Personnel Risk:
High
Score:
44/100
Leadership Behaviour
Q34
17/100
Do the Defence Ministry, Defence Minister, Chiefs of Defence, and Single Service Chiefs publicly commit, through, for example, speeches, media interviews, or political mandates, to anti-corruption and integrity measures?
View Question
Interviewee 3 suggests that there have always been internal communication mechanisms between the Ministry of Defence, the General Staff and service commands about anti-corruption…
Explore
Since summer 2018, not a single public speech or media interview delivered by the Minister of Defence, the Chief of General Staff or the…
Explore
No media content has been found about anti-corruption and integrity measures at this level since summer 2018. During the literature review of academic articles…
Explore
Q35
75/100
Are there effective measures in place for personnel found to have taken part in forms of bribery and corruption, and is there evidence that these measures are being carried out?
View Question
As explained, there is no specific anti-corruption and anti-bribery law written for the security bureaucracy. Both military personnel and civilians working within the sector…
Explore
There is no anti-corruption law or regulation that specifically regulates the defence/security sector. Military personnel and civilians working in the Turkish Armed Forces (TAF)…
Explore
Q36
0/100
Is whistleblowing encouraged by the government, and are whistle-blowers in military and defence ministries afforded adequate protection from reprisal for reporting evidence of corruption, in both law and practice?
View Question
Whistleblowing is certainly very helpful in ensuring transparency. However,Interviewee 3 and 5 suggested that both the Turkish military and Ministry of Defence and the…
Explore
Interviewees 3, 5 and 6 unanimously suggested that whistleblowing is not encouraged by the government in the military and the Ministry of Defence [1,2,3].…
Explore
Interviewee 5, agreeing with the comments made by Interviewee 6, suggested that, due to the strategic culture and established informal norms within the Turkish…
Explore
Q37
33/100
Is special attention paid to the selection, time in post, and oversight of personnel in sensitive positions, including officials and personnel in defence procurement, contracting, financial management, and commercial management?
View Question
Interviewee 3 emphasised that some attention is paid to personnel in sensitive positions, i.e., individuals with significant authority over personnel, resources or the policies/plans…
Explore
The appointments of personnel working in the fields of defence procurement, contracting and financial & commercial management within the military are, to some extent,…
Explore
Interviewee 4 noted that to some degree, there is internal oversight in the Ministry of Defence to scrutinise appointment and promotion decisions regarding personnel in sensitive…
Explore
Payroll, Promotions, Appointments, Rewards
Q38
67/100
Is the number of civilian and military personnel accurately known and publicly available?
View Question
During the 2016-2018 period, the Turkish General Staff shared the aggregated numbers of military personnel in all service commands on an annual basis, but…
Explore
Aggregated or summarised information on the numbers of civilian and military personnel is made publicly available through the CoA’s annual reports [1]. As of…
Explore
The personnel management system within the Turkish military is well established and IT based. Interviewees 3, 5 and 6 unanimously suggested that, since the…
Explore
Q39
38/100
Are pay rates and allowances for civilian and military personnel openly published?
View Question
Pay rates for all civilian and military personnel are published in service publications, disaggregated by rank and service distribution, and are known by all…
Explore
Interviewee 4 asserted that allowances for all civilian and military personnel are openly published on the TAF’s own Intranet system [1]. However, Interviewee 6…
Explore
Q40
75/100
Do personnel receive the correct pay on time, and is the system of payment well-established, routine, and published?
View Question
All military personnel and civilians working in the TAF receive the correct pay on time, and the system of payment is well established and…
Explore
Personnel receive the correct pay. In this sense, payment policies within the TAF are considered just and fair [1]. All interviewees, four of whom…
Explore
As emphasised above, the payment system within the TAF is fully transparent and open for monitoring by any personnel through the e-financial management system…
Explore
Q41
25/100
Is there an established, independent, transparent, and objective appointment system for the selection of military personnel at middle and top management level?
View Question
The Supreme Military Council (YAS), which is headed by the President and convenes twice a year, once in the first week of August and…
Explore
As explained in 41A, appointing personnel within the Turkish military is purely an executive-related task, the decisions are not open to legal scrutiny, discussions…
Explore
Only the promotion list is announced after the council meetings, which are traditionally held in the first week of August every year. For instance,…
Explore
Q42
69/100
Are personnel promoted through an objective, meritocratic process? Such a process would include promotion boards outside of the command chain, strong formal appraisal processes, and independent oversight.
