Government prepares regulation introducing imprisonment for publishing statistics not authorized by TURKSTAT

The draft law which provides for imprisonment for statistics without approval of TURKSTAT has caused a great reaction from independent research groups. ENAG Founder Prof. Dr. Dr. Veysel Ulusoy, BETAM Director Prof. Dr. Seyfettin Gursel and Assoc. from DISK-AR. Dr. Aziz Çelik made important statements in regards.

GREAT REACTION TO IMPRISONMENT REGULATION FOR STATISTICS WITHOUT APPROVAL OF TURKSTAT

The draft law, which provides for imprisonment from 1 to 3 years for those who produce and publish statistics as an alternative to official statistics, has caused a great reaction.

According to the draft study cited by Firat Kozok from Bloomberg, research involving statistical results in the fields of environment, demography, prices, labor, agriculture and national accounts that will create an alternative to statistics produced by TUIK will be submitted to TUIK for approval of their scope, sampling method, sample volume, data compilation method and methodology showing the time of application before being made public.

The results of the research, the methodology of which has not been approved by TURKSTAT, will not be made public by any means.

So how was this draft law received by the independent research groups consisting of economics professors such as the Inflation Research Group (ENAG), DEC-AR and BETAM, which produce and publish statistics?

ENAG: AN IRRATIONAL PREPARATION CONSISTING OF HATRED

TURKSTAT had announced that consumer inflation rose to 61.14 percent in March 2022, the highest level since March 2002. ENAG had announced this ratio as 142.63 percent.

ENAG Founder Prof. Dr. Veysel Ulusoy pointed out that they had created the inflation data they published within the framework of the rights granted by the Turkish Statistical Code, and that their work was a scientific study in accordance with the constitution.