TURKEY SLIDES IN CORRUPTION PERCEPTION INDEX

Turkey ranked 81st out of 180 countries in Transparency International’s newly-released Corruption Perceptions Index 2017, sliding six places from the previous year. Turkey scored 40 in the index last year, a one-point decrease from 2016. The scale is from 0 (perceived to be highly corrupt) to 100 (perceived to be very clean). Among G-20 countries, Turkey ranked 13th, while its score was second lowest among the 35 OECD member states. Turkey is also among the

five worst performers in recent years, losing 10 points and falling 28 places between 2012 and 2017. Turkey’s score rose as high as 50 in 2013 but it has gradually declined since then.

‘Widespread nepotism’

“The 2017 results once again prove that perception regarding corruption is directly related to rule of law, press freedom, civil society strength, freedom of association and speech,” Transparency International’s Turkey branch said in a statement. “Violations in these areas have worrying outcomes for corruption perception. Violation of the Public Procurement Law, countless changes introduced, and new exceptions defined are paving the way to systemic failures and undermining fundamental institutions for good governance,” it added. The watchdog noted that in the previous year, 40 percent of investments and procurement of goods and services were concluded outside the scope of the Public Procurement Authority (PPA) and in 27.7 percent of those open tender methods were not used. “Countless cases of nepotism and clientelism in public appointments and promotions in 2017 are also among the prominent reasons behind the erosion Turkey is experiencing in the Corruption Perception Index,” the statement read.