Turkish Court Accepts Right To Be Forgotten In Digital And Non-Digital Environments

A Turkish court recently accepted the existence of the Right to be Forgotten for the first time (2014/4-56 E, and 2015/1679 K, dated 17 June 2015). The Assembly of Civil Chambers of the Court of Appeal held that the right includes digital data, as well as non-digital personal data kept in publically accessible mediums. The digital aspect of this decision adopts and applies a similar scope as was granted by the Court of Justice of the European Union in its decision about Google.

The case at hand involved a claim that the personal rights of a sexual assault victim had been infringed. A criminal case was filed regarding the assault and the defendant was found guilty. During the hearings, the claimant/victim gave explicit descriptions of the assault, which were included in the decision's text. After the proceedings, an academic book was published, containing certain decisions by the Court of Appeal, including the case at hand. The names of the claimant/victim and