Short answer: in Türkiye, web accessibility is legally binding for public institutions, while there is no direct, general obligation for private companies yet. In practice, however, private businesses are pushed to WCAG 2.1 AA through four indirect routes: public procurement, selling into the European market, sector-specific regulation, and anti-discrimination provisions.
Who is this article for?
Disclaimer: this content is general information, not legal advice. Regulations change; verify current texts and consult your legal counsel before critical decisions. Last updated: August 2026.
What is WCAG and which version should you target?
WCAG (Web Content Accessibility Guidelines) is the international web accessibility standard published by the W3C's WAI initiative. Its goal is to make web content perceivable, operable, understandable and robust for users with visual, hearing, motor or cognitive disabilities. Those four principles form the standard's POUR acronym.
The standard defines three conformance levels. Almost every regulation references level AA; AAA is not a realistic target for an entire site, and the W3C itself does not recommend it as such.
| A | Minimum | Alternative text, keyboard navigation, form labels. A site that stops here is still unusable for many people. | AA | The regulatory target | Text/background contrast of at least 4.5:1, no breakage at 200% zoom, errors described in text, consistent navigation. This is the level regulations point to. | AAA | Advanced | 7:1 contrast, sign language alternatives, plain-language versions. Usually targeted only for specific pages. |
On versions, the practical position as of 2026 is this: WCAG 2.1 AA is the baseline most regulations cite. WCAG 2.2 reached recommendation status in 2023 and added criteria built for the mobile era — touch target size, alternatives to dragging movements, and visibility of the focused element. If you are starting a new project, target 2.2 AA directly: it builds on 2.1 and the extra cost is close to zero. If you are remediating an existing site, complete 2.1 AA first.
Is it mandatory for public institutions in Türkiye? Yes.
On the public side, accessibility is an obligation rather than a preference. The basis has three layers:
- Law No. 5378 on Persons with Disabilities. It establishes access to information and services for people with disabilities, and accessibility as a public duty. Digital services fall within that concept of access.
- Guidelines published for public websites. The KAMİS programme, run under the Digital Transformation Office of the Presidency, defines the design, usability and accessibility criteria public websites must meet, and introduces compliance monitoring for institutions.
- The EN 301 549 / TS EN 301 549 standard. It sets accessibility requirements for ICT products and services, and its web content section references WCAG AA success criteria directly. Technical specifications in public procurement are usually written on top of this standard.
The critical consequence for agencies: if you deliver a site to a public institution, municipality, university or state-owned company, accessibility is a contractual acceptance criterion. Where the specification cites "EN 301 549" or "WCAG 2.1 AA", you will be tested against those clauses at handover. A firm that does not budget this line item when quoting ends up remediating at a loss after winning the work.
Is it mandatory for the private sector? Not directly — but it arrives through four doors
Today in Türkiye there is no general rule that directly orders an ordinary SME to build its corporate website to WCAG AA. That does not mean the private sector is unaffected. The obligation comes through four doors:
| Public procurement and supply | Any private firm selling goods or services to the public sector | Where the specification requires accessibility, a non-conforming bid is eliminated or the acceptance report is not signed. | Selling into the European market | Firms selling e-commerce, banking, e-books, transport tickets or digital services to EU consumers | The European Accessibility Act (EAA, 2019/882) became applicable on 28 June 2025. Third-country companies selling into member states are in scope; enforcement varies by member state law. | Sector regulation and corporate policy | Banking, insurance, telecom, healthcare, education — plus suppliers of large corporates | Vendor assessment questionnaires ask for an accessibility statement. A supplier who cannot provide one drops off the list. | Anti-discrimination and consumer law | Any business that blocks access to its service | A disabled consumer unable to use a service can raise a discrimination or denial-of-service argument. Case law here is young in Türkiye, but the risk is not zero. |
Commercial reality adds to this: combined with users over 60, the share of people who benefit from accessible interfaces is not a segment you can ignore. A 63-year-old who cannot complete your form because of poor contrast does not appear in your analytics as an "accessibility issue" — only as an abandoned cart.
Where does accessibility overlap with SEO?
The most underrated return on accessibility work is how heavily it overlaps with technical SEO. The same fix produces two benefits:
For that reason, it is usually more efficient to position an accessibility audit inside your SEO optimization work rather than as a separate line item.
A 12-point rapid self-audit
You can run the following checks on your own site in 30–45 minutes without any paid tool. Every "no" is a candidate AA violation:
- Without touching the mouse, can you reach the contact form's submit button from the main menu using only Tab?
