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THE OMBUDSMAN INSTITUTION OF THE REPUBLIC OF TÜRKİYE

deeply affected by this global crisis and the governments are incapable of solving these
problems. Systems that people always trust remained incapable and administrations
were helpless. The Ombudsman Institution has been one of the leading institutions
that these despairing people seek legal remedies and seek help. Ombudsmen did not
leave these help requests unanswered which reached a significant number during this
period and they rushed to help with all their might.

Undoubtedly, this pandemic which also seriously affected our country since its first
appearance on 11 March 2020 and measures taken to prevent its spread have significantly
increased the responsibilities of the Ombudsman Institution of Türkiye and revealed its
importance. The Institution has successfully fulfilled its role as a bridge between the
citizen and the state during the pandemic process. The most important proof of this is
90,209 applications submitted to our Institution regarding the pandemic in 2020. This
application rate is more than 4,5 times of the total applications received in 2019. Our
Institution took all the applications seriously and issued “Recommendation” to 68,832
applications, and resolved more than 72 thousand applications through amicable
settlement. Also, we prepared a comprehensive special report “Türkiye’s Fight against
COVID-19 Pandemic” which includes information and evaluation of our state’s combat
against pandemic.

Due to all these developments, we determined the theme of our 2020 annual report as
“The role of the Ombudsman Institution in the difficult conditions of the pandemic
period”.

This Report which we have submitted to the Grand National Assembly of Türkiye, is
our eighth annual report. Within 8 years, the Ombudsman Institution has successfully
completed its institutionalization and has become the young, dynamic and effective
institution of our country for seeking rights and justice. Significant progress has been
made in the development of problem-solving ability by raising the awareness of our
institution before the public and administrations. With its decisions, Ombudsman
Institution has been a remedy for the problems of millions of our citizens, ensured the
establishment of good administration principles in administration and became a strong
defender of human rights. In addition, as a result of the special reports prepared on the
important problems of the society and the workshops conducted, sought solutions to
the problems that concern millions of people.

Our main institutional strategy and working principles are as follows:
- Easy and free of charge access of individuals to the Institution to seek rights and
ensuring rapid access of individuals to justice, primarily by trying the amicable
settlement,

2020 ANNUAL REPORT 13