INTERNATIONAL PANEL INTEGRITY AND CUSTOMS ON THE OCCASSION OF THE 50TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE WORLD CUSTOMS ORGANIZATION (WCO)
5 - 6 FEBRUARY 2002, İSTANBUL Speech of ERCİŞ KURTULUŞ , President (TRANSPARENCY INTERNATIONAL/TURKEY)

TSHD (Toplumsal Saydamlik Hareketi Dernegi) Social Transparency Movement Association Transparency International - Turkey Speech of Ercis Kurtulus, President

Dear Guests,

At the outset of my remarks, on behalf of Transparency International and TSHD (Social Transparency Movement Association), which is Transparency International - Turkey, I would like to congratulate the World Customs Organization on the occasion of its 50th anniversary and the Customs Undersecretariat of Turkey for organizing today's panel on a subject which is of vital importance for our country.

In addition, I would like to express my thanks to them for bringing the subject of integrity in public management to the forefront by organizing such a conference to those participating on the panel and to you, guests, for your unfailing support.

In our country today we are going through a serious economic and ethical depression. We believe that the main cause of this depression is the weight with which the phenomenon of corruption oppresses our society and the degeneration of ethical values.

Even if corruption - the misuse of position and bribery - is not entirely rooted out, the most effective vehicle for reducing it to the minimum is transparency in public administration.

Again, in this area, another factor that must be ensured is the increase of ethical values in public administration and the prevalence of virtue in the understanding of public service.

As you know Transparency International, of which we are a member, publishes a Corruption Perception Index each year. Turkey is considerably below western countries in this index and is among those countries where corruption has become a way of life. On a scale of 10 on this index Turkey's score is between 3.5 and 4.0. Again according to Transparency International's index, G7 countries have an average score of 7.15 to 7.35 for the years 1995 to 2000. For 15 European Community countries the score is between 6.61 and 7.59. While the score for OECD countries (29 countries) is between 6 and 7.11, unfortunately, Turkey's score remains between 3.21 and 4.10. In 2001 it fell to 3.6.

It is important to stress one point in this issue. Transparency International's Corruption Perception Index heavily weights the views regarding taking of bribes in international economic and commercial relations. The bribes taken by building construction officials, police, judges, tax officers are not reflected in these indexes.

It is just in this area that the Customs Administration has an important role to play in the problem of corruption - abuse of position and bribery -- in Turkey. A large portion of Turkey's foreign economic relations go through customs doors. And in the operations and activities at these customs doors on one side are Turkish industrialists, Turkish commercial traders, and on the other side are the foreign firms which sell goods to Turkey.

On the one hand we have these two sides giving bribes to Customs officers to ensure their business gets taken care of, in an illegal manner, while on the other hand what they do causes international research entities to publish statistics which shake Turkey's prestige internationally. In such an environment corruption is not just a cancer attacking the integrity and virtue of customs administrations, but it also is highly important from the point of view of Turkey's international reputation.

Even more important than the increase in corruption in normal import-export activities over the past twenty years is the great weakening of our financial system caused by the imaginary or fake export catastrophe. The Customs Administration has a big responsibility in the imaginary export disaster which pumped up the unrecorded economy, brought the tax system to a state of dysfunction, and encouraged the "get rich quick" mentality, which caused the collapse of the value system of the society.

This economic, financial and value dilemma that I have tried to summarize goes to show how right the WCO was in its Arusha Declaration in the WCO Conference in 1993 in Tanzania to stress that ridding Customs Administrations of corruption must be taken up as a first priority in national programs against corruption.

How can Turkey rid itself of the corruption swamp that we set out above? First of all we have to have a general understanding that it is absolutely necessary for the struggle against corruption to be accepted and internalised as the national state policy. For years we have been stressing that the development of a strategy for struggling against corruption has to be taken up by the National Security Council which must, without delay, determine what official authority will have primary responsibility and duty in this struggle and declare this to the public.

For some years international organizations in their meetings have been setting out the keys to solving corruption in Customs Administration and to ensure that integrity can rule in public administration. We believe that the government must take all necessary measures to ensure that the recommendations of the 1993 Arusha Declaration and the action plan and other work of the WCO since then are realized.

