Turkish Ombudsman

Ombudsman Institution

The Ombudsman Institution of the Republic of Turkey was established in 2012 with the Law on the Ombudsman Institution No.6328 as a constitutional public entity affiliated with the Grand National Assembly of Turkey. It has its own private budget and headquarters in Ankara and one office in Istanbul.

According to the Ombudsman Law, the Institution shall be responsible for examining, investigating, and submitting recommendations to the Administration with regard to all sorts of acts and actions as well as attitudes and behaviors of the Administration upon complaint on the functioning of the Administration within the framework of an understanding of human rights-based justice and in the aspect of legality and conformity with principles of fairness.

The Ombudsman Institution aims to contribute to:

Increasing the service quality of the administration,
Internalizing principles of good governance,
Improving human rights standards,
Strengthening the culture of seeking legal remedies,
Forming a transparent and accountable administration.

The Institution started to receive complaints on March 2013. The main duty of the Institution is to advocate for individuals against the administration, as well as protecting and promoting human rights, and it is considered the “conscience” and “lawyer” of the people in the system that is based on individuals and rights.

The Institution has been carrying out its activities based on rule of law, development of respect for human rights and accountability towards people.

Following the transition from the Parliamentary System to the Presidential System of governance in Turkey, the Law on Ombudsman Institution (Law No. 6328) has been amended and the competence of the institution has been broadened so as to involve the acts of the President (Amendment of Article 5 Law No. 6328 ruled by 2/7/2018-Decree Law/703/Art. 110). However, the acts concerning the execution of the legislative power, the acts concerning the execution of the judicial power, the acts of the Turkish Armed Forces, which are purely of military nature, are outside the competence of the Institution.

The Chief Ombudsman and Ombudsmen are elected by the Grand National Assembly of Turkey) for four years and may be reelected. They must act in compliance with the principle of the independence and impartiality during the exercise of their duties.

The Ombudsman Institution was established in compliance with the Paris Principles, and carries out its works within the framework of these principles considering the followings:

the Ombudsman Institution is a constitutional entity whose powers and