Why was the “Ethical Code of Politicians” not voted in the Turkish Parliament?
| The Turkish Parliament failed to approve the "Ethical Code for Politicians". Because everyone said openly: If you want to be strict, the world of politics will lose its charm! |
Although ethics in Politics includes various areas of morals, education and personality, but in the discussion that has become hot in Turkey, the meaning of the necessity of following ethics in the world of politics includes financial issues.
Dirty money has taken control of political arenas and offices of many parties and representatives, and now everyone believes that a clear and decisive code of ethics is needed both to control politicians in the field of financial corruption and to monitor the ethical principles related to party competition.
But the problem is that Turkish political parties, especially the ruling party, are afraid of such a thing, and despite the extensive efforts of several prominent lawyers and politicians, the Turkish Parliament could not pass the “Ethical Charter for Politicians”. approve Because everyone openly said: If you want to be strict, the world of politics will lose its charms and from now on, no one will be willing to be a politician! https://newsmedia.tasnimnews.com/Tasnim/Uploaded/Image/1403/01/08/1403010814314252229688734.jpg”/>
The importance of discussing ethics in politics is that over the past few years in Turkey , there have been many moral scandals in several parties and several politicians have had to say goodbye to the world of politics after receiving large bribes of several million dollars.
But they are the tip of the iceberg and there are hundreds of other politicians who In other words, they don’t fall for the trap and have been able to get wealth and power by receiving huge bribes and millions of percentages.
Taha Ak Yul, one of Turkey’s veteran journalists, who has deep studies in the field of Ottoman history and the Republic of Turkey, law and political economy, in his article today, investigated why ethics in the world of politics in Turkey , has become a big challenge.
Can politics Become moral?
Neither in my long career as a journalist nor in my extensive historical studies, I have never heard or seen a concept called “immoral religiosity”. On the contrary, there has always been a deep belief in our society that religious people are more moral and just, and they warn against getting windfall wealth, unfair benefits, and usurping the rights of others.
But to be honest, for years now The government created by the Justice and Development Party has broken and destroyed our collective belief.
This party is now acting in such a way that it is easy to say: even the politicians of a religious party and exponent of values Dini, in order to get money and power, do not shy away from political immorality and are ready to violate everything.
Many Turkish religious scholars and writers in religious and epistemological fields, in their writings, articles and books, acknowledge the fact that now in our country, “official religiosity has lost its moral essence”. At what time? Right now, when a conservative party is in power.
In 2023, our country has fallen from average ranks in the corruption perception index to 115th rank among 180 countries, and such a thing is shameful.
The relationship between law and ethics in the world of politicians
Unfortunately, ethics and law have not always been considered as the highest values in our political life. Endless greed to achieve power is superior to morality and law for many of our politicians!
If there is a way, both morality and law are easily forgotten and moral principles are easily bypassed. .
Meanwhile, some of our politicians and lawyers, worried about the spread of immorality, sought to set up a moral charter for the world of politics to at least restrain parliamentarians, ministers and high-ranking officials.
The prominent example is the continuation of a clear text called “Political Ethics Law”, which was on the agenda of the parliament since 1993, but was never approved.
When the Justice and Development Party came to power , not to give importance to ethics, but in order to comply with the standards of the European Union and as a result to attract foreign investment, he thought about this issue and in 2004 passed a law on the creation of an ethical board for public servants.
But the interesting thing is that the said law was very incomplete and did not include the state of politicians!
What I really want to draw readers’ attention to; This is why the “Political Ethics Law Charter” has been languishing in the Turkish Parliament for exactly 30 years and still hasn’t been approved.
Do you know why? Because some parts of this charter put politics under moral control, regulate and check the use of power by politicians, make the income and expenses of parties transparent and open them to public inspection, close the way to bribery and interest, a clear border. It draws a line between the party and the government and makes it impossible for the politician to gain income and hidden wealth through his political activity. Naturally, such a law cannot pass the parliament!
If it is approved, no one will enter the world of politics
Cemil Cicek as a person who was the head of the Turkish Parliament And in university studies, he has always been considered an outstanding jurist, and tried to clarify the discussion of the ethical charter of politics during his presidency of the Turkish Parliament. The draft of the political ethics law, which was prepared with the consensus of the parties, was presented to the parliament on December 26, 2012. But this time, the moral charter did not become a law!
In 2016, another attempt was made, but it still did not work.
People’s Republic Party in 2019 He made a similar offer, but no one paid attention and all those documents remained in the archives of the Majlis! Do you know why? Let us hear from Jamil Chichak himself.
Jamil Chichak answered in an interview with our friend Ahmad Tashgatiren on June 11, 2021: “A law with 3-4 articles was foreseen and could be used as a moral charter. Make politicians adhere to moral principles. But unfortunately it was rejected. They said that if these standards become law and you want to drill poppy seeds about the financial and moral issues of politicians, everyone will lose their motivation and no one will enter the world of politics”. He said: “There are claims that people in the parliament area easily put money bags in the cars of the representatives. One of the people who made this claim by mentioning the document was the head of a mafia gang and announced that he had given money to several Turkish politicians. Such an important and sensitive issue can never be ignored. This claim belongs to a person who has been identified as the leader of a criminal organization. Can you ignore that?”
Two famous Turkish politicians, Ali Babacan and Ahmet Davutoglu, proposed other packages for ethical and financial supervision when they were members of Erdogan’s government. But both packages were rejected and they received the following response: “If we want to be so strict, we will not find a person in any province or city who will enter the world of politics and act as the head of the provincial branch of our party.”
It is really unfortunate. Because the issue is not only related to “corruption” and “unfair profit”. The problem is that in the Turkish political system, the institution of politics distributes wealth, profit and rent among individuals and becomes a source of large income. As a result of this, political competition becomes a terrible fight transforms and violates social ethics.
This is our biggest crisis! This is our real survival issue! Of course, the fall of moral values in the world of politics in Turkey is not only related to material interests. In politics, lies, conspiracies, assembled films and fake documents with fake signatures are other examples of political immorality.
In such a situation, moral decline, corruption, inflation and poverty go hand in hand and feed each other. What we should be looking for is a legal system that implements the principles of ethics and control: separation of powers, control and balance, the powers of the Court of Accounts, an independent judiciary, a free press, independent auditing and monitoring institutions, and adherence to the principle of meritocracy in selection. Brokers.
| © | Webangah News Hub has translated this news from the source of Tasnim News Agency |
