Nepotism, cronyism, favouritism and blatant disregard for conflicts of interest have never been so widespread and shameless in Turkey.
By revealing the extent of patronage during the rule of the Justice and Development Party (AKP), the main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP) has shown us how an effective opposition can fulfil the vital role of scrutiny.
At a news conference on Sunday, CHP deputy chairman and spokesman Professor Haluk Koç gave specific details of improper hiring practices in state agencies, with names, dates, institutions and relationships to government officials. He provided a list of 85 individuals appointed to influential civil service positions without going through the compulsory State Personnel Examination (KPSS).
“Sons who did not pass the KPSS have all of a sudden been appointed to state positions through the private secretariat of governors’ offices. This was not sufficient, after they were employed by the state, sons, relatives and friends were engaged in new organized work. The sons and relatives who found their monthly salaries low were transferred to higher positions where they would be paid better,” Professor Koç said.
As well as various posts in the government ministries, lucrative positions in state agencies such as Atomic Energy Agency (TAEK),Telecommunications Directorate (TİB), Energy Market Regulatory Agency (EPDK), Turkish Radio and Television (TRT), Dormitory Administration’s (YURTKUR) and Overseas Turks and Kin Communities Agency were filled with people who had close connections to government officials.
Partisanship and favoritism to friends and relatives have always existed in Turkey. However, during the 12- year rule of the Justice and Development Party, they have become systematic and endemic with an Islamist agenda. Until their public show-down late last year, both the AKP and the Fethullah Gülen network were using their levers of power to capture the control of the state institutions.
Followers of the Pennysylvenia-based preacher Fethullah Gülen had penetrated the police, judiciary and prosecution service. They controlled several big businesses, media organisations and educational establishments. Close supporters were appointed in key positions. Others were provided with answers to questions in entrance exams. Conferring favours on one another created a strong network of allies.
Even though, the government now calls them a parallel state, a terrorist organisation, all of these practises and more by the Gülen movement had existed under the watch of the AKP government.
The bitter struggle we are witnessing between the two Islamist camps in Turkey today is nothing but a fight over their share of the cake.
The winner so far is the government. Not only it has the power to use levers in order to control hiring and contracting processes in the state organizations but it can also successfully manipulate the economic system in the country to create rents.
As one of the country’s leading economic historians, Professor Şevket Pamuk has pointed out recently, the Justice and Development Party (AKP) has aimed to create a rich class that would support the government.
So, who are the losers? First of all, around 20 million people that have taken the KPSS examination during the AK Party rule. Only 1.5 percent of them were employed in the state sector as a result. According to the opposition spokesman Professor Koç, 20 young people who performed well in the KPSS but were not hired by the state have committed suicide over the same span of time. A significant proportion of those millions of people who were denied a fair competition for jobs must have been AKP voters.
In a system riddled with cronyism and nepotism, where people are granted positions because of whom they know and not what they are capable of doing; other than a favoured few, everyone is a loser. Unfairness undermines common good and the public’s faith in the integrity and functioning of the state.
As Ersin Kalaycıoğlu, a professor of political science at Sabancı University, has told Today’s Zaman newspaper, “This is a very tough blow for the sense of justice”.
So far, the specific examples of nepotism and cronyism provided by the main opposition have not been denied by the government. Asked about the list, Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu refused to comment.
Not surprisingly, the pro-government media, too, has ignored the issue altogether.
Yet, deep down, even they must realise that the worst affected from corruption is the common man and a chain is only as strong as its weakest link.
This post is also available in: Turkish
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