CRIME AS A CULTURAL PROBLEM

1. CRIME AS A CULTURAL PROBLEM Content Analysis of Interviews Turkey, January 2008

2. Interviewees • Politics: • Ex-Minister of Tourism, Ex-MP of the True Path Party (center-right) • Ex-MP of the Republican People’s Party (center-left) • Judiciary • Attorney General, Expert, Professor of Law • Lawyer • Police • Ex-Assistant to the Deputy General Director, National Police; Ex-Mayor of Istanbul and Izmir; Ex-Minister of National Defense; Ex-Minister of Education • Ex-Assistant Chief of Police; Head,Department of theTraffic Services • Civil Society • Ex-Vice-Chairperson of Transperancy International/Turkey, board member • Director of Turkish Economic and Social Studies Foundation’s Democratization Program • Media • Ex-Chief Editor of a highly circulated mainstream newspaper; Journalist-Columnist, Media Critic • Journalist-Columnist • Economy • Customs Broker • Ex-Governor of Central Bank, Consultant

3. Target group: Politics • Definitons: • Unfair competition, lack of transparancy, against justice and development, internalized by the society; wants his turn // • illegal actions and unregistered exchange; in some cases in legal forms • Reasons: • No fear of getting caught, a mutually beneficial relationship, a “corrupt” perception of loyalty (Turkish proverbs as examples, common past rather than common principles, favorism) • Ownership of land-ongoing urbanization process-the concensus of political parties on creation and distributaion of rent; • Unfair Distribution of Income; Disrespect towards ordinary citizen, misconception of public service, mismanagement, disguised unemployment; • Contractors becoming Politians (positive correlation between the growth rate of the sector and growth rate of the public debt) Businessmen-Politicians-Bureaucrats triangle; • Close relations among public officers and criminal networks (ex: gambling) // • a misconception of taxation mechanism (Ottoman empire) • Corruption as a global issue, USA; an excuse for interventionist politics of the Western countries; World Bank Financial Resources- to Dictatorial Regimes- back to Western Banking and Financial System with high interest rates-debt/natural resources-geostrategic advantages SWAP

4. Target group: Politics (cont.) • Evaluation of Target Groups • Politicians as the scapegoat of the system: primarily responsible for fighting against it and yet relatively the most innocent; Problems of checks and balances (critical relation between Execution &Legislation),weakness of supervison due to highly centralized political structure; Manipulation of the public opinion against politicians; Türkbank Case: just a political trick // • all responsible equally, a gap between Turkey’s agenda and the agenda of the parliament-close intraparty and interparty “friendships”-leader despotizm-trade off between individual conscience and loyalty, political leaders are not involved corruption directly and yet they may connive at the dishonesty of their entourage • Party financing: • high level of corruption, follow the flow of money! Donations should be transparent-no upper limits! (corrupiton sale!-media) // • political parties have enough financial assets; financial support of the state is sufficient, illicit money • Immunities: a must for freedom of speech ,for allegations related to the “petty offences”-MP’s initiative-public pressure // as for the “petty offences” MP’s should be prosecuted like ordinary citizens.Immunities of public officers must be lifted. • Periodical Analysis: accelerated parallel to the economic liberalization process • EUintegration process: positive effects on immunities and transparency

5. Target Group: Judiciary • Definitons: to act contrary to the rules stipulated by law and gain advantage from it (TPC), suggests that corruption is equal to bribery in the view of society; in the eyes of law however corruption includes embezzlement , abuse of power, money laundering, trading in influence... everywhere face to face with the state, commonplace and yet very few cases are at the court level; internalized by the society // • main references:ethics, righteousness, good will, universal principles, public interest, religous notions, favorism (lawmaker can either forget to legalise the “rule” or conciously leave that area empty) • Whereabouts: • Public Administration • Public Contracts • Privatization • Stock Market • Local governments • Party financing and election expenditures • Reasons: where there is money, there is corruption, mutual satisfaction-free will // erosion of ethical values, depends on social conditions // sediments of the patriarchal structure of the Ottoman state, no democratic culture, individualism • Evaluation of Target Groups: • Politicians and their fund providers (illicit money) share the first rank. Repayment of election costs by granting favors. Türkbank Case, a solid example of tri-dimensional structure of corruption: politicians-private sector-mafia. High level of bribery in Police. Media is not fulfilling its responsibilities for corrupiton prevention // • Politicans are the ultimate responsable group. The rest does not count!

