Turkey’s score in “2015 Corruption Perceptions Index” declined by three points to 42 against previous year and the country marked one of the “big decliners” in the past four years, including Libya, Australia, Brazil, and Spain.

This also indicated a two-row drop in ranking comparing to last year, placing Turkey in the 66th position among the 168 participating countries, according to the report released on Jan. 27.

Transparency International, one of the leading global civil society organizations in the fight against corruption has been publishing the index annually since 1995, when Turkey’s score has seen 41.

According to the data announced by Transparency International Turkey, Turkey’s score is down three points, ranking below the 2014 score and it declined from 45 to 42 points.

“Having reset the improvement of the previous six years with the drop in 2014, the reported decrease in 2015 means Turkey has sustained its negative status” said the report’s comments.

Moreover, Turkey fell from its 64th position to 66th in one year. This declined stemmed from “an adverse and unfavorable deterioration of the reforms that have been reported as improvement during the last few years” said the index statement.

“Turkey moving away from EU, data shows”

Corruption Perception Index (CPI) of 2015 also indicates that “Turkey is moving away from Europe as it falls behind the EU states”.

“Alongside Macedonia, which had been shaken by the tape scandals in previous year, Turkey ties for the third place out of 19 Eastern European and Central Asian states. Among the G20 member states, Turkey’s rank declined from 10 to 12. Furthermore, Turkey is listed in the Index amidst the worst performers of the last four years, such as Libya and Brazil, which is being shaken with scandals” the announcement added.

According to index data, 68 percent of the 168 countries in the 2015 Index score below 50. Denmark is listed as the best performer with a score of 91, while Finland with 90 points and Sweden with 89 points followed respectively.

On the other hand, North Korea and Somalia this year make up the worst performers with the highest perception of corruption, both with a score of eight points.

“These results clearly demonstrate the need to develop much more transparent, proper and accountable policies by public institutions and officials” urged Transparency International.

“Lack of judicial process for corruption scandals, interventions in legal procedures”

“The lack of judicial process for corruption scandals and interventions in legal procedures led to the consolidation of impunity culture and to the perception that corrupt actions will not be prosecuted” Oya Özarslan, Chair of Transparency International Turkey urged, having also commented on the index results as follows:

“This brings about a social mood in which learned helplessness, indifference and apathy dominate. Furthermore, the lack of anti-corruption reforms in recent years, combined with the social mood described above, doesn’t help creating the right conditions for the fight against corruption.”

“A global response to the strict restrictions on the freedom of speech and expression”

According to Özarslan, the decline can also be interpreted as a “global response to the strict restrictions on the freedom of speech and expression, increasing censorship on the internet and social media, the visible pressure on judiciary, and unlawful exercises in Turkey”.

“In the social and political sense, the results of the 2015 Index emphasize that the issue of corruption has become a question of freedom of democracy, speech and expression. In this context, Transparency International states that fast growing economies, a categorization Turkey belongs to, have been developing a culture of impunity and calls them to embrace a ‘culture of transparency,’ which is indispensable for a democratic and accountable society” she said.

“Impact on foreign direct investments” expected

The international data could have an impact on foreign direct investments Turkey receives, said Özarslan, having urged that “compared to states in a strict economic cooperation and/or competition with Turkey, Turkey is in a sustained downturn”.

“Such a trend could impact national and multinational corporations operating in Turkey directly due to the increased perceived risks. One has to keep in mind that in states where corruption perceptions are high and culture of transparency doesn’t exist, poor economic growth and high-cost production are unavoidable, thus harming domestic economy and the people” Transparency International Turkey Chief stressed.

“Authorities should take solid steps”

She underlined that the country has been “at a standstill for the last 21 years” according to the year-over-year progress. “This demonstrates that corruption and problems with transparency have become deep-rooted issues specific to public sector and reveals that necessary steps for improvement have not been taken” she urged.

The organization fighting corruption also called on authorities to take “solid steps” needed for progress on the fight against corruption and the issue of transparency.

The Methodology of the Corruption Perceptions Index

The Corruption Perception Index draws on data sources from 12 different studies by 11 international institutions specializing in governance and business climate analysis for 168 countries, and reflects the opinions of experts and businesspeople on public sector corruption. The Index has a scale from 0 (perceived to be highly corrupt) to 100 (perceived to be very clean) in order to rank the countries.

Turkey’s score was identified by the contents and results of 8 surveys out of these 12 international surveys. These 8 surveys are: World Economic Forum EOS, Bertelsmann Foundation TI, IMD World Competitiveness Yearbook, Bertelsmann Foundation SGI, World Justice Project ROL, PRS International Country Risk Guide, Economist Intelligence Unit, and IHS Global Insight.