NATIONAL HUMAN RIGHTS INSTITUTIONS AS A HUMAN RIGHTS PROTECTION MECHANISM: THE CASES OF THE OMBUDSMAN AND HUMAN RIGHTS AND EQUALITY INSTITUTION OF TURKEY lates that the Board can also announce its resolutions by appropriate means on the condition that it abides by the principle of the confidentiality of personal data, if it deems necessary. All resolutions of the Board must be made public and the Board should not be granted an ambiguous authority implied by the phrase "if it deems necessary". As a matter of fact, the total number of resolutions published by the Institution as of July 31, 2020 is just 43. The institution does not have a transparent policy regarding the publication of resolutions. This suggests that TIHEK does not sufficiently exercise the authority vested thereon and does not inform the public enough about its resolutions. Resolutions issued by the Board while fulfilling its duties are not bindings apart from the resolutions on administrative fine. Although this is normal, the absence of any requirement to publish all board resolutions will reduce the impact of resolutions even further as specified below. 2. TIHEK and Working Method As for the gathering of equality institutions with the participation of all its members at regular intervals and where deemed necessary, Articles 12(1) and 12(3) of TIHEK Law provides that it is possible for the Board to be convened with at least seven members upon the call of the Chairman of TIHEK and to issue resolutions with the votes of at least six members in the same direction. Similarly, the Board can also be convened upon the request of at least five members other than the Chairman as per Article 12(1). The Paris Principles require that TIHEK performs its activities on a full-time basis and convenes at regular intervals and where deemed necessary. The law's failure to specify a minimum period of time for the interval of meeting regarding the Board is considered a shortcoming. In addition, the Chairman is granted the authority to set the agenda, date and time of the meeting as per Article 13(2)(a) of TIHEK Law. Thus, the interval of meetings is not set and the initiative for meeting is left to the Chairman to a great extent, too. It is not possible to evaluate the performance of the Board as it is not known how many times the Board convenes a year and the resolutions issued during these meetings are not published. Article 12(4) of TIHEK Law stipulates that TIHEK Board can form commissions of three members for each field of activity from among its own members. However, it is not known whether such commissions have actually been formed or not. As specified above, a Presidential resolution is required as per Article 14(5) for the establishment of local or regional units by the Institution. 3. TIHEK and Cooperation with Other Institutions According to international standards, TIHEK must consult with other judicial and administrative public institutions dealing with the prevention of discrimination such as the Ombudsman Institution. Established before TIHEK, the Ombudsman Institution (OI) can review the claims of human rights violations against the administration including non-discrimination in an ex officio fashion or upon application. Article 9(1)(f) of TIHEK Law provides that TIHEK is not authorized to review the violations of human rights upon application and the Institution can review such violations only in an ex officio fashion. This requires that such claims of human rights violations must be brought before the OI. However, the OI can only review such claims put forth against the administration and in this case, it seems that Turkey does not have any quasi-judicial institution reviewing the 35