Similar recommendations and interpretations have been put forth in Transparency International's Anti-corruption Conferences, such as the one in Durban where we were addressed by the Vice President of WCO, and corruption research reports.

We see that Scandinavian countries, which have scores of 10 or close to 10, which are indicative of clean societies, at the same time are societies where transparency in management has been realized in all sections of society, especially in public administration. Government under the Sunshine is a principle found among the basic principles of the life of the society of these countries.

In all the countries below Turkey in the indexes, we see administrations which are not democratic and where transparency is not given a chance.

In the past ten years the most stressed subject on the international platform is that of good governance, which has been accepted as a prerequisite that must be attained. International organizations want the two principles of transparency and accountability to be accepted and implemented as part of good governance by all countries.

Civil society organizations (NGOs) also see these principles adopted as prerequisites.

Transparency International was created in 1994 under the influence of this global flow and has organizations in some 100 countries. Our founding members established our NGO Social Transparency Movement Association (TSHD) in 1996 and in 1997 we joined Transparency International as the entity in Turkey as part of this global organizing flow.

In recent years in Turkey the phrases transparency and fight against corruption have been the most used phases in election statements, state programs and government daily press releases. However, it is necessary to state that these phrases are somewhat the statements dictated by international organizations and remain one-sided and academic. They are never translated into concrete and realistic action which meets the needs of the public and the country.

I believe that the esteemed speakers on this panel will clarify this issue and add important elements to these up-to-date discussions.

Perhaps even more important than the ethical errors of public servants and at the head of the reasons why a negative picture is painted of customs activities in Turkey is the fact that career standards and ethical codes are not well set and internalised for the career of customs brokers who are intermediaries in customs operations.

That is why the guidance in the Arusha Declaration and subsequent pronouncements regarding career training for customs personnel, including those in brokerage offices, in codes of conduct, which should be expeditiously set out, is so vitally important

It is a pity that such an important subject and one which was understood to be a problem in the first years of the Republic and even in those difficult days was taken up and placed within the parameters of certain standards has so disintegrated in recent years because of political and personal intervention.

In order to improve the level of integrity in Turkish Customs, this problem must be given priority attention and the career standards for those whose career is to be the bridge between the Customs Administration and industrialists and importers must be set and raised to the standards in developed countries.

A subject we wish to stress here is the importance of raising the level of understanding by the Customs Officer to keep the dignity of duty foremost when making discretionary decisions and developing the concepts of public service and accountability.

If this is not done, attempts to reach modern standards would give the opposite results and open the path to new degeneration.

I would like to show this with an example. In some countries Customs officers in airports set up an oppressive environment by placing passengers under stress to secure their personal advantage, such as by insistently questioning them regarding the comb in a pocket or a bottle of whiskey in a suitcase or a box of candy. In countries such as the U.S., France, or Switzerland there is a more liberal attitude taken, however, all types of provisions are taken to keep illegal activities under control. Those who have been there know that it is just as hard, or harder, to pass through the Customs of the U.S. as through passport control. However, these procedures do not cause undue inconvenience because the customs officers are aware that they should conduct such procedures with integrity and dignity.

In the recent past there has been a considerable change in passing through customs when entering Turkey through the airports. We are very pleased to see the liberal understanding in operations which take the word of the passengers who pass through the nothing to declare section. However, lately, this has turned into the rather "eastern" approach of carelessness, and sometimes there is not even a Customs Officer in sight.

Certainly the only way to avoid the extremes is to strengthen the understanding of duty within a periodic mandatory career education program.

In Turkey for a certain period of time until now the concept of integrity in public management has been consistently and seriously eroded. Those of us here all share the view that this downhill slide must be stopped and that good governance is imperative.

To ensure integrity in public administration in any sector two points must be ensured.

1. Operations and activities must be conducted in a transparent environment (public management under the sun).

2. Top level managers must take a positive approach to integrity, transparency and the struggle against corruption.

There are two prerequisites to the second of these points.

- top level managers must certify their belief in these issues and their support for a clean administration;

- they need to take a strong stand against corruption

Undoubtedly in order for this to be considered believable and realistic, high level Government leaders must have clean backgrounds themselves and not have been involved in corruption. They should not be examples of the adage in which the public believes that "the fish stinks from the head". This rule is true for all Government sectors, including the Customs Administration.

