Corruption in Turkey : Is the donor content when the recipient is content?

Abstract

In a nation-wide survey carried out in Turkey about two years ago, just suitable to the above questioned saying in Turkish ( when the recipient is content, the donor is content ), only 2 percent of respondents said almost no one accepts bribes, while 83 percent were of the opinion that almost everyone or most people do. Whereas a sizeable proportion of the Turkish economy is unrecorded or black (some estimates go as high as 50 percent of the GDP), combating corruption and improving the rule of law will figure prominently in the accession negotiations between Turkey and the EU. As Michael has recently noticed, Turkey certainly has less control of corruption than the first wave accession countries. However, Turkey is closer to the second wave countries of Bulgaria and Romania, being statistically indistinguishable from either of them.2 Two major factors that contribute to corruption are ineffective enforcement and a favourable culture. A citizen who pays a small bribe to a civil servant may complain about it, but most regard it as the normal state of affairs and certainly do not have a guilty conscience as a result.