Page 54 - On-merged
P. 54
THE OMBUDSMAN INSTITUTION OF THE REPUBLIC OF TÜRKİYE
• Activities and activity results of the administration should be public;
• The participation of those benefitting from services in decision-making processes
of the administration should be ensured and citizens’ opinions should be
requested on the functioning the public services;
• All kinds of regulations and procedures regarding the functioning of the
administration should be open and easily accessible to the public.
Case Study
In the Decision of the Ombudsman Institution dated 21/02/2019 on the application
no. 2018/10841; it was stated that the applicant requested the removal of the annotation
“Pavement and Sewage Debt” affixed to the records dated 04/05/1971 roll no. 184.
At the end of the investigation carried by the Institution it was identified that,
following the justification of “no documents were found relating to the payment”, the
administrative action of demanding a receivable dating back to 47 years contradicted
the principles of “certainty” and “security of Law” which are the principles of a State
governed by the rule of law; in addition, it contradicted the principles of transparency
and duty to state the grounds of decisions as well, since the documents which were
subject to the dispute were not eligible for examination.
Accordingly, it was decided to give recommendation to the administration in question
to launch actions after conducting the necessary examinations for the issue subject to
the application.
ACCOUNTABILITY
The principle of accountability refers to the administration’s accounting to its superiors
or the general public for all sorts of acts and actions as well as attitudes and behaviours
while fulfilling its duties and responsibilities.
The principle of accountability stipulates the following:
• The obligation to make an explanation and provide information, and right to be
accounted to for the activities carried out;
• Responsibility of the ones who were assigned resources and authorizations to
justify how efficient they used these resources or authorizations;
• In the relations between the State and individuals, building up trust in the state
administration, forming an auditing mechanism to welcome public scrutiny of
conduct and increasing the efficiency in the administration;
• Obligation of the administrators to take necessary measures to prevent acts and
actions which are not in conformity with the law, and purpose and policies of
the institutions.
2019 ANNUAL REPORT 53