I can tell you with comfort that the high level managers in the Turkish Customs are not known to have any blemishes on their careers. And, it is known that they have an interest in and intention to improve the integrity of the Customs Service. This important panel is a new sign of their intention.

As a Turkish democratic civil society organization we expect them to take this approach forward.

We would like to present a recommendation to assist these good intentions. If necessary funding support can be found, we would like to conduct a joint research with the Customs Administration to determine and openly set out the extent of degeneration and corruption in Turkish Customs and the economic and social reasons for this situation and determine the measures which need to be taken to prevent it.

I believe that with such research the Turkish Customs could be a good example to other Government sectors in efforts to increase integrity.

And, such efforts would aid in decreasing the negative opinion of the Turkish public about Government administration and the negative perceptions in international relations.

In closing, I would like to express my belief that we will work together in efforts toward greater transparency and a cleaner public administration.

I present my respects and thanks once again to those who have organized this panel and to you the participants.

TURKEY’S BAD INHERITENCE OF THE 20th CENTURY:
CORRUPTION AND BRIBERY

Ercis Kurtulus, President
Civil Society Transparency Movement Association
“Toplumsal Saydamlık Hareketi Derneği”
Transparency International - Turkey

Esteemed Guests,

I would like to preface my remarks by thanking those who have made this conference possible for the opportunity for our Civil Society Transparency Movement Association to present our views on corrupton and bribery which deeply affect our economic structure as much as they do the life of our society.

WHAT IS CORRUPTION ?
MOST WIDE-SPREAD TYPES OF CORRUPTION IN TURKEY

While in the Turkish language there is an equivalent of transparency, “saydamlık”, which is in the name of our Association, there isn’t a single word for “corruption”. The closest equivalent is two words: “yolsuzluk” and “rusvet” (bribery). “Yolsuzluk”, in its narrow meaning is “the misuse of public power for private gain”. However, the most often seen occurrences in the public sector are not only due to the direct corruption of oficials, but to the indirect plundering of public wealth (such as in banks, incentives and tax exemptions) by establishing secret political relations, monetary strength or illegal gangs.

In our country corruption is paramount in all sectors of public management. It is so widespread in public procurement tenders, customs entry points, traffic, deed office, renting of public real estate and forested lands, judiciary, credit operations of public banks, syphoning of funds of private banks, and the like that it does not need any scientific research to point it out.

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This discussion was presented on 21 September 2001 at the Conference “Effective Management in Turkey and Development of Efforts Against Corruption” arranged jointly by the Prime Ministry Board of Inspectors, the Prime inistry Treasury Undersecretariat, and the World Bank.

TURKEY’S CORRUPTION REPORT CARD: HOW DO WE STAND?

For the past twenty years the various reasons for corruption in Turkey have converged
to make us look like a corrupt country. Every year Turkey is far behind western countries on the corruption perception index put out by Transparency International and finds itself among Asian - African countries where corruption is a way of life.

For the past 7 years Turkey has been rather stable at 3.5 - 4.0 out of 10 on this index.

Year Turkey’s Rating No. Countries Included Turkey’s Listing

1995 4.10 40 27th
1996 3.54 54 33rd
1997 3.21 52 38th
1998 3.40 85 65th
1999 3.60 99 54th
2000 3.80 90 50th
2001 3.60 91 54th

While Turkey was 54th among 85 countries in 1998, being 54th among 99 countries in 1999 or in 50th among 90 countries in 2000 is not an indication of improvement. This is because each year new countries are in the indexing while some are removed. They are nearly all worse in the area of corruption than Turkey.

In other words, the exact placement in the list is not so important. The important aspect is the score out of 10.

For 7 years Turkey has been under 4. For the first three years we went downhill.
4.10 to 3.54 to 3.21

In the second three years there was a small improvement: 3.4 to 3.6 to 3.8

In 2001 a drop down to 3.6 is registered.

