Turkey’s vice president announced a $2 billion investment by Google for a cloud-computing project in partnership with local mobile operator Turkcell, without mentioning where the data centers will be built or how much water and electricity they will require.
Turkcell disclosed the agreement with Google to Turkey’s stock exchange last week, in which the company said it would act as Google Cloud’s strategic partner and infrastructure provider for the first “hyperscale” cloud region in the country, made up of at least three separate zones and scheduled to go live between 2028 and 2029.
Vice President Cevdet Yılmaz announced the figure at the Google Cloud Day Türkiye event in İstanbul, saying it will operate under Turkish regulations and come online in 2028 or 2029.
Google Cloud will invest $2 billion and Turkcell will invest $1 billion, according to the vice president.
He said the project will expand Turkey’s role as a digital link between Europe, Asia and the Middle East.
The companies describe the plan as a Google Cloud region consisting of multiple zones, a structure that relies on several large data centers.
This places the project in the same category of hyperscale infrastructure that has drawn local opposition in the United States and Europe over heavy water use, pressure on power grids and community impact.
Communities in Arizona, Michigan and other states have used zoning rules, public hearings and environmental reviews to force Google, Microsoft and Amazon to cancel, delay or scale back data-center projects.
Opponents in those cases cite water consumption, drought risk, rising electricity costs and noise from cooling systems.
No such debate has emerged in Turkey because the government has not yet released site locations, environmental impact assessments or technical specifications for the three planned facilities.
Turkey’s centralized political system gives local authorities little power to block or reshape large infrastructure projects backed by Ankara.
Environmental groups and community campaigns in Turkey face legal and administrative barriers that do not exist in the United States, where local objections can stop or change major corporate construction.
Turkish officials frame the Google–Turkcell cloud region as part of a national “digital sovereignty” strategy aimed at keeping data inside the country and enforcing compliance with domestic rules.
Yılmaz said the project will let institutions encrypt data with their own keys and will store information in Turkey under Turkish regulations.
He linked the investment to Turkey’s broader push to expand artificial-intelligence capacity, data infrastructure and cybersecurity controls.
Yılmaz claimed the new cloud region will integrate with a recently created Cybersecurity Presidency, a central body that consolidates digital security policy under the executive branch.
He said the government expects the cloud region to support local startups and the broader technology sector.
The economic impact remains unclear because Turkey has not released information on land use, power supply, water sources or the scale of supporting infrastructure.
Google’s data centers used 22.7 billion liters of water last year, according to the tech giant.
Turkey faces long-term water stress in several regions, and the environmental footprint of a hyperscale cloud region will depend on where the facilities are built and how they are cooled.
Experts say hyperscale data centers can consume millions of liters of water per day and draw significant electricity for cooling and continuous server operation.
The government has not said whether the Google–Turkcell facilities will use municipal water, groundwater, reclaimed water or seawater-based cooling systems.
It has also not said how the data centers will be powered or whether new transmission lines or expropriations will be required.
Turkey’s track record with airports, mines, dams and other state-backed megaprojects suggests that environmental reviews are often expedited and rarely result in major revisions.