6. Target Group: Judiciary (cont.) • Judiciary-the cleanest target group. Time bar-overwork of the Judiciary. Obstacles: • Presumption of Innocence • Gathering Evidence • Difficulty in Finding Informers/Witnesses • Lack of Specialization in the Level of Inspection // • Corruption exists in Judicary, mainly in forms of exchanging favors and gifts, but not very widespread, work ethic, relatively low quality of prosecutors and judges as compared to lawyers in terms their educational and socio-cultural backgrounds. Low income is not a reason • Party Financing: very dirty, blood money, // honest&qualified people run away from politics • Immunities: pessimist • Periodical Analysis: erosion of values with liberal economic era (from semi-capitalism to full capitalism). 1980s and new discourse, new conceptions: "my civil servant knows his own advantages“, “My civil servant knows how to survive well!”, “personal achievement whatever the social and moral costs may be!”, “turn around the corner”, changing meaning of shame in the eyes of public, “nouveaux riches” • EUIntegration Process: • With the exception of the Public Contract Law and legislation related to Party Financing, no additional law is necessary for corruption prevention. • Played a role only in the ratification of the Public Contract Law. • Blaming EU for applying double standarts (acting against Kopenhag Criteria- putting pressure on Turkish Judiciary; countries like Bulgaria and Romania are more corrupt than Turkey) • EU, not self-consistent (“fraude communautaire”) • On the Global Level: an implicit concensus of the developed countries on corrupiton; tax heavens (Commonwealth)-Bank of Credit and Commerce International scandal-Godfather III) // • EU process will work well for Turkey if taken seriously

7. Target Group: Police • Definitons: actions against laws, traditions, social life to gain personal advantage. Gift/pocketmoney- protection of the protector by the protected // one’s using or not his power or authority to distribute or gain advantage; notion of legality • Reasons: conformism, to escape from responsibilities, genetic (Ottoman Empire), unemployment (partially)// favorism, low level of income, the scale of financial earnings plays a role, human nature. • Evaluation of Target Groups: Business-Politics-Media (local governments +). Judiciary-NGOs-Police individual cases, small size // No need to rank- Institutions must be protected; corruption can happen everywhere-all of them are individual cases. Every institution, mainly the police force is doing its best to fight against corruption. No internalization. • Party Financing: against the support of the State, US case–transparency // not enough supervision on politicians • Immunities:limited to freedom of speech. • Periodical Analysis: 1980turning point, developments in domestic and external trade, increased volume of money flows, nouveaux riches // rejects to make a periodical analysis, however suggets that there is an amelioration in terms of supervision and control. • EUIntegration Process: application of laws is ultimate, the process is more important than the full membership // quality will increase in every area.

8. Target Group: Civil Society • Definitons: defined in a limited manner, as the misuse of public office for private gain // • Even though corruption pertains to explicit, transactional reciprocity, such a definition clearly exculpates the business world and social (kinship, religious, etc.) networks. However, especially in the Turkish case, these two should be held responsible for corruption’s being so widespread. • Reasons:party financing, unfair income distribution, long bureaucratic process, too many signatures, ignorance on the public level, internalization, justification, making politics via distribution of public resources, punishments are not enough // modern world can not produce a common ethic- In situations where law does not function properly, individual immorality easily becomes legitimate Turkish state is a field of privilege-out of the society. Public official-part of such network; a class that owns the state- politics is limited to distribution and redistribution of economic benefits. A distance between society and the state since the Ottomans • Evaluation of Target Groups: economic agents-politicians-police // judiciary-media-economic agents. Politicians are not as corrupt • Party Financing: USA example, registered donations/gifts. • Immunities: limited to freedom of speech, immunities of public officers must be lifted. • Periodical Analysis: erosion of values paralel to the liberalization process • EUIntegration Process: positive effect; transparency,accountability, Public Contract Law.

