Privacy Policy
1. Who we are
This website (umtoz.com) is operated by Umut Ozturk, a company registered in Türkiye ("we", "us"). We are the data controller (veri sorumlusu) for personal data processed through this site.
Contact: legal@umtoz.com
2. What we collect
We collect very little. Specifically:
Newsletter subscriptions. If you subscribe to our newsletter, we store your email address, the date you subscribed, the date you confirmed, and a subscription status. We do not ask for your name, and we do not record your IP address or browser details when you subscribe.
Technical logs. Our hosting provider records standard server request data — IP address, request time, requested URL, and user agent — as part of delivering the site and protecting it from abuse. We do not combine this data with any other information about you.
Language preference. A cookie stores which language version of the site you are reading. See section 8.
We do not operate user accounts, take payments, or collect shipping, billing, or identity information of any kind.
3. Why we process it, and on what basis
| Purpose | Lawful basis |
|---|---|
| Sending the newsletter you asked for | Your explicit consent (KVKK Art. 5/1; GDPR Art. 6(1)(a)) |
| Confirming your subscription is genuine | Consent, and our legitimate interest in preventing abuse |
| Serving and securing the website | Legitimate interest (KVKK Art. 5/2(f); GDPR Art. 6(1)(f)) |
| Remembering your language choice | Strictly necessary for a service you requested |
We use double opt-in: after you enter your email, we send a confirmation link that expires in 24 hours. If you do not click it, you are never added to the list.
4. Who we share it with
We do not sell personal data, and we do not share it for advertising.
We use two service providers who process data on our behalf:
- Resend (United States) — sends our newsletter and stores confirmed subscriber email addresses in a contact list.
- Cloudflare (United States) — hosts the site, delivers it through their network, and stores our subscriber database and page-like counts.
Both act as processors under written terms and may only use the data to provide their service to us.
We may also disclose data where we are legally required to — for example in response to a lawful order from a Turkish authority or court.
5. International transfers
Both providers above are based in the United States, so your email address is transferred outside Türkiye and outside the European Economic Area. These transfers are made under the providers' standard data protection terms, which include the European Commission's Standard Contractual Clauses.
6. How long we keep it
Your email address stays on the list until you unsubscribe or ask us to delete it. Unconfirmed subscriptions are removed once the 24-hour confirmation window has passed and the address remains unconfirmed.
Server logs are retained by our hosting provider on their standard schedule, which is short — typically days, not months.
7. Your rights
Under KVKK Art. 11 you have the right to:
- learn whether your personal data is being processed
- request information about processing that has taken place
- learn the purpose of processing and whether the data is used accordingly
- know the third parties, domestic or foreign, to whom your data is transferred
- have incomplete or inaccurate data corrected
- request erasure or destruction of your data under Art. 7
- have corrections or erasures notified to third parties the data was transferred to
- object to a result reached solely through automated analysis that works against you
- claim compensation for loss caused by unlawful processing
If you are in the European Economic Area or the United Kingdom, GDPR gives you broadly equivalent rights, plus data portability and the right to withdraw consent at any time.
To exercise any of these, email legal@umtoz.com. We will respond within 30 days.
You can unsubscribe from the newsletter at any time using the link at the bottom of every email — no need to contact us first.
8. Cookies
We use one cookie:
| Name | Purpose | Duration |
|---|---|---|
umutozturk-i18n | Remembers whether you are reading the English or Turkish version | 1 year |
This is a functional cookie required for a feature you are using, so no consent banner is shown.
We do not use advertising cookies, analytics cookies, or third-party trackers. Our fonts are served from our own domain rather than Google Fonts, so no data is sent to font providers when you load a page.
Page "like" counts are stored as anonymous totals. They are not linked to you and involve no personal data.
9. Security
Data is transmitted over HTTPS. Subscriber data is stored in a managed database with access restricted to us. Confirmation links use randomly generated tokens that expire after 24 hours.
No system is completely secure, and we cannot guarantee absolute security — but given that the only personal data we hold is an email address, the impact of any incident is limited by design.
10. Children
This site is not directed at children. We do not knowingly collect personal data from anyone under 18.
11. Changes
We may update this policy. The date at the top shows when it last changed. If we make a change that materially affects how we handle your data, we will say so in the newsletter.
12. Contact
Umut Ozturk Türkiye legal@umtoz.com