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Turkey’s corruption perception score in 1995 was 4.10 and in 1996 and in 1997 the score became even worse. For 1998, 1999 and 2000 there was a minimal improvement. Our index for 2001 is again going down. For the past 7 years our score has been under 4 and 1 or 2 points below the worst European countries. Even worse are that countries such as Bulgaria, Greece, Malesia, Jordan, Morocco, Tunisia, Zimbabwe, and South Korea are not as embedded in corruption as we.

There is an important point about these indexes. They only take into consideration bribery given and accepted in international trade. Areas such as siphoning off funds in the banking sector, corruption in the building sector, bribe taking by police, judges, and tax officials, privatization in banking and other sectors are not reflected into these indexes. If we could measure these and reflect them into the indexes, Turkey’s position would be even worse.

Those instances of corruption which surface in ghost exports, false invoices for VAT refunds, emptying out of banks are only one part of the problem - perhaps only the tip of the iceberg.

It is impossible to bring to light the worst areas of misuse of discrecionary power, such as in public procurement tendering, because of the difficulty of proving it.

Foreign businessmen complain about corruption in the bureaucracy in all sectors.

In Turkey corruption has not hit bottom in the past 1 or 2 years. On the contrary, there have been efforts to dry up this swamp and in the past few years we have seen successess from time to time.

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TURKEY’S SPECIAL SITUATION IN THE
2000-2001 CORRUPTION PHENOMENON

Instances of corruption have taken the stage in Turkey in 2000 and 2001. Nearly every day new organized corruption has made the headlines in the newspapers. Important persons have been arrested and imprisoned. Related investigations indicate that these instances of corruption have a long trail back many years. Then why have these multi-faceted corruption cases started to come out like a run in a stocking in the past year and they never came out in the past? Of course, there are many reasons for this. But, we believe the most important reason is the change in outlook of the top government managers who should have been moving against corruption. We have tried to force the issue which the the public has believed for years that “the fish stinks from the head”. For awhile now public servants have gradually begun to feel that if they do their jobs completely there will not be a reaction from top levels. Those sitting at the top of state management are starting to act as if they should support not sink these efforts.

The pure approach to their responsibilities of some high-level political officials and judges and their individual efforts have resulted in dealing with cases of corruption in a more determined way.

Even though events developing in this environment have sometimes gotten negative reactions and engendered obstructive interference by politicians, generally speakng the overall official approach to corruption in 200 and 2001 in comparison with that of previous years has gotten tougher. We encourage the continuation of this approach without yeilding or backslipping.

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WHY ARE WE IN SUCH BAD SHAPE ON CORRUPTION ?

Lately some international organizations have been making announcements in the press about how Turkey’s management weaknesses have lead to today’s corruption swamp, but these weaknesses have existed for the past 40 years. We are concerned that such an approach of “announcing what we all know” from 40 years of discussions on areas needing reform from the government accounting system to the improvement of the budget system, and from the procurement system to the personnel regime, although they have a share in the corruption problem, will water-down the issue and deflect us from the real reasons of corruption.

While bad management is among the reasons for corruption, tying corruption to these general reasons is the wrong approach.

The real reasons for corrupton in Turkey is the degeneration of the political structure, the sultanate of leaders of political parties and seeing politics not as a public service but as a vehicle for commercial benefit.

Political leadership and the high-level bureaucracy tied to it has gotten increasingly dirtier over the past twenty years and has become the addressee for important claims of corruption and bribery.

In the past twenty years serious claims of corruption have been leveled at the four Prime Ministers, who are the leaders of their respective political parties, their families or closest associates; however, these claims, which are unprecedented in the history of the Republic, have not been pursued and have gone unanswered. Parliamentary examination committees which were supposed to pursue the charges have cleared these charges in mutual bargaining sessions in a manner which the public conscience can never accept.

Serious corruption has been uncovered in the expenditures of the Parliament of Turkey, the Presidency, the Prime Ministry. The political approach has been to cover up debate on these issues rather than discuss them in a transparent environment and with a understanding of giving an account to the public, and the intention has been to let them be forgotten in time.

