Turkey Fights Corruption to maintain the Progress of Dynamic Economy

Istanbul, Turkey | December 26, 2007 by D-8 Secretariat

Just as the other D-8 member states government fighting against corruption in their respective countries (click here to read related news), the Turkish government also fiercely battles corruption to keep and improve better overall performances with clean governance. Over the course of the past five years an initiative launched by the Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan to uncover corruption in state agencies has led to the arrests of 805 bureaucrats, including general managers, deputy general managers and deputy undersecretaries in 156 operations, as reported by TodaysZaman of Turkey.

Hundreds of bureaucrats were involved in corruption crimes revealed by operations The Blue Line, The Scalpel, White Energy, Sky, The Bends and the Patch carried out by the police, according to the 2007 activity report of the National Police Department’s Anti-Smuggling and Organized Crime Administration (KOM). Those bureaucrats who allowed corruption or violation of procedures in return for personal favors were sacked from their jobs.

According to KOM’s activity report, 637 operations were carried out against fuel smugglers, leading to the capture of a total of 1,298 suspects. KOM carried out 2,125 operations against smuggled tobacco and alcohol, in which 3,166 people were arrested. In 334 raids against smugglers of historical artifacts, 754 suspects were captured and detained. Under operations directed at corruption and fraud, 3,336 people were arrested.

This year 3,745 people were arrested on charges of counterfeit activities in 2,813 operations in Turkey. Most of these criminals preferred to print fake copies of the YTL instead of US dollars, as the YTL only recently went into circulation.

Also this year, 2,730 illegal immigrants and 481 organizers selling them false hopes of starting a new life in foreign lands were captured in 2007 during operations against human smuggling. The issue of human smuggling came to public attention only recently, when 50 immigrants drowned trying to reach Greece on a fragile boat. In 13 operations against prostitution rings and human trafficking, 180 suspects were captured and 106 victims were released.

There were 159 operations carried out against organized crime in 48 cities of Turkey this year. Of the 2,284 suspects detained during these operations, 1,107 were found guilty and sent to prison. In these operations, 410 handguns, 4 long range weapons, 12,747 bullets, 14 vehicles, 12 handcuffs, 71 fake identification cards and 2,835 checks and bonds were seized.

In 153 operations against credit card fraud, 337 suspects were arrested. There were 421 people arrested in 149 operations against banking fraud. Another 376 were arrested in 178 operations against Internet fraud.

This year has been one of the most successful years against drug traffickers, KOM’s report showed. There were 10,128 operations against narcotic gangs, resulting in the arrest of a total of 21, 933 suspects. During these raids, 12 tons of marijuana, 8.2 tons of heroin, 29 kilograms of base morphine, 468 kilograms of opium gum, 98 kilograms of cocaine, 223 kilograms of amphetamines and 997 thousand pills of ecstasy were seized during these operations. There were 450 operations carried out against street dealers, resulting in the capture of 4,895 drug dealers, 259 of them being women. Of those detained, 2,710 were found guilty and sent to prison.

D-8 Secretary General, Dipo Alam, said that for the past five years Turkey has remarkably done well, and the people have been enjoying better economic development, thanks to the impeccable economic policy that government has put on the track that support Turkish export and growth of small/middle industries sectors in the country. “This progress, together with the government’s tireless effort of fighting corruption, has been among major factor to support my belieft that Turkey will maintain and keep the progress of its dynamic economy,” he said, while noting that the similar actions to fight corruption in other D-8 countries should be kept underway, and advocated to ensure the country’s smooth growth.

D-8 Secretariat is very keen to support all efforts of its member states to fight corruption, and to help creating a conducive business environment and boost intra-trade relation among the member. The secretariat right now is preparing a Roadmap for Dynamic Cooperation 2008-2018, with a supplement of “Monitoring and Evaluation of Doing Business in D-8 Countries” to serve the purpose of monitoring and evaluation of bureaucratic service to trade, business, investment and industries.

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