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12. Corruption Assessment Report for Turkey
- Author:
- Zerrin Cengiz, Pelin Yenigün Dilek, Ezgican Özdemir, Hande Özhabeş, R. Bülent Tarhan, Ayşe Üstünel Yırcalı, and H. Ceren Zeytinoğlu
- Publication Date:
- 02-2015
- Content Type:
- Special Report
- Institution:
- Turkish Economic and Social Studies Foundation (TESEV)
- Abstract:
- he Corruption Assessment Report for Turkey is the product of the research conducted by TESEV’s Good Governance program under the Southeast European Leadership for Development and Integrity (SELDI) initiative. This report documents the agenda of the first phase of the SELDI partnership that spans 2012 through 2014. Along with presenting evidence on the degree of corruption in Turkey, the report analyzes the current legal setting and the effects of corruption on the economy. It emphasizes the importance of a free judicial system, the role of civil society, and the benefits of international collaboration in fighting corruption. The report also offers possible solutions to fighting corruption, focusing on the elements that make corruption commonplace.
- Topic:
- Civil Society, Corruption, Accountability, and Transparency
- Political Geography:
- Turkey and Middle East
13. Money and War: Corruption as the Hidden Enemy of Mission Success
- Author:
- Emily Knowles and Karolina MacLachlan
- Publication Date:
- 01-2015
- Content Type:
- Journal Article
- Journal:
- Fletcher Security Review
- Institution:
- The Fletcher School, Tufts University
- Abstract:
- Corruption, instability, and conflict tend to go hand in hand. Twelve of the fifteen lowest-ranking countries on Transparency International’s Corruption Perceptions Index are currently experiencing violent insurgencies, extremist activity, or other signs of deep-seated instability. [1] Systemic, embedded corruption is a thread that runs through such seemingly disparate events as the outbreak of the Arab Spring, the conflict in Ukraine, the failure of the Malian army in 2012, the growth of Boko Haram in Nigeria, and the retreat of the Iraqi security forces in the face of ISIS. However, the effects of corruption are not limited to exacerbating the risk of conflict; corruption also makes it more difficult for states to respond to threats and for international institutions and other actors to offer effective assistance.[2] Assistance to fragile and failing states tends to include two types of engagement: international peacekeeping and/or stabilization operations and defense capacity building (i.e. assistance to the recipient states’ security forces). But without anticipating and mitigating the risks that corruption poses, the international community risks the intent of security assistance being subverted, the assistance wasted, and the success rate of stabilization operations being severely impaired. In particular, misappropriation of funds, vanishing resources, and a reliance on malign power-brokers can irreparably damage the operational success of a mission. This article is based on the research investigating the international community’s approach (or lack thereof) to tackling corruption in Afghanistan carried out by Transparency International UK’s global Defence and Security Programme (TI-DSP) and based on over 75 interviews with civilian and military officials. This work is supported by insights from TI-DSP’s long-term engagement in the Building Integrity training for the Afghan National Army and Afghan National Police.[3] In the resulting report, we argue that corruption has had a significant impact on ISAF mission success and that the international community’s reaction to corrupt practices was too little, too late. We point to three main ways in which corruption and uncontrolled money flows can diminish the effectiveness of the mission and offer a planning and risk assessment framework as the first step toward addressing corruption risks on operations...
- Topic:
- Security, Corruption, Peacekeeping, Arab Spring, Conflict, and Transparency
- Political Geography:
- Afghanistan, Iraq, United Kingdom, Ukraine, Middle East, Nigeria, and Mali
14. Anti-Corruption Reloaded: Turkey Executive Summary
- Author:
- SELDI and Turkish Economic and Social Studies Foundation (TESEV)
- Publication Date:
- 11-2014
- Content Type:
- Special Report
- Institution:
- Turkish Economic and Social Studies Foundation (TESEV)
- Abstract:
- Being the result of collaboration within SELDI, this report is innovative in both its method and its process. It is the result of the application of a system developed by SELDI in the early 2000s for the assessment of both corruption and anticorruption, tailored to the social and institutional environment of Southeast Europe. This executive summary reviews Turkey’s findings and provides a number of recommendations to achieve further progress in limiting corruption. Güneydoğu Avrupa’daki yolsuzluk sorunu, üzerine sıkça haber yapılan, toplumsal tartışmaların odağında yer etmiş olan, hem ulusal hem de uluslararası kurumların sürekli ve uzun süredir siyasa gündeminde bulunan, sorunsallığı kanıksanmış bir meseledir. Yolsuzluğun bu kadar yaygın ve kolay kontrol edilemeyen bir sorun olmasından dolayı, meseleyi anlamaya ve dolayısı ile de azaltmaya yönelik yenilikçi yaklaşımlara gerek duyulmaktadır. Avrupa Birliği’ne katılım beklentisi, bölge ülkelerinin harekete geçmesi için gereken hukuki çerçeveyi sağlıyor olsa da, yolsuzlukla mücadelede sürdürülebilir bir gelişimin sağlanmasında yerel siyasetteki menfaat sahiplerinin ve özellikle de sivil toplumun oynayacağı rol öne çıkmaktadır. Kalkınma ve Entegrasyon için Güneydoğu Avrupa Liderliği (SELDI) ağı, bilgi temelli yolsuzlukla mücadele amacı kapsamında, yolsuzluk ile bölgedeki yönetimsel eksiklikleri tanımlama ve anlamaya yönelik araştırmalara öncelik vermiştir. Elinizdeki bu SELDI raporu, Bölgesel Yolsuzluk ile Mücadele Girişimi tarafından yürütülen SEE (Güneydoğu Avrupa) 2020 Stratejisi Yönetim Prensibi ile örneklenen bölgesel yolsuzluk ile mücadele siyasetinin kalkınma ve uygulama konusu çerçevesinde hazırlanmıştır.
