Sunday, 24 July, 2022
The rising trend of corruption in the TRNC is worrying, academics Professor Ömer Gökçekuş and Associate Professor Sertaç Sonan have said in an interview with Yeniduzen.
They described the situation as “depressing” and “worrying” referring to the “North Cyprus Corruption Barometer 2021”*, a poll of ordinary Turkish Cypriots regarding their opinions on corruption in society and government.
The poll revealed that 90 percent of those interviewed believed that corruption is a problem and 80 percent said that corruption was on the rise, 90 percent of those polled said that they believed that government was bad at fighting corruption.
Assoc Professor Sertaç Sonan, the Director of the Cyprus and Mediterranean Studies Centre, said that the vast majority of Turkish Cypriots stated that corruption is unacceptable even if the end result was positive, The rate for not tolerating corruption is 83 percent, even higher than the EU average.
“The findings show that if politicians show determination in the fight against corruption, individuals are ready to follow suit. Despite everything, nearly half of society thinks that ordinary citizens can make a difference in the fight against corruption”, Professor Sonan stated.
Professor Ömer Gökçekuş, a lecturer from the Political Science and International Relations Department at Cyprus International University (CIU), said that it was important to demonstrate serious political will to fight against corruption.
He emphasised that corruption not only disrupts the efficient distribution of resources in general, but also distorts the income distribution in sub-groups. He pointed out that it was also worrying in terms of justice.
When people complain, they need to see the issue resolved, Professor Gökçekuş said, noting that according to the results of the study, nearly one-third of the society revealed that officials involved in corruption were never punished.
*The “North Cyprus Corruption Barometer 2021” study was prepared to assess the views and experiences of TRNC citizens, based on the methodology used by Transparency International for the Global Corruption Barometer.