Although it may appear that these claims have been forgotten or dropped out of the daily agenda, actually a wide public segment has come to believe that the State is not clean at the top. This image has been fed by the philsophy of “my boys know their business” regarding government employees, and for some twenty years the “business” of the State has been ruled by this attitude of “lick the finger which holds the honey” and government management has been a race to “turn the corner” with plundering government wealth the acceptable practice.

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RECOMMENDED SOLUTIONS

* SIGN A NATIONAL COMPACT
TO STRUGGLE AGAINST CORRUPTION

Words about how corruption is blackening our country and the future of the State, and is a national danger which is laying the ground for a social explosion need to be turned into a national policy.

If necessary to accomplish this, we should put the National Security Board in motion, and have a meeting including the President, Head of the Parliament and a group of Parliamentarians along with leaders of all political parties to agree that the struggle against corruption is above political maneuvering and that it is a State issue and to sign a National Compact including the following areas.

- Take up as a state problem the issue of corruption which is putting the future of the
State in jeopardy and decaying the moral values of society and declare that the necessary anti-corruption laws will be passed in the shortest possible time setting out the principles for struggle against corruption.

- Handle claims of corruption from the standpoint not of party benefit but for the
benefit of the country, so that claims of corruption related to a party will not be defended blindly by the leaders of that party and that such claims will be the province of an unbaised, independent judiciary free of secret undermining political influence, and will be resolved with the assistance of political leaders.

- Covering up of corruption claims will not be a precondition of political coalition
and such claims will be kept free of political bargaining between parties.

- A code of ethics will be passed within the month delineating what Parliamentarians
may not do.

- There will be no pressure, either direct or indirect, placed on public officials who
are managing corruption investigations, especially on judges and prosecutors, and in other words, there will be an environment where those struggling against corruption will not be intimidated.

Our Association would have wished that such a meeting leading to this consensus of
leaders of these highest national decision making organs of the State had taken place before this international meeting today.

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* ESTABLISH A TEMPORARY ANTI-CORRUPTION
COMMISSION IN THE PARLIAMENT

A temporary Anti-Corruption Commission should be established within the Parliament in light of the principles accepted in the National Compact set out above as a legal organ to determine the country’s anti-corruption strategy. Such a commission would determine the State’s policy on this issue and by keeping such a policy under control gain strength for the struggle.

Such a temporary commission was activated in Georgia with positive results.

* ESTABLISH AN ANTI-CORRUPTION CONSULTATIVE BOARD
WITHIN THE PARAMETERS OF THE PRESIDENCY
OR THE PRIME MINISTRY

A high-level “Consultative Board to Struggle Against Corruption and Bribery” should be estabilshed solely to evaluate this issue and develop solutions, taking into consideration the fact the negative effects of corruption on the life of the society, economic development and political stability. This Board must have the characterists of objectivity and independency, and in order to protect it from political pressures it is important to locate it under the oversight of the President or the Prime Minister. This Commission should be established with the approach that duty on the Commission is honorary and for a specific period and should present its views on the principles of struggling with corruption and an action plan to the President, Head of the Parliament, and the Prime Minister.

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* ANTI-CORRUPTION WORK SHOULD BE CONDUCTED BY A
CENTRALIZED AUTHORITY WHICH SHOULD BE ESTABLISHED



As we have stated at various opportunities, a central authority should be established to actively deal with corruption within efforts to get management under the sunshine; it should carry the weight of being responsible to the Parliament, the State and Government Ministers and cooperate with national and international civil society organizations.

Since such an authority does not exist; the Government does not approach the issue as a State problem; the ownership of the issue changes hands among various entities depending on the requirements of the day. One day the anti-corruption duty is given to a group whose legal anchor is unclear, the super inspectors by order of the Prime Mınister; another day the management and guidance of the struggle against corruption can pop up under the Treasury Undersecretary, although it has nothing to do with it as a duty, just because an international entity wants it like that. Or in another period the Ministry of the Interior Department of Anti-Smuggling and Organized Crime or the Office of the Jandarma Command can come to the forefront. Currently, organizations like the Court of Accounts, Board of Inspectors of the Ministry of Finance, MASAK, State Audit Board, and Banks Sworn Board of Controllers are in the forefront as having the duty to prevent corruption while responsibile entities have fallen to second stage.