- Topic:
- Corruption, Accountability, and Transparency
- Political Geography:
- Europe, Turkey, Middle East, and Eastern Europe
15. TESEV’s Suggestion: Anti-Corruption Legislation and International Acquis
- Author:
- R. Bülent Tarhan
- Publication Date:
- 01-2014
- Content Type:
- Special Report
- Institution:
- Turkish Economic and Social Studies Foundation (TESEV)
- Abstract:
- This comprehensive work has been prepared by Prime Minister’s Chief Inspector Bülent Tarhan and contains all related UN and OECD documents, government of Republic of Turkey’s fight against corruption action plans, decision and circulars of the prime ministry, national programme of Turkey related with undertaking of the EU Legal Acquis related provisions of the Turkish law, EU Progress reports, GRECO Turkey Reports, all anti-corruption laws and GNAT Corruption Investigation Commission Report as well as Mr.Tarhan’s article ‘Institutional Foundation of Anti-corruption’. Published by TEPAV (The Economic Policy Research Foundation of Turkey) this work is an extensive source of information to anyone who has been interested in this subject matter. In order to navigate easily in this 1040 page long document, you can click on the titles and sub-titles in the summary of contents. This work has only been published in Turkish.
- Topic:
- Corruption, Law, European Union, Courts, Accountability, Transparency, and Justice
- Political Geography:
- Europe, Turkey, and Middle East
16. Reforming National Oil Companies: Nine Recommendations
- Author:
- Patrick Heller, Paasha Mahdavi, and Johannes Schreuder
- Publication Date:
- 07-2014
- Content Type:
- Policy Brief
- Institution:
- Natural Resource Governance Institute
- Abstract:
- Some national oil companies (NOCs) have contributed heavily to successful efforts to harness benefits from the oil sector and drive broader national development. In other cases, however, NOCs have become inefficient managers of national resources, obstacles to private investment, drains on public coffers, or sources of patronage and corruption. As such, NOC reform—incremental in some cases, fundamental in others—lies at or near the top of the policy agendas of many oil-rich countries. Building on existing literature, we surveyed 12 NOCs from diverse geographical and operational contexts to distill practical steps that policy-makers can take to make their countries' NOCs more effective and more accountable—to governments and to citizens. Our recommendations can be seen in both the executive summary and the full report.
- Topic:
- Oil, Transparency, Data, and State-Owned Enterprises
- Political Geography:
- Europe, Malaysia, Middle East, Kazakhstan, Norway, Asia, Kuwait, Brazil, Vietnam, Saudi Arabia, Latin America, Mexico, Nigeria, Angola, Ghana, Cameroon, and Sub-Saharan Africa
17. EITI: A Parliamentary Tool for Extractive Sector Governance in Liberia and Yemen
- Author:
- Laury Haytayan, Luke Smitham, and Femke Brouwer
- Publication Date:
- 08-2014
- Content Type:
- Policy Brief
- Institution:
- Natural Resource Governance Institute
- Abstract:
- Liberia in West Africa and Yemen in the Middle East hold vast reserves of oil and other natural resources. As participants of the Extractives Industries Transparency Initiative (EITI), both states have voluntarily disclosed payments received from extractive companies in a standardized reporting process overseen by its own multi-stakeholder group (MSG). But unlike the majority of EITI participating countries, Liberia and Yemen have enlisted a key group of actors-parliamentarians-in their efforts to better govern resources and resource revenues. Lending credibility and capacity to the MSG, these political leaders have used their parliamentary mandate to improve policy and initiate reforms in the extractive sector, as well as facilitate EITI reporting and help oversee EITI compliance.
