51. Is information in reports from political parties and/or candidates to be made public?

Source: GRECO (2010) Third Evaluation Round Evaluation Report on Turkey on Transparency of Party Funding (Theme II) Adopted by GRECO at its 46th Plenary Meeting, 22-26 March 2010, GRECO Secretariat, Strasbourg.

Source: Gençkaya, Ömer F (2018) “Financing political parties and electoral campaigns in Turkey” in Sayarı, Sabri, Ayan Musil, Pelin and Demirkol, Özhan (eds) Party Politics in Turkey A Comparative Perspective, Routledge, London and New York.

Source: Gençkaya, Ömer F., Gündüz, U.  and Cihangir-Tetik, D. (2016) Political Finance and Transparency. Association of Transparency International, İstanbul.

Contrary to the recommendation of the Council of Europe (Recommendation Rec(2003)4of the Committee of Ministers to member states on common rules against corruption in the funding of political parties and electoral campaigns), political parties in Turkey are not obliged to make their accounts public. Therefore, GRECO recommends Turkey “to ensure that annual accounts of political parties and monitoring reports of the supervisory body are made easily accessible to the public, within timeframes to be specified by law”. Although a few political parties publicize their financial accounts online, this is not legally binding, before the Constitutional Court's examination which is published in the Official Gazette or its web page.

Source: Gençkaya, Ömer F (2018) “Financing political parties and electoral campaigns in Turkey” in Sayarı, Sabri, Ayan Musil, Pelin and Demirkol, Özhan (eds) Party Politics in Turkey A Comparative Perspective, Routledge, London and New York.

The Constitutional Court's examination report does not contain all information and details of incomes and expenditures which are submitted by the political parties.

Source: GRECO (2010) Third Evaluation Round Evaluation Report on Turkey on Transparency of Party Funding (Theme II) Adopted by GRECO at its 46th Plenary Meeting, 22-26 March 2010, GRECO Secretariat, Strasbourg.

The examination reports on the presidential candidates’ campaign accounts which are prepared by the Supreme Board of Elections do not contain the detailed information. Some presidential candidates voluntarily publicize their revenues and expenditures online.

Source: Gençkaya, Ömer F., Gündüz, U.  and Cihangir-Tetik, D. (2016) Political Finance and Transparency. Association of Transparency International, İstanbul.