The fact that the principles of cooperation among all the legal organs of these entities have not been clearly determined has even led to conflicts and indecision in application from time to time.

The serious business of dealing with corruption should be managed by a central authority which should be established and whose parameters of its responsibilities and powers are legally set, not by the efforts and choices of certain individuals and under the guidance of foreign entities.

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* ANTI-CORRUPTION RESEARCH CENTER

An “Anti-corruption Research Center” needs to be established, either within the Central Authority discussed above or a civil society entity to conduct and coordinate scientific studies on the corruption issue and coordinate work on these issues in universities and civil society organizations. This Research Center should be supported by the public sector and by civil society organizations. This way it will not be necessary to leave corruption studies to the incentive and guidance of foreign entities which conduct them according to their own programs and choices. A few years ago such a research center was established in Georgia composed of lawyers, sociologists and similar experts and was able to complete important studies.

NECESSARY AMENDMENTS TO THE CONSTITUTION
ARTICLE 83 ON PARLIAMENTARY IMMUNITY AND
ARTICLE 100 ON PARLIAMENT INVESTIGATIONS

As part of the current work to amend the Constitution, necessary changes should be included to prevent the degeneration and warped application of Article 83 of the Constitution
regarding the legal immunity of Parliamentarians and Article 100 of the on Parliament Investigations.

In preparing these amendments, the concensus of the public should be taken into account that it should not be the Parliament commissions which decide whether the accusations against Parliamentarians should go to trial or not but this should be in the province of the High Legal Organs.

The procedure by which Parliamenary examination commissions decide whether Parliamentarians and especially party leaders will be tried or not over the accusations against them, which procedure leads to unserious results in politics, and which has become a vehicle for political pressure, should be taken into consideration and eliminated by a constitutional amendment, as being an illness detrimental to our already delibated democratic structure.

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THE PARTICULAR PLACE OF PUBLIC TENDERS
IN THE PROBLEM OF CORRUPTION AND BRIBERY

During the symposium we held in July in Ankara “Corruption in Public Tenders and the New State Public Tender Draft Law”, this issue was stressed by a representative of a private sector entity who generally believed that politics in Turkey is financed by the graft involved in public tenders.

How is the tender law a source of corruption? An important reason is that in the last 50 years, laws regarding expenditures passed by Parliament have continuously narrowed the implementation of State Tender Law coverage. If we examine laws for expenditures to be made in a myriad of subject areas, we will see that most of them contain the statement “Expenditures to be incurred for purposes related to this law are outside the coverage of the State Tender Law and the General Accounting Law”.

Those who now complain about corruption in public procurement tenders are the ones who have been in power during the last 50 years who have made a superhuman effort to take public spending outside of the tender system and keep it out of public financial control and audit. Even a cursory examination will show that the majority of corruption cases occur by taking advantage of the exemptions to the Tender Law given to instances of public spending.

It was expected that an objective, high-level board would have been established to oversee the preparation of the draft State Tender Law, which has reached the final stages of preparation, to which objections and complains could have been presented for solution and which would have worked on establishing a proper tender system to correct these defects by increasing tender system coverage and reducing exemptions to a minimum, ensure the trust of participants in tenders, complete free competition, and quality control.

The most responsible experts on the subject, especially from the Ministry of Finance and the Court of Accounts discussed these issues during our symposium in a highly transparent manner. Unfortunately, since these discussions did not have a sensational aspect, these were not reflected in the press nor did they attract the attention of international organizations.

Before the draft Public Tender Law is submitted to the Parliament it must be disputed with the participation of civil society organizations, universities and the perss in front of public opinion in a transparent environment. During these discussions international organizations need to present their views to the public, but in a technical and detailed manner, not on the level of general principles.

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* INCREASE PUBLIC AWARENESS AGAINST CORRUPTION
AND INCREASE THE EFFECTIVENESS OF THE MEDIA
AND CIVIL SOCIETY ORGANIZATIONS IN THIS AREA

In a country where democratization is weak because the political structure preliminary election system is insufficient and where the leaders and those around them control everything and have a kind of organized, entrenched anti-democratic movement, then civil society organizations can grow into an important power to make up for this structural weakness. That is why the democratic participation within each organization, their transparency, volunteer approach, appearance of not being a vehicle of livelihood and election, and the audit and clearance of incomes and expenditures, all announced publicly, carry so much importance for the respectibility of these organizations.