- Topic:
- Oil, Natural Resources, Governance, Transparency, and Extractive Industries
- Political Geography:
- Africa, Middle East, Yemen, and Liberia
18. Disrupting the Shield of Impunity: Security Officials and Rights Violations in Turkey
- Author:
- Mehmet Atılgan and Serap Işık
- Publication Date:
- 03-2012
- Content Type:
- Special Report
- Institution:
- Turkish Economic and Social Studies Foundation (TESEV)
- Abstract:
- This report addresses the issue of impunity, which has virtually become the norm, as far as the rights violations committed against citizens by law enforcement units in Turkey are concerned. As the authors of this study, Mehmet Atılgan and Serap Işık reveal the issue of impunity stems from a complicated penal law structure whose existence still prevails in administrative, legal and practical areas. In addition, as pointed out in the “Just Expectations: Compilation of TESEV Research Studies on the Judiciary In Turkey” report (2011), the state institutions’ protection by the judiciary in Turkey is an outcome of a certain mentality. Not only have the members of the judiciary but also many actors among the media and the civil society in Turkey demonstrate this statist mentality. Considering the multi-layered socio-political landscape of Turkey, it is not realistic to expect that the issue of impunity will be resolved in the short run or quickly. Hence, a stronger and more extensive struggle awaits the social actors who want to eliminate the issue of impunity. In Turkey, there are many dedicated lawyers and human rights organizations carrying out this struggle either through collectively organized campaigns or through individual efforts. In order to understand the structure of the struggle in this area and to produce solutions to rectify the shortcomings, TESEV Democratization Program (DP) held three meetings between November 2010 and April 2011 with a group of lawyers experienced in defending the rights of victims in lawsuits related to human rights violations committed by law enforcement units. In addition, the project team also attended the December 2010-July 2011 hearings of the court case of Temizöz and Others being administered at the Specially Empowered 6th Heavy Penal Court of Diyarbakir. Court cases that reverberated in the public domain, such as the Hrant Dink Murder, Engin Çeber and JİTEM (the Intelligence and Anti-Terrorism Unit of the Gendarmerie) cases were also addressed within the scope of this report. Of course, in terms of the issue of impunity, these court cases are nothing more than striking examples, as similar instances can be seen in the near future of Turkey. The state officials who are being tried as defendants in these lawsuits are charged with serious offences such as establishing an armed organization, committing torture in detention, unsolved murders, and enforced disappearance of persons. A significant part of these crimes are related to the extrajudicial executions known to be carried out against civilian Kurdish citizens in 1990s as part of the security policy of the state. Hence, these court cases are also of vital importance in a quest for the resolution of the Kurdish Question in a peaceful way. Additionally, these are court cases where the dissident intellectuals, revolutionist dissidents, and the asylum seekers whose rights are deprived of any guarantees under the national laws are also victimized. On the other hand, these cases are very important in terms of the civilian oversight of security institutions in Turkey, and the civilianization process which gained pace in 2000s but still seems to be at a far distance on Turkey’s horizon. The quest for justice through these lawsuits can only be successful if supported by the victims and witnesses of such cases. It is our hope that the studies carried out by TESEV DP will bring more public visibility to these court cases and encourage a wider population to seek their rights.
