This blog post was published under the 2010 to 2015 Conservative and Liberal Democrat coalition government

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Leigh Turner

Ambassador to Austria and UK Permanent Representative to the United Nations and other International Organisations in Vienna

Part of UK in Turkey World Press Freedom Day

7th February 2013

How bad is corruption in Turkey?

Resim2This seems to be the time of year for international comparative indeces.  I blogged recently about the latest statistics on press freedom.  Now someone has pointed out that I didn’t cover the latest Transparency International Corruption Index, published in December.

The Transparency International figures are controversial.  The full name of the index is “The Corruption Perceptions Index” and the authors are at pains to point out that corruption is difficult to measure objectively.  Nonetheless, anti-corruption campaigners view the index as one of the best available measures to compare the extent to which corruption is a problem in different countries.

The latest figures for Turkey are mixed.  The good news is that Turkey has improved its ranking by 7 places to 54th place, putting it level with the Czech Republic and ahead of some EU countries.  I shall not name them for reasons of EU solidarity, but herewith a full list and interactive map here and an article discussing the results.  Turkish friends tell me that progress has been made in recent years in numerous areas, with petty street-level corruption having been substantially cleaned up.

Set against this, Turkey may aspire to a higher place on the Corruption Perceptions Index than 54th out of 174 countries.

The Corruption Perceptions Index is one of many factors which international investors watch closely when deciding where to invest around the world; and there is widely believed to be a relationship between competitiveness and lack of corruption.  That is one reason why the embassy has developed a number of projects in recent years with the Turkish Interior Ministry to address local-level corruption.  I shall watch the index closely in the coming years and hope Turkey will continue to improve its standing.

About Leigh Turner

I hope you find this blog interesting and, where appropriate, entertaining. My role in Vienna covers the relationship between Austria and the UK as well as the diverse work of…

I hope you find this blog interesting and, where appropriate, entertaining. My role in Vienna covers the relationship between Austria and the UK as well as the diverse work of the UN and other organisations; stories here will reflect that.

About me: I arrived in Vienna in August 2016 for my second posting in this wonderful city, having first served here in the mid-1980s. My previous job was as HM Consul-General and Director-General for Trade and Investment for Turkey, Central Asia and South Caucasus based in Istanbul.

Further back: I grew up in Nigeria, Exeter, Lesotho, Swaziland and Manchester before attending Cambridge University 1976-79. I worked in several government departments before joining the Foreign Office in 1983.

Keen to go to Africa and South America, I’ve had postings in Vienna (twice), Moscow, Bonn, Berlin, Kyiv and Istanbul, plus jobs in London ranging from the EU Budget to the British Overseas Territories.

2002-6 I was lucky enough to spend four years in Berlin running the house, looking after the children (born 1992 and 1994) and doing some writing and journalism.

To return to Vienna as ambassador is a privilege and a pleasure. I hope this blog reflects that.

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