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Is my health data safe abroad?

Is my health data safe in Turkey?

The 2024 reform lets doctors process your health data without asking, which is ordinary medical practice. It also means the control you keep is over what you send and how you send it. Ask the clinic where it stores records and who else sees them.

General information, checked against the law on 23 September 2026. For your own case, ask a lawyer in Turkey.

What the law says

How Turkey treats your health data.

The law
Law No. 6698 on the Protection of Personal Data (KVKK), amended by Law No. 7499 in force since 1 June 2024[S90]
The regulator
Personal Data Protection Authority and its Board[S88]
Health data
Health data is a special category under Article 6. Since June 2024, people under a legal duty of confidentiality, such as doctors, may process it without your explicit consent for diagnosis, treatment and care, and for planning and financing health services.[S90]
Sending it abroad
Since June 2024, data may leave Turkey to a country the Board has found adequate, or under safeguards such as standard contracts, which must be notified to the Authority within five business days of signing. Explicit consent is now one of a short list of grounds for occasional transfers.[S89][S90]
EU adequacy
No. Turkey is absent from the European Commission's adequacy list, so an EU organisation sending data there needs other safeguards.[S77]
If there is a breach
Within 72 hours to the Board, under Board Decision 2019/10, and to the people affected as soon as possible.[S88]
Fines
Administrative fines set in Article 18 of the law, raised every year in line with the revaluation rate.[S90]

Sending your records

The law protects the clinic’s copy. How it gets there is up to you.

Email and messaging apps leave a readable copy on every server they pass through, in Turkey and at home. The safest file is the one that stays encrypted on your own phone, shown to the doctor in the room or sent by a link that expires by itself.

Who can see my medical records? Free check

Questions

Turkey: common questions.

Is it safe to email medical records to a clinic in Turkey?

Email is protected between mail servers only when both providers support TLS, and it stays readable on each server afterwards. Once your records reach a clinic in Turkey, local law applies: health data is a special category under Article 6. Since June 2024, people under a legal duty of confidentiality, such as doctors, may process it without your explicit consent for diagnosis, treatment and care, and for planning and financing health services. For a full history, use a channel where you hold the key, such as a link that expires by itself.

Are my medical records private in Turkey?

Health data is a special category under Article 6. Since June 2024, people under a legal duty of confidentiality, such as doctors, may process it without your explicit consent for diagnosis, treatment and care, and for planning and financing health services. Breaches must be reported within 72 hours to the Board, under Board Decision 2019/10, and to the people affected as soon as possible. The regulator is the Personal Data Protection Authority and its Board.

Can a clinic in Turkey send my medical records abroad?

Since June 2024, data may leave Turkey to a country the Board has found adequate, or under safeguards such as standard contracts, which must be notified to the Authority within five business days of signing. Explicit consent is now one of a short list of grounds for occasional transfers.

Keep reading

More on Turkey, and elsewhere.

Sources are numbered in the text and listed in full in the reference list.