9. Target Group: Media • Definitons: • acting against laws, rules, values, cultural norms, traditions to gain especially financial benefits. Exploitation of labour, favorism and nepotism should be included in the definition. A general definition putting grand and petty corruption in the same basket and planning an anti-corruption strategy on this basis constitutes a risk. The notion of “Clean Society” has turned out to be a rhetoric; the need of new concepts to fight against corruption. operationalization of the notion as a cover of exploitation • Reasons: • The Capitalist System is making the institutions (World Bank, IMF) define corruption in a way that it would not harm its interests. No chance-no opportunities to change living conditions in a normal way. Unjust opportunity structure deepens the problem. // • Fallacies of Judicial and Educational System, not enough punishment, acceleration of capital accumulation by way resource transfer from public to private sector, the lack of political will that would support the inspection mechanims, time bar, periodical amnesties, an archaic judicial system, lack of experts

10. Target Group: Media (cont.) • Evaluation of Target Groups: • Economic agents (public life is not comprised of public officials) • Judiciary (degeneration of basic principles) , • Police (dangerous when related to mafia-criminal networks) • Media – the most important group that could bring corruption into open. journalists protect the interests of the Companies they work for. Corrupiton news-a part of a totally different struggle (Insider trading in every media group) // • Politics-Bureacracy-Business triangle. (Türkbank case, the biggest robery hand in hand with the organized crime; Mercimek case, emergence of a new capitalist class through corruption) Transperancy in the political system is a sine qua non. Media, inadequate but still trying hard

11. Target Group: Media (cont.) • Party Financing: politics financing the politicians rather than the other way round(tip-offs), corruption in the local level is more widespread (friendship, animosity, kinship) • Immunities: pessimist • Periodical Analysis: • Özal era-turning point. Significant increase in its scale, and number of actors // • Liberal transformation-without a legal infrastructure, primitive capital accumilation came to an end with crisis. Old thiefs-new global businessmen • EUIntegration Process: • May rasp certain shameless sides // • Must adopt the global rules. EU pressure is a must

12. Target Group: Economy • Definitons: anything against the norms of the society, bribery is the rule of the game, honest officials are excluded, exists in the private sector // widespread, from to top bottom, strict attachemnt to the World Bank definiton, corruption is solely the domain of public sector (deviation from objective assesment shoulb be considered as corruption) • Reasons: protectionism, high tax rates, exemptions, incentives, privileges to specific sectors, “the raison d’etre of bureaucracy is to create further bureaucracy”, lowincome level -consummerism-envy// lack of institutional culture, lack of evidence, bad examples from top administrators • Evaluation of Target Groups: Politicians businessman, Judiciary (not as widespread as the first two) // Politicians,Judiciary and Police; leader despotism, Parliamentary Commison on Corruption is far from giving a proper definition corruption, • Party Financing: Corruption at every level, mainly in municipalities • Immunities: must be lifted for both MPs and public officals// under the condition of solid evidence • Periodical Analysis: liberalization turning point, kinship among customs officials, Customs Union // before 1980, Bureaucracy of the Treasury and MOF used to have a strong institutional identity, constant transmission of institutional values from the old generation to new generation bureaucrats, after 1987 degeneration in high bureaucracy due to 3 reasons: new instituitonal norms; wage gap between private and public sector and realted to this situation, the quality of bureaucricy declined considerably. Parallel increases in the number of public procurments and corrupt behaviour of top state and government members • EUIntegration Process: automation in the Customs decreased bribery payments // obligatory for corruption reduction

13. Policy Implications: • Proper definition of corruption • “Audit Court for Political Parties” • Activation of exsistent laws • Effective inspection of local government expenditures • Fight against corruption should be expanded towards private sector • Witness protection program • Life time learning, strict moral and values education; promotion of universal values, long term planning • USA example-Watch groups for party financing & corruption • Imminuties must be lifted • Increase the wages • Efficient inspection- severe punishment • Accountability-transparency • Reduction of bureaucratic procedures, in number of public officials • Meritocracy • Consciousness raising • Elimination of time bar for corruption cases • Autonomous bureaucracy • Leader initiative-Political will