiday home rentals are just a click away. E-commerce in Turkey swelled from $15 million to $200 million in just seven years. Hoping to hit $1 billion by 2008, the market has started to attract the attention of foreign investors interested in purchasing or partnering with well-known Internet sites.

During the meeting, attended by Turkish Ambassador to Jordan Sedat Onal, the minister said that ties between Jordan and Turkey are progressing in various domains, noting the existing level of cooperation in the ICT sector. The minister said that Jordanian telecom companies have entered a strategic alliance with Turkish companies to build a landline fibre optic cable linking the Kingdom with Europe and the U.S.

Adil Karaismailoğlu, the Minister of Transport and Infrastructure, visited TÜRKSAT. Karaismailoğlu, who made important statements to journalists here, said, "With the activation of TURKSAT 5B and TÜRKSAT 6A, we will be much stronger in space with our 6 communication satellites. Karaismailoğlu said that the installation of ground stations for the new frequency bands that will be served to TURKSAT 5A and 5B has reached the final stage.

"118 countries in the world and a population of 3 billion are in our coverage area today"

Karaismailoğlu Minister, today revealed that both nonfinancial and what they were able to work as well as tomorrow's is an institution of great strategic value for Turkey, he said. Karaismailoğlu, "as Turkey, 3A, 4A, 4B our communications satellites, in the world today, 118 countries and a population of 3 billion of our coverage," he said.

The discussion was made during a workshop on the applications of e-government on the levels of regions and localities, organized by the ministry with the participation of experts from Syria and Turkey.

The discussion was made during a workshop on the applications of e-government on the levels of regions and localities, organized by the ministry with the participation of experts from Syria and Turkey.

Minister of Local Administration Tamer al-Hajjeh said e-government is an integral part of his ministry's strategy for institutional development, noting that the recently-formed executive team for carrying out the Syrian e-Government Initiative has begun its tasks and is working to motivate government bodies to use information technology and support them in this regard.

Eight cities in Turkey are expected to become "smart cities" by 2025, according to an expert.

The smart city is a new approach to urban planning with a goal of connecting everything using technologies which generate data that is used to improve city services and infrastructure and ultimately residents' quality of life.

The concept of "Cyber Space" emerging beyond physical boundaries and rules is now of great importance for every country. In today's world, where almost all activities and services take place in the digital environment, the importance of cyber security has increased even more, especially with the pandemic period. Stating that data will replace oil in the near future, Procenne CEO Resul Yeşilyurt emphasized that necessary measures should be taken to protect the borders of our country in cyberspace. Saying that digitalization, which provides a great change in the functioning of the state, brings risks as well as opportunities; He pointed out that the work carried out by the government in the recent period has drawn an important vision for cyber security in both the public and private sectors and stated that Procenne is working to increase awareness in the field of cyber security in our country.

Nigeria and Turkey are now best buddies on satellite communications

A deal that would allow the Nigerian Communications Satellite Ltd (Nigcomsat) to deploy telecoms services via satellite has been signed by the company and its Turkish counterpart, the Turkish Satellite Company (Turksat).

The agreement was signed in Ankara, Turkey, by Kazeem Kolawole Raji, executive director of NigComSat and Hasan Huseyin Ertok, vice-president of the Turkish company.

Administrator Karachi, Iftikhar Ali Shallwani on Wednesday said Turkey's city Esenler is the first smart city of Islamic world and Karachi needs to learn a lot from it.

He said Esenler is also a densely populated city but the local administration had provided exemplary facilities to the people by carrying out massive works.

Data centers leveraging AI technology are becoming the most valuable physical assets for municipalities, promising to manage soon driverless vehicles providing transportation, sanitation and healthcare services in smart cities

Cities and organizations around the globe are reimagining how to manage their most valuable physical assets and spaces using AI. This technology offers powerful new methods to create more sustainable cities, maintain infrastructure and improve public spaces such as roads for residents.

After five years of extended discussions and cancelled tenders, Turkey was finally able to launch its biometric passport system eight months ago. Taking the current demand into consideration, 5 million biometric passports that have already been produced are expected distributed to Turkish citizens by 2013.

Turkey's biggest city Istanbul on Wednesday obliged citizens to get a "health code" to be able to enter all public institution buildings, a move to curb the fast spread of the COVID-19 pandemic.

In line with the new rule, people will be allowed to access public offices only after they show the code and prove that they are not infected with the coronavirus.

The code, provided by an e-government portal, also reveals whether citizens have recently contacted an infected person.