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THE OMBUDSMAN INSTITUTION OF THE REPUBLIC OF TÜRKİYE

The Ombudsman Institution of Türkiye makes decisions in line with the principles
of law, fairness, human rights and good administration. In this regard, the fighting
process, the measures and practices have been evaluated in terms of good administration
principles such as proportionality, equity, lawfulness, justice, equality, participation,
courtesy, etc. The Report also includes some deficiencies observed in the fight against
the coronavirus.

The Report is finalized with the recommendations of next steps to be taken by Türkiye
by drawing upon the experience gained so far.

4.2. COMPLAINTS REGARDING BANKING TRANSACTIONS AND
THE PROBLEMS FACED IN ACCESS TO THE BANK LOANS
PROVIDED FOR CITIZENS DURING THE PANDEMIC

The measures taken by the countries in response to the COVID-19 outbreak have
enormously affected the economic life. As in other countries, Türkiye felt the need
to take certain measures to mitigate the expected negative situations in economic and
commercial activities due to COVID-19. In this regard, an Economic Stability Shield
Package was introduced to minimize the impacts of the pandemic. The purpose of
these measures is to prevent bankruptcies and to try to ensure economic stability by
preventing employment from being interrupted.

One of these measures has been providing low interest loan opportunities through state
banks for the low-income citizens. In this process, the Ombudsman Institution has
received many complaints from citizens who claimed that they couldn’t benefit from the
economic support measures which mainly included the following: extending the time
limit of declaration/notification/reporting conducted using fiscal policy tools, adopting
rate cuts, allowing the taxpayers affected by the COVID-19 measures to benefit from
the force majeure provisions and postponing public receivables, low interest loan
opportunities for small and medium-sized enterprises, postponing credit debts, and
supporting low-income individuals with credit.

In 2020, the total number of applications are 90.209. Out of this total number, 70.440
applications are about economic support consumer loans provided due to the pandemic
and 19.769 applications are about other subject areas.

62 2020 ANNUAL REPORT