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On 18 August 2026, Türkiye published its Artificial Intelligence Action Plan for 2026-2030 through Presidential Circular No. 2026/9, published in Official Gazette No. 33344, which builds on the 2021-2025 National Artificial Intelligence Strategy and the 2024-2025 Action Plan, and lays the foundation for Türkiye’s institutional AI ecosystem. The Action Plan is built around four strategic pillars:
The Action Plan is built around four core implementation principles: speed and clarity, market orientation, trust and responsibility, and phased implementation and prioritisation. The government intends to focus on a limited number of high-impact priorities supported by measurable targets and clearly assigned responsibilities. The Action Plan emphasises a “scan, pilot and scale” approach, a three-stage implementation cycle that underpins its public and private-sector measures. This involves systematically identifying potential use cases, rapidly launching pilot projects and scaling successful pilot projects. A proportionate, risk-based governance framework is expected to promote innovation while ensuring transparency, independent assessment and the safe deployment of AI systems. Implementation will be phased, with priority given to governance structures, data-sharing mechanisms, access to compute capacity, public-sector pilots and trustworthy AI measures before larger-scale infrastructure, regional expansion and international model-export initiatives are scaled. Purpose and scope of the action plan The Action Plan is Türkiye’s strategic roadmap for digital transformation and technological development in AI. It seeks to establish a coordinated national AI ecosystem by combining governance measures, infrastructure investments, talent-development initiatives and sectoral adoption programmes. The Action Plan addresses the AI ecosystem and is intended to guide public institutions, investors, technology developers, research organisations, universities, start-ups and businesses operating in Türkiye. It sets out 16 actions to be implemented between 2026 and 2030 and identifies the public authorities and governance structures responsible for their implementation. The Action Plan also sets quantitative targets, including training 10,000 advanced AI specialists and 100,000 AI application professionals, reaching at least 1 GW of installed AI and data-centre capacity, mobilising at least USD 10 billion in predominantly private-sector investment, establishing regulatory sandboxes in at least five priority sectors, creating a National AI Research Fund of at least TRY 10 billion and an AI Growth Fund of TRY 15 billion, and declaring at least five AI Growth Zones by the end of 2028. The Action Plan envisages generating more than TRY 1 trillion in economic value through its implementation. New governance architecture The Action Plan creates governance and institutional mechanisms intended to coordinate AI policy and implementation. These include a National AI Board, chaired by the President of Türkiye, to serve as the highest-level strategic decision-making and coordination body. The Board will set and approve national priorities and annual implementation plans, resolve inter-agency obstacles and jurisdictional disputes, direct major public and ecosystem investments, and oversee implementation. It will also publish an annual National AI Policy Letter, providing a clear policy signal to the public and investors on Türkiye’s AI priorities and direction. Implementation will be supported by a dedicated Programme Office within the General Directorate of National Technology and Artificial Intelligence of the Ministry of Industry and Technology, which will prepare annual implementation plans, support project development and effective monitoring, operate the transparency portal, and track implementation and performance against the Action Plan. The Programme Office will also include the Public AI General Directorate of the Cybersecurity Presidency to support the planning and coordination of public-sector AI initiatives. In parallel, a National AI Ethics Board will develop practical ethical principles and guidance and support public trust in AI systems. Technical safety-assessment capacity will be strengthened under the coordination of the Cybersecurity Presidency and in cooperation with the TÜBİTAK Artificial Intelligence Institute. The Action Plan does not designate a single standalone AI regulator. Instead, it establishes a coordination-based governance architecture supported by existing public institutions, while binding supervisory and sanctioning powers remain with the relevant sectoral regulators. The framework will be complemented by the National AI Progress and Transparency Portal, through which implementation milestones, responsible authorities, budgets, timetables and performance indicators will be monitored and disclosed, subject to the exclusion of personal data and trade secrets. The first publicly available progress report is expected to be published through the portal within 12 months of the Action Plan’s publication. To deliver these objectives, the Action Plan introduces 16 actions organised across the four strategic pillars, with four actions assigned to each pillar. The Action Plan identifies the institutions responsible for implementing each action and provides a detailed allocation of responsibilities. Key measures under the four strategic pillars Pillar 1 – Recognise This pillar focuses on expanding Türkiye’s AI ecosystem by strengthening awareness, skills, and data accessibility. The Action Plan envisages nationwide AI literacy initiatives, targeted talent development programmes for different segments of the workforce and mechanisms to make strategic datasets more accessible. It also aims to support AI-driven companies in priority sectors through dedicated programmes while establishing a predictable, risk-based legal and ethical framework for the development and deployment of AI technologies. Key measures envisaged under this pillar include:
Pillar 2 – Benefit This pillar seeks to accelerate the practical adoption of AI across the public and private sectors by strengthening the national compute infrastructure and expanding access to AI resources. Key initiatives include the creation of a national compute portfolio, broader access to GPU (Graphics Processing Unit) capacity for businesses, researchers and public institutions, and the deployment of AI transformation programmes within government. The Action Plan also promotes pilot projects in priority sectors such as health care, energy and manufacturing, with a focus on rapidly scaling successful use cases and translating innovation into commercially viable solutions. Key measures under this pillar include:
Pillar 3 – Produce This pillar focuses on developing Türkiye’s domestic AI production capacity by supporting investment, financing, model development and commercialisation. The Action Plan calls for the creation of AI growth zones (a specially designated area allocated for large-scale data centre and artificial intelligence investments, equipped with pre-arranged energy, land and telecommunications infrastructure, accelerated permitting processes and redundant fibre connectivity), centres of excellence (a hub that collaborates with universities, research institutions and local industry, providing SMEs and researchers with access to GPUs, secure data spaces and prototyping opportunities) and dedicated financing mechanisms to support businesses from early-stage research through to market expansion. It also aims to facilitate the development of sector-specific foundation models based on Türkiye’s strategic data assets and promote their export to international markets. In parallel, the government seeks to leverage Türkiye’s strengths in defence, manufacturing, robotics and automation to build capabilities in physical AI, autonomous systems and advanced industrial applications. Key measures envisaged under this pillar include:
Pillar 4 – Govern This pillar aims to position Türkiye as a regional and international AI hub by attracting foreign investment, shaping international AI governance discussions and strengthening cross-border cooperation. The Action Plan envisages initiatives to attract hyperscale cloud providers and global investors, increase Türkiye’s participation in international standard-setting efforts, and deepen collaboration with regional partners on AI development, training and data-sharing. It also proposes AI testing and regulatory sandbox mechanisms (a regulatory testing environment that enables innovative artificial intelligence solutions to be tested in regulated sectors for a limited period and under controlled conditions), supported by safety assessment capabilities and enabling regulatory measures, to facilitate the secure development, testing and deployment of innovative AI solutions. Key measures envisaged under this pillar include:
Implementation roadmap The Action Plan adopts a phased implementation approach.
Conclusion The Action Plan is a policy and implementation roadmap and does not establish directly applicable obligations for private-sector AI developers or deployers. Presidential Circular No. 2026/9 instructs public institutions and organisations to fulfil the responsibilities assigned to them under the Action Plan and to provide the support required for its implementation. Businesses operating in Türkiye, or supplying AI systems or services into Türkiye, should monitor forthcoming legislation, secondary regulations, sector-specific rules, guidance documents and implementation programmes arising from the Action Plan. For more information on the Action Plan, contact the experts who contributed to this article: [email protected], [email protected], and [email protected]. |
