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THE OMBUDSMAN INSTITUTION OF THE REPUBLIC OF TÜRKİYE

administrative judicial supervision, due to the special regulation in its law. In addition,
unlike the judicial supervision, the Institution conducts supervisions in terms of equity
and principles of good administration, apart from the legal legislation supervision.

For a year I have been working as an Ombudsman, detailed examinations and
investigations were carried out in our Institution regarding the applications related
to five basic different fields in which I was assigned including especially human
rights, services conducted by local administrations, civil registry, citizenship, rights
of refugees and asylum seekers, transportation, press and communication, and public
staff regime (problems of employees with employee status in the administration arising
from the Labour Law and employment contract). As a result of these examinations
and investigations, thousands of decisions were issued according to the nature of the
applications.
The statistics on applications filed to our Institution demonstrate that amicable
settlement decisions were issued about one-third of the applications. Thus, in
approximately 33 of the 100 applications filed to our Institution, disputes which are
the subject of the application were finalised in a short time and without any cost.
Moreover, since the dispute is resolved after the information-document request letter
in some cases, this period can sometimes take up to three months, but the average time
for issuance of our amicable settlement decisions was 30-35 days after the application.

Our Institution conducts an examination on the merits of the applications which do
not result in an amicable settlement, an inadmissibility decision, or a referral decision.
Within a maximum of 6 months, our Institution issues its recommendation or a partial
recommendation-partial refusal decision if the Chief Ombudsman considers the
complaint to be admissible. On the other hand, a decision of refusal is issued in cases
where the request is not considered to be justified or where it is determined that the
fulfilment of the request may harm the rights of other individuals.

Our Institution also holds discussions with the administrations, especially on the issues
where the applications are concentrated; and when no results can be achieved in these
discussions, it is emphasised in the recommendations that the principles of good
administration are a right for the citizens and an obligation for the administration.

The priority of the administration while providing public service should always be
the protection of human dignity in all its acts, actions, attitudes, and behaviours. Every
effort made for this purpose is invaluable since it touches the lives of individuals, each
of whom is special and unique, and “makes them feel that their voices are heard by
someone in Ankara”, as one of our applicants expressed in their message.

The Ombudsman Institution is an independent examination and supervision
mechanism, acts as a bridge between the citizens and the administration, and enables

22 2021 ANNUAL REPORT