Civil society organizations can play and should play a very important role in the expression of the thoughts of the public and channeling their efforts against corruption by uniting their power. Such an effort will encourage the public to struggle toward the right targets in the way Ismet Inonu wished for so that honorable people can start to be at least as courageous as disonorable ones are.

In these efforts against corruption, the media must be neutral, objective and honest in line with the ethics of their profession and should never be the puppet of commercial centers of power.

It is as important for the media to be transparent and free from the manipulation of commercial relationships as it this is for politicians to distance themselves from commercial relationships.

In the struggle against corruption, it is necessary for the media to give importance to efforts for structural solutions aimed at the heart of the system rather than to sensational news which dissipates quickly.

In spite of all our efforts, having no news in the press and television about our Association’s symposium where the most responsible experts expressed their views about the
draft State Tender Law designed to eradicate procurement corruption which holds a very important place in Turkey’s agenda today is an example of breaking your spirit and courageousness in dealing with this issue.

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* SUPPORT FOR ORGANIZATIONS WHICH PLEDGE
THEIR SPIRIT TO WORK AGAINST CORRUPTION

At this time I would like to mention a last point. Daring to take up the struggle against corruption, in an environment where the poitician - bureaucrat - businessman triangle of cooperation in corruption has infiltrated every living cell, has become a kind of heroism. In developing countries this type of individual heroism remains limited.

We have to protect these limited number of heroes who rise out from among honest people in our country and give them heart. Instead of doing this, if we desert them during their difficult times and throw them aside, or worse, even close our eyes when they are unfairly punished, and look for artificial imported heroes instead of our own native sons to dry up the swamp of corruption in the country, this will both damage the pride of the country’s citizens and also serve to weaken the struggle.

I want to close my remarks by repeating our belief that we will struggle for a cleaner and more enlightened public management.

Thank you for listening to the views of our Civil Society Transparency Movement Association.

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The following is an article in a prestigious Turkish daily newspaper 21 February 2001-10-04 by Ercis Kurtulus, President, TSHD (TI-Turkey)

Please refer to TSHD’s web site www.saydamlik.org for more information about the NGO and about anti-corruption efforts in Turkey

In Civil Society Organizations......

Ercis KURTULUS

In democratic regimes it is the media which gives civil society organizations and individuals the opportunity to put forth their views and thoughts in an organized manner and for these to be effective in the political and social arena.

We believe that civil society organizations which play an effective role in accordance with the reason for their existence are necessary for our country to achieve a clean civil structure and a transparent public management system free of corruption.

Especially since the political system does not yet have a democratic structure, and the management of political parties are in the hands of certain groups, resulting in a leadership sultanate impossible to break, which leads to these leaders being an insurmountable barrier to the public expressing its free will, we believe that civil society organizations will have a great contribution to make in democratization and modernization.

However, for civil society organizations to improve their own deficiencies and be in a position to contribute positively to the country’s democratic and societal life, these organizations should not be degenerate; they should be transparent and trustworthy, and have an altruistic outlook not one which puts its own benefits first.

We already see examples in our country that these kinds of organizations are rapidly becoming blemished, losing their trust in the eyes of the public, and being the cause of increased pessimism in society instead of being useful to the society.

We see how important this issue is when we realize that there are over one hundred thousand associations, foundations and similar organizations with legal status in the country, besides the countless movements, platforms, groups, councils, and entities with varying names, and unknown legal status and special structures, with each of them claiming to represent civil society.

Prerequisites for civil society organizations to protect themselves against these dangers and keep from being soiled are:

1 - democratic and wide, grass-roots participation
2 - legal status
3 - transparent structure
4 - volunteer participation approach
5 - answerable to public opinion

1 - democratic and wide, grass-roots participation:
The foremost of the dangers facing civil society organizations, is for them to be held in by a a limited monopolistic group for the sake of benefit or friendship, without the possibility of new members, even if they share the same views or characteristics. The organization turns into a social group or group out for a benefit, which should not be considered a true civil society organization.