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Further Reading

Turkey - Corruption

Corruption is perceived to be a problem in Turkey by private enterprise and the public at large, particularly in government procurement. American companies operating in Turkey have complained about being solicited, with varying degrees of pressure, by municipal or local authorities for "contributions to the community". Parliament continues to probe corruption allegations involving senior officials in previous governments, particularly in connection with energy projects.

Public procurement reforms were designed to make procurement more transparent and less susceptible to political interference, including through the establishment of an independent public procurement board with the power to void contracts. With regard to the WTO Government Procurement Agreement, Turkey is not yet a signatory, although it has maintained observer status for over a decade. The judicial system is also perceived to be susceptible to external influence and to be biased against outsiders to some degree.

Turkish legislation outlaws bribery and some prosecutions of government officials for corruption have taken place, but enforcement is uneven. Turkey ratified the OECD Convention on Combating Bribery of Public Officials, and passed implementing legislation in January 2003, to provide that bribes of foreign officials, as well as domestic, are illegal and not tax deductible. In 2006, Turkey's parliament ratified the UN Convention Against Corruption.

Turkey's Criminal Code makes it unlawful to promise or to give any advantage to foreign government officials in exchange for their assistance in providing improper advantage in the conduct of international business. In the event that such a crime makes an unlawful benefit to a legal entity, such legal entity shall be subject to certain security measures. The provisions of the Criminal Law regarding the bribing of foreign governmental officials are in line with the provisions of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act of 1977 of the United States (the "FCPA").

There are, however, a number of differences between Turkish law and the FCPA. For example, there is not an exception under the Turkish law for payments to facilitate or expedite performance of a "routine governmental action" in terms of the FCPA. Another difference between the provisions of the FCPA and Turkish law is that the FCPA does not provide for punishment of imprisonment, while the Turkish law provides a punishment of imprisonment from four years to 12 years. The Prime Ministry's Inspection Board, which advises a new Corruption Investigations Committee, is responsible for investigating major corruption cases. Nearly every state agency has its own inspector corps responsible for investigating internal corruption. The parliament can establish investigative commissions to examine corruption allegations concerning cabinet ministers for the Prime Minister. A majority vote is needed to send these cases to the Supreme Court for further action.

The GOT has adopted policies and laws that in principle should foster competition and transparency. However, foreign companies in several sectors claim that regulations are sometimes applied in a nontransparent manner. Turkey is an observer, but not a member, to the WTO Government Procurement Committee.

Turkish legislation generally requires competitive bidding procedures in the public sector. A Public Procurement board exists to oversee public tenders, and there are minimum bidding thresholds under which foreign companies are prohibited from bidding on public tenders. The law gives preference to domestic bidders, Turkish citizens, and legal entities established by them, as well as to corporate entities established under Turkish law by foreign companies. The public procurement law has been amended eight times since its enactment and may be further amended in the future: it has been cited by the EU as not being in conformity with the EU "acquis communautaire" or body of law.

Transparency International has an affiliated NGO in Istanbul. Transparency International (TI) noted that Turkey showed a significant reduction in perceived levels of corruption in 2008 and moved Turkey from 66th to 58th in the transparency ranking of 180 countries.