BTK President Dr. Ömer Fatih Sayan, speaking at the Internet Service Providers Evaluation Meeting, said, “We are working with all our might as BTK to make our country an attractive and preferred data center hub by the whole world.”
The Internet Service Providers Evaluation Meeting was held under the auspices of the Information Technologies and Communication Authority. In addition to BTK officials and experts, entrepreneurs from different provinces and various layers of the sector attended the meeting.
CAZIBE CENTERS PROGRAM IS IMPORTANT FOR OUR COUNTRY
Stating that they are ready to make changes and incentives that the sector will benefit from, Sayan said, “At the end of November 2016, the ‘Cazibe Centers Program’ was put into effect with Decree-Law No. 678. This program is implemented through the Development Bank of Turkey. The purpose of the program is defined as ‘to revitalize the investment environment in relatively less developed regions, thereby increasing employment, production, and exports to reduce inter-regional development disparities.’ I think this development is very important for new investment projects of data centers.
The Cazibe Centers Program consists of 4 support packages: Investment and Production Support Package, Production Facility Relocation Support Package, Call Center Support Package, and Data Center Investment and Energy Support Package. Accordingly, for new data center investments, provided that they have a minimum of 5,000 square meters of white space and are at TIER-3 or higher level according to ANSI/TIA-942, they can benefit from various supports and incentives. Elements that can be listed under the data center investment and energy support package include data center energy support, fiber communication infrastructure support, ‘investment site allocation support’ and ‘interest-free investment loan support’ within the scope of the investment and production support package,” he said.
WE ARE WORKING WITH ALL OUR MIGHT TO MAKE OUR COUNTRY A DATA CENTER HUB
Stating that, in line with the recommendations prepared by BTK, a “Incentives and Measures” package for supporting the data center sector was put into effect by the Ministry of Transport, Maritime Affairs and Communication, Sayan said the following:
“The aforementioned Action Plan is planned to be implemented on the axes of ‘Policy, Legislation, Regulation,’ ‘Financial Matters,’ ‘Standardization,’ and ‘Promotion.’ In this context, action steps have been defined such as differentiating the obligations of data centers from those of hosting providers, publishing and implementing the National Broadband Strategy for the development of fiber infrastructure, introducing various tax exemptions, publishing data center standards, supervising players in this sector, increasing demand for services provided by data centers by establishing trust in the sector, and finally conducting joint studies with the Prime Ministry Investment Support and Promotion Agency (Invest in Turkey) to attract foreign players to our country. These incentives are extremely encouraging developments both for the hosting/data center sector and for the future of our national economy. I want to emphasize once again from here that we are working with all our might as BTK to make our country an attractive and preferred data center hub by the whole world.”
15 JULY STRATEGICALLY REVEALED THE SECTOR’S IMPORTANCE
Reminding that during the July 15 coup attempt, the infrastructures of the electronic communications sector were targeted and interventions were made in communication networks to plunge the country into communication darkness, Sayan said, “The July 15 coup attempt strategically reveals how important the sector is and the need for it to be protected with top-level security. In this sense, I would like to state that you valuable investors and entrepreneurs always hold a special importance for us. The past 1.5 years have once again shown us the importance of cyber security, which is the area our institution attaches the most importance to. Immediately after the July 15 coup attempt, cyber attacks replaced attacks with guns and cannons; we saw an increase in the number and size of cyber attacks, and more complex attacks in terms of quality. We repelled these attacks together with the National Cyber Incident Response Center (USOM) and our other relevant stakeholders.”
COOPERATION IS ESSENTIAL IN THE FIGHT AGAINST ILLEGAL CONTENT
Emphasizing that illegal contents have also proliferated with the widespread use of the internet, Sayan said, “Obscenity, prostitution, sexual abuse, illegal gambling sites that exploit national resources, incitement to suicide, ransomware through malicious software, cyberbullying, and similar crimes unfortunately find wide space in the internet environment. I believe that you valuable participants are sensitive about the interests of our citizens and our country. I want it to be known that as an institution, we are ready to provide all kinds of support for developing various mechanisms to cooperate more effectively with you both in the fight against illegal contents and in solving your problems.”
BTK’S TOP PRIORITY IS ENSURING NATIONAL CYBER SECURITY
Stating that BTK’s primary and strategic issue is ensuring national cyber security, Sayan said: “In Law No. 5651 on the Regulation of Publications Made on the Internet and Fighting Crimes Committed Through These Publications, hosting provider is defined as ‘real or legal persons providing or operating systems that host services and contents.’ In addition, the ‘obligations of hosting providers’ in Article 5 of the Law have been rearranged in a clear and detailed manner. Hosting providers are obliged to remove illegal content within the scope of Articles 8 and 9 of the Law upon notification. This obligation actually shows how important a role hosting providers play in combating crimes committed through publications on the internet, which I mentioned at the beginning. With the 2014 amendments, hosting providers have become obliged to deliver the information we request as an institution in the manner we request and to take the measures we notify as an institution. In addition, retaining traffic information related to the services they host and ensuring the accuracy, integrity, and confidentiality of this information are obligations imposed on hosting providers by Law No. 5651.”
WE EVALUATE DATA CENTERS AS PART OF THE HOSTING PROVIDER CONCEPT
Sayan emphasized that as BTK, they evaluate data centers, which are not additionally regulated in the Law, as part of the hosting provider concept in the context of the implementation of the Law, and therefore data centers have obligations in terms of removing illegal content from publication or blocking access to this content through the notify-and-remove method, in line with the purpose of the Law to combat certain crimes committed on the internet.
Sayan, explaining that various demands have come to BTK stating that data centers are different from hosting providers and that amendments should be made to reflect this difference in the obligations determined by Law No. 5651, said the following: “Taking into account the services provided by data centers and the nature and characteristics of the work done, the Law provides the opportunity to differentiate these obligations in a way that will not hinder the growth of this sector. Indeed, with Article 88 of Law No. 6518 dated 6/2/2014, which amended Article 5 of Law No. 5651, paragraph 4 was added: ‘Hosting providers can be classified according to the nature of their activities within the framework of procedures and principles to be determined by regulation, and can be differentiated in terms of rights and obligations.’ Thus, the way has been opened to differentiate the rights and obligations of data centers, which are a type of hosting provider, according to their capabilities and limitations, and the necessary legislative flexibility has been provided for other types of hosting providers as well as data centers. Therefore, it is seen that the existing problems of data centers, which can be evaluated as a type of hosting provider, can be solved within the framework of procedures and principles to be determined in the regulation, with classification and differentiated rights and obligations, without the need for any amendment to Law No. 5651, in a way that also supports incentive policies.”
Sayan concluded his speech by stating that he hopes the evaluations and discussions to be made at the meeting will contribute to the ongoing studies on making regulations in the eyes of the public, hosting providers, and other actors of the internet, and thanking the participants.
In the Sectoral Problems and Solution Proposals section of the Internet Service Providers Evaluation Meeting, the problems and solution proposals of sector representatives were discussed by Hosting Providers and BTK experts.