- Topic:
- Security, Human Rights, Law, Accountability, Transparency, Justice, and Judiciary
- Political Geography:
- Turkey, Middle East, and Mediterranean
19. Good Governance Improving Quality of Life
- Author:
- Fikret Toksöz
- Publication Date:
- 06-2008
- Content Type:
- Book
- Institution:
- Turkish Economic and Social Studies Foundation (TESEV)
- Abstract:
- The word ‘governance’ became common currency everywhere including Turkey. This concept which entered our vocabulary with 1996 İstanbul Habitat II Conference, encountered great resistance. Certain people claim it was unnecessary to create a new term such as governance where there is already a corresponding word for that concept, that is government. Etymological reasons are put forward to support these claims. Others claim that ideologically speaking, governance is the imposition of the forces of globalization. It is normal for such new terms to encounter great objections. If, on top of that, the meaning and content of the term is not clearly understood, these objections prove even more resilient. Good governance is a new approach that includes all the principles necessary for the consolidation of democratic management. These principles can be stated as participation, transparency, accountability, effectiveness, consistency, fairness and rule of law. Lately, many segments of society including public managers and intellectuals and even political representatives suggested using the principles of governance for solving problems encountered in public administration. Besides them, individuals and civil society organizations try to get information from public authorities and try to hold them accountable. For them, good governance is the ultimate principle that will make these organizations more important actors in social life. Seeing the common usage of good governance, TESEV decided to change the content of the book prepared initially to publicize the results of our project “Good Governance: Improving Quality of Life”. Consequently, there emerged this study which comprises of two books. The first part of the book is made up of three parts. In the first part, the meaning of governance is explained. In the second part, the transition from government to governance in Turkey is depicted. In this section, the modern government is assumed to have emerged with Tanzimat and the passage to governance is explained in two stages. The first stage is the period from Tanzimat to the Republic. In this stage, the formation process of civil society is evaluated as well as the consolidation of public authority. With the same method, the period from the Republic to the present day is also evaluated. At the end of the first book, problem areas related to governance and new developments are mentioned. The second book comprises of the explanation and the results of TESEV’s “Good Governance: Improving Quality of Life” project. The details related to the development of project tools namely “Socio-economic Development Maps, Public Spending Analysis and Social Satisfaction Surveys” are shared. This study was prepared as a manual for local authorities, civil society organizations and citizens interested in the topic with an aim to make the term clearer and to facilitate the debate on the concept. For this reason, the methodology developed for scientific studies were not employed in this book. To facilitate an easy reading of the book, extensive bibliographies and footnotes were evaded. While preparing the book, all the relevant literature in Turkish was surveyed. There are many valuable studies on the historical development pattern. The sources and the internet sites used were mentioned at the end of the book.
- Topic:
- Governance, Reform, Accountability, Transparency, and Sustainability
- Political Geography:
- Turkey, Middle East, and Mediterranean
20. Turkish Debt 1990-2002: How Did We Get Here
- Author:
- Caroline Van Rijckeghem
- Publication Date:
- 12-2004
- Content Type:
- Special Report
- Institution:
- Turkish Economic and Social Studies Foundation (TESEV)
- Abstract:
- In the first year of Turkey’s currency crisis, Turkish public debt increased from what was then a “reasonable” level, to one that was judged to be unsustainable by a wide array of observers. As we went to print in late 2004, public debt, as a percent of national income, had significantly fallen, thanks to fiscal austerity, strong growth, and appreciation of the lira, but it was still above its pre-currency crisis levels, and the debate on public debt lived on. How did Turkish debt increase in the 1990s, and in the immediate aftermath of the crisis? What were the key drivers of this build-up? What lessons were to be drawn from the experience? These are the questions that were being asked regarding the nature of this dramatic experience when the project first took off in early 2003, and are still a matter of great interest now. In fact, debt dynamics was already worrisome before the currency crisis, and had been on a sharp upward trend since the early 1990s. We attempted to resolve whether debt accumulation was due to fiscal profligacy or rather high real interest rates. Interestingly, primary balances of the public sector, other than in the early 1990s, were not very large. This suggested to us two possible reasons for the increase in debt: concealed deficits and high real interest rates. Each of these explanations too, had it’s own camp of adherents. The paper endeavored to decompose, as precisely as possible given the data limitations, the increase in the stock of debt into its most relevant components, namely primary deficits from each public sector component, concealed deficits, valuation effects, and real interest payments. The project took off in late 2002/early 2003, under the leadership of Şerif Sayin, the Director of TESEV. Murat Űçer of Eurosource Turkey guided the project in its initial stages, suggesting, for instance, the study of both the micro and macro aspects of what we named in the paper “debt-generating processes”, and provided feedback throughout. He also edited parts of the paper and contributed to the executive summary. Izak Atiyas of Sabanci University, one of our peer reviewers, made substantial contributions, in particular in the section on duty losses. He, along with Şerif Sayin, and most notably Ferhat Emil, author of the accompanying paper “Kamu Borcu Nasıl Oluştu ? Bu Noktaya Nasıl Gelindi ?” and TESEV program director, helped to interpret the initial results and to incorporate the relevant Turkish institutional aspects into the paper. Hakan Yilmaz, author of the accompanying paper and SPO expert, and Zafer Yukseler of the Central Bank of Turkey, one of our peer reviewers, also provided comments that helped clarify the nature of the Turkish data. We also received feedback from a number of colleagues, academics as well as market economists in a seminar held on the topic. Information for the project was obtained from published official and IMF sources, as well as in a series of meeting with various departments of the Treasury.
- Topic:
- Debt, Economy, Accountability, and Transparency
- Political Geography:
- Turkey and Middle East