View Question
Personnel promotions within the military up to the rank of colonel are conducted through formal appraisal processes in the chain of command and there…
Explore
Interviewees 3, 5 and 6 suggested that the promotion of an officer corps from the rank of lieutenant to colonel is merit-based, standardised and…
Explore
Generally in the third week of August, just two weeks after the Supreme Military Council convene for promotions, postings and promotions are published on…
Explore
Details of postings and promotions are made public just after the Supreme Military Council meeting in the first week of August and published on…
Explore
Conscription and Recruitment
Q43
92/100
Where compulsory conscription occurs, is there a policy of not accepting bribes for avoiding conscription? Are there appropriate procedures in place to deal with such bribery, and are they applied?
View Question
There is a policy and strict rules addressing bribery for avoiding compulsory conscription that clearly apply to all parties engaging in this. The offence…
Explore
Article 30 of the Turkish Military Penal Code defines bribery as a major felony, punishable by a minimum of 3 months’ imprisonment (in cases…
Explore
Appropriate sanctions or punishments are applied when bribery occurs. Interviewees 3 and 4 both suggested that corruption attempts within the conscription system are not…
Explore
Q44
67/100
is there a policy of refusing bribes to gain preferred postings? Are there appropriate procedures in place to deal with such bribery, and are they applied?
View Question
Article 252 of the Criminal Code of Turkey, which all military and civilian personnel are obliged to observe, notes that any public officers who…
Explore
Interviewee 4 emphasised that possible sanctions in the event of bribery within the sector include criminal prosecution/ incarceration, dismissal and considerable financial penalties, along…
Explore
Relying on his own military service experience, Interviewee 4 suggested that sanctions are applied inconsistently in cases of bribery [1]. In particular, military personnel…
Explore
Salary Chain
As emphasised before, the Turkish military has a well-established finance branch and finance management system. All military personnel in the military finance branch receive…
Explore
Values and Standards
Q46
0/100
Is there a Code of Conduct for all military personnel that includes, but is not limited to, guidance with respect to bribery, gifts and hospitality, conflicts of interest, and post-separation activities? Is there evidence that breaches of the Code of Conduct are effectively addressed?
View Question
The Regulation on the Principles of Ethical Behavior of the Public Officials and Application Procedures and Essentials entered into effect as it was published…
Explore
This indicator is marked ‘Not Applicable’ as there is no code of conduct. As emphasised above, codes of conduct about corruption and bribery in…
Explore
This indicator is marked ‘Not Applicable’ as there is no code of conduct. Interviewees 3 and 4, who have both had a military career…
Explore
This indicator is marked ‘Not Applicable’ as there is no code of conduct. The qualities required for military personnel are described in the Turkish…
Explore
Q47
33/100
Is there a Code of Conduct for all civilian personnel that includes, but is not limited to, guidance with respect to bribery, gifts and hospitality, conflicts of interest, and post-separation activities? Is there evidence that breaches of the Code of Conduct are effectively addressed?
View Question
Interviewees 3 and 4 both suggested that there is no Code of Conduct issued for civilian personnel working in the defence sector [1]. However,…
Explore
As emphasised above, there is no Code of Conduct issued specifially for civilian personnel working in the defence/security sector. All civilian personnel are obliged…
Explore
Given the lack of available evidence on the enforcement of the code, this indicator is marked ‘Not Enough Information’. There is no evidence of…
Explore
As there is no comprehensive Code of Conduct that specifically applies to all military personnel and civil servants working in the defence/security sector, there…
Explore
Q48
0/100
Does regular anti-corruption training take place for military and civilian personnel?
View Question
As emphasised above, all officers and NCOs from the military finance branch attend courses on corruption and anti-bribery at their service schools (this is…
Explore
As noted in 48A, there is no comprehensive anti-corruption training that covers all military and/or civilian personnel working in defence institutions. As such, this…
Explore
As there is no evidence through publicly available information on anti-corruption training for military and civilian personnel, this indicator is marked ‘Not Applicable’.
Explore
Q49
0/100
Is there a policy to make public outcomes of the prosecution of defence services personnel for corrupt activities, and is there evidence of effective prosecutions in recent years?
View Question
Interviewees 2 and 3 both suggested that, before the presidential system, corruption and anti-bribery investigations and legal trials had been made public more frequently,…
Explore
During their open-source research, the assessor could not find even a single report or article about a prosecution within the defence sector relating to…
Explore
This indicator is marked ‘Not Enough Information’ as the absence of information relating to prosecutions means it is not possible to score this indicator.…
Explore
Q50
75/100
Are there effective measures in place to discourage facilitation payments (which are illegal in almost all countries)?
View Question
According to Article 252 of the Turkish Criminal Code (TCC-5237), facilitation payments, regardless of the amount, are illegal and a type of bribe. It…
Explore
There is not enough information regarding facilitation payments to and from defence personnel. As such, this indicator cannot be scored and is marked ‘Not…
Explore
Interviewee 4 suggested that facilitation payments occur occassionally, particularly among politically backed civilian officals, but are not widespread [1]. He underlined that it is…
Explore