What is CBDDO?
The Cumhurbaşkanlığı Dijital Dönüşüm Ofisi (CBDDO) — Presidential Digital Transformation Office — was established by Presidential Decree No. 1 (2018) as the central policy body for Türkiye’s digital agenda. CBDDO coordinates national strategy across e-government (e-Devlet), national AI strategy, open data, cybersecurity, and the country’s digital identity infrastructure. It reports directly to the Presidency and operates parallel to BTK (regulator) and the Ministry of Industry and Technology.
Key mandates
- National AI Strategy 2021-2025: 119-action roadmap covering talent, R&D, sectoral applications.
- e-Devlet platform: centralised citizen services portal (turkiye.gov.tr).
- Open Data Portal: public dataset publication standards.
- Digital Türkiye Card: consolidated digital ID initiative.
- Cybersecurity strategy and incident coordination.
Implications for startups and corporates
CBDDO publishes guidance documents (e.g., AI ethics guide) that, while not directly binding, often crystallise into BTK or KVKK sub-regulations. Public-sector procurement increasingly references CBDDO digital standards. Cross-border digital service providers should monitor CBDDO outputs as leading indicators of regulatory direction.
Do: track CBDDO consultations and roadmaps for upcoming regulatory direction; align AI governance posture with the National AI Strategy.
Don’t: conflate CBDDO with BTK or KVKK — CBDDO sets strategy, regulators issue binding rules.
Working with the digital-state stack
For companies selling into or integrating with Turkish public digital infrastructure, the CBDDO’s frameworks function as de facto regulation: the information- and communication-security guide (BİG rehberi) sets hosting, encryption and personnel standards that flow into public tenders and, through them, into private subcontracts; KamuNet and interoperability requirements shape architecture; and cloud placement of public data follows criticality classifications that effectively localise significant workloads. Startups building govtech or selling SaaS to institutions should price compliance into delivery — certification, on-prem or local-cloud variants, and security clearances are procurement preconditions, not post-signature details. The practical reading: in Türkiye, public-sector product strategy is inseparable from CBDDO alignment.