Archives as Builders of Civic Partnerships

Abstract

Archives and archivists can participate in rekindling civic engagement from many venues. The implementation of a modern civil registration service is at the heart of providing better archival public services. The modernisation of civil registration system in Turkey culminated in 2000 with the introduction of the Central Civil Registration System or MERNIS, as is known by its abbreviations in Turkish, set up after long and arduous work. This paper describes the process of establishing, extending, and improving MERNIS services through national and international cooperation and collaboration. The focus of this paper provides examples of using archives by the public agencies accessing MERNIS are as follows: Economic and financial; planning and investment; security; military service; health services; education; social security; electoral registers; justice. As a result, it was found out that access to central civil registration system and archival databases to citizens eager to find and use vital services within their communities.