President Sezer: Corruption Constitutes Important Part Of Turkey's Problems

ISTANBUL, Feb 15 (A.A) - President Ahmet Necdet Sezer said on Friday that corruption constituted an important part of Turkey's problems.
Sezer attended a meeting in which the results of the second survey of Turkish Economic and Social Studies Foundation (TESEV) on corruption were presented.
Speaking at the meeting, Sezer said that people had put forth their views about the reasons of corruption and solution proposals in the first survey carried out by TESEV.
The results of the survey reflected the sensitivities of the people, Sezer noted.
Sezer stated that TESEV was announcing the results of the second part of the survey and expressed belief that TESEV's surveys and initiatives would contribute to fight against corruption.
It was a necessity that Turkey had to renew itself and take more steps in many fields in the changing conditions of the world, Sezer said.
All parts of the society was in a consensus of opinion about the things that Turkey had to do to become an efficient countries in the modern world, Sezer pointed out.
Sezer said that a strong and brilliant Turkey, which had solved its main problems like corruption, illiteracy, and corruption, which had upgraded its national prosperity to the level of developed countries, which had taken under guarantee individual rights and liberties, which had become an esteemed member of the modern community, which had completed its democratization, is a country that all Turkish people wanted to see.
There was no doubt that Turkish nation would support their determination to achieve that goal and their reforms and steps, Sezer noted.
Sezer stated that corruption constituted an important part of Turkey's problems and said that corruption, which was one of the common problems of the globalizing world although it changed according to conditions of every country, should not be allowed to change the economic balances.
One of the criteria of being a developed country was the success marked in fighting corruption and ensuring transparency in management, Sezer said.
Sezer stated that fight against political, administrative and economic corruption was an issue which should be dealth with seriously.
To this end, on one hand Turkey had to accelerate its searches to make its administration more efficient on the other hand it should be determined to continue the fight against corruption that led to economic problems.
PRESIDENT SEZER SAYS IMMUNITY OF POLITICIANS AND PUBLIC OFFICIALS HAS TO BE LIMITED
Sezer said that the immunity of politicians and public officials has to be limited to be successful in the fight with corruption, adding that ''if this is not the case, the politicians and public officials will be saved from criminal liability, and this will prevent positively change in Turkey's position among the list of countries which come among the top in respect of corruption and transparency.''
Speaking in the conference held in Bogazici University by the Turkish Economic and Social Studies Foundation (TESEV), President Ahmet Necdet Sezer said that ignoring corruption which causes extravagant use of country's sources and which serves the interests of certain people will harm the social peace and also disturb the trust in the state.
Sezer said that the most important means of fight with corruption is transparency, which gives the right of the citizens of the state to account for the things the state does.
''Everybody who is concerned should have access to the information which is about the policies that are implemented and which shows the results of these policies in the country,'' he said.
Sezer noted that the separation of powers principle of the Constitution is very important, adding that Article 6 of the Constitution says that no state organ can use state authority which does not stem from the Constitution. Sezer said that the intervention of state organs in each other's authorities is prevented in this way.
''One of the basic reasons of economic crises and social injustice is corruption. Another way of reaching success in fight with corruption is limitation of immunities of politicians and public officials. In this respect, Articles 83 and 100 have to be rearranged. The public officials who respect the Constitution and the laws have to protect the interests of the state in every condition. Public officials can't behave in a way which is to the advantage or disadvantage of persons, political parties or groups,'' Sezer said.
Sezer said that the private and public sectors, non-governmental organizations and public and private sector and press and tv organs should take the necessary measures in their own structures and all of them have to be in cooperation to get a productive result from fight with corruption.
Sezer stressed that the success to be achieved in the fight with corruption will speed up Turkey's membership process. Noting that Turkey is in a criticial period in respect of EU membership process, Sezer said that the steps to be taken this year will bring Turkey closer to start full membership negotiations with the EU. ''Therefore, the studies started by the government to bring transparency and effectiveness to the public sector have to continue regularly,'' he added.
DERVIS: CORRUPTION HAS TO BE PREVENTED BY REHABILITATION OF PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION AND DEVELOPMENT OF TRANSPARENCY
State Minister Kemal Dervis said that the prevention of corruption by rehabilitation of public administration and development of transparency carries great importance for Turkey which takes resolved steps to reach modern international standards.
Sending a message to the conference held by the Turkish Economic and Social Studies Foundation (TESEV) in which the second survey on corruption was announced, Dervis said that ''the understanding of doing politics with unmodern methods in the past contradicted with the modern effective and transparent economy administration. The problems which the country faced as a result of that were disturbing the mechanisms of trust between the citizens and the state. Therefore, such problems carried as much importance as the political, macro economic and socio economic problems. The economic programme which we have been implementing today attributes great importance to transparency and development of effective administration in public sector.''