- While tabbing, is the focused element visually obvious? (The
outlinedesigners so often remove is vital here.) - Is there a "skip to content" link at the top of the page?
- Do all informative images have alt text? (For decorative images,
alt=""is correct.) - Is the contrast ratio at least 4.5:1 between text and background? (White text on light grey is the most common violation.)
- At 200% browser zoom, does content overlap or force horizontal scrolling?
- Does every form field have a visible, associated
label? (A placeholder alone is not enough.) - Are form errors signalled by colour only, or also explained in text?
- Is there exactly one H1, with headings descending in order?
- Is the
<html lang="en">language declaration correct? - Is there a pause control for auto-playing video or sliders?
- Can components like menus, modals and tabs be opened by keyboard and closed with Esc?
Automated tools catch roughly a third of this list. Keyboard navigation, focus order and semantic coherence require manual testing — "we ran the tool and scored 100" does not demonstrate conformance.
How long does compliance take, and what does it cost?
The biggest cost driver is the stage at which the work happens. Accessibility considered during design is almost free; on a live site it means revisiting the interface.
| Starting a new project with an AA target | Absorbed into design and development | Roughly 3–8% of project budget | Bringing a live corporate site to AA | Audit + remediation + retest | 3–10 working days, depending on template count | Bringing an e-commerce checkout flow to AA | Critical flow prioritised | 5–15 working days (variant pickers and form density drive this) | Audit report only (no remediation) | Sample of 8–12 template pages | 2–4 working days |
Note: the ranges above are estimated effort bands based on agency practice, not fixed-price quotes. Real effort depends on component count and existing code quality.
A common budgeting mistake is treating accessibility as a one-off project. Every new campaign page, form and theme update can introduce new violations, which is why conformance belongs inside your maintenance and support cycle.
The picture in Eskişehir: the public side is pushing, the private side has not woken up
Eskişehir is a city dense with public and university digital services. The number of online services offered by the metropolitan and district municipalities grows every year, and university student information systems, application portals and announcement sites touch thousands of users directly. For local software firms serving these institutions, accessibility has already become specification language.
The private sector picture is different. In the site reviews we run, the three most frequent violations barely change: text contrast sacrificed for brand colour, contact forms labelled only by placeholder, and mobile menus that cannot be opened by keyboard at all. All three are a few days of work, yet they survive for years because nobody notices them. Given that manufacturers in the city target Europe as an export market, that position is clearly not sustainable in the post-EAA period.
Frequently asked questions
Is installing an accessibility overlay enough?
No. Widgets bolted onto a page offering font-size and contrast buttons do not fix the underlying HTML, and they often degrade the experience for screen reader users. The international accessibility community warns against these products. The durable fix is correcting the markup and the components.
I scored 100 in Lighthouse — am I compliant?
No. Lighthouse and similar automated tools can machine-verify only a portion of the success criteria. Whether focus order is logical, link text is meaningful and error messages are understandable all require human judgement.
Do I really need WCAG AA for a corporate brochure site?
Legally it may not be directly required. But if you bid for public work, sell into Europe, or supply a large corporate, it is required in practice. Even if none of those apply, AA produces a measurable conversion difference among older and low-vision users.
Should I target WCAG 2.1 or 2.2?
2.2 AA for new projects. On an existing site, complete 2.1 AA first, then close the touch target size and focus visibility criteria that 2.2 adds. 2.2 builds on 2.1; they are not mutually exclusive.
Am I obliged to publish an accessibility statement?
Publishing a statement is a common requirement for public institutions. Although it is not mandatory in the private sector, a statement page that sets out your conformance level, known exceptions and a feedback channel is useful evidence in both corporate vendor audits and potential complaints.
Do I have to rewrite my site from scratch?
In most cases, no. Violations usually cluster in a handful of shared components — menu, form, modal, card. Fixing at component level propagates across every page. A rewrite only becomes the answer when the markup is entirely non-semantic.
Where to start
Keep the sequence simple: run the 12-point list above on your own site and write down every "no". Then deepen it by focusing on your three most critical user flows — contact form, product or service detail, and the payment or application step. When structural fixes are made at component level, most corporate sites approach AA within a few working days.
If you want an accessibility audit that reports template by template where your site fails, or you are planning a web design project built to an AA target from day one, send us your site address and we will tell you plainly which violations come first and what the estimated effort looks like.