Turkey has yet to implement 21 of 32 recommendations to prevent corruption among senior government officials and law enforcement personnel, the Council of Europe’s Group of States against Corruption (GRECO) said in a summary published Tuesday.
Turkey had fully implemented four of the recommendations and partially implemented seven. They belong to GRECO’s Fifth Evaluation Round, which examines corruption prevention in central government and law enforcement.
A separate summary covering lawmakers, judges and prosecutors found that Turkey had fully implemented six of 22 recommendations, partially implemented nine and left seven unimplemented. That assessment belongs to GRECO’s Fourth Evaluation Round.
GRECO adopted its initial evaluation report on Turkey under the fourth round in 2016. In a 2022 interim compliance report, Turkey had fully implemented only three of the 22 recommendations.
GRECO has previously raised concerns about judicial independence in Turkey, including the composition of the Council of Judges and Prosecutors (HSK). It has called for changes that would allow judges and prosecutors to elect members of the council.
The summaries were released under a policy GRECO adopted in March requiring it to publish summaries within six months of a report’s adoption unless the country concerned authorizes publication of the full report earlier. GRECO said the policy aims to increase transparency and that a summary does not replace the full report.
In the summaries concerning lawmakers, judges and prosecutors, Denmark had fully implemented two of six recommendations, Hungary 10 of 18 and Ukraine 19 of 31. GRECO ended its fourth round compliance procedures for Denmark and Ukraine, while Turkey and Hungary were asked to report on further progress in 2027.
Turkey ranked 124th out of 182 countries in Transparency International’s 2025 Corruption Perceptions Index, with a score of 31 out of 100, down three points from the previous year. Higher scores indicate lower perceived levels of public-sector corruption.
Over the past decade Turkey has been suffering from a deteriorating human rights record and an ailing economy with a skyrocketing cost of living and high inflation that currently stands at around 31 percent.
President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, whose Justice and Development Party (AKP) has been ruling Turkey as a single-party government since 2002, is criticized for mishandling the economy, engaging in rampant corruption, emptying the state’s coffers and establishing one-man rule in the country where dissent is suppressed and opponents are jailed on politically motivated charges, especially after a failed coup in July 2016.
Erdoğan and his party are also widely criticized for filling state posts with their cronies and disregarding merit-based appointments.
This article is republished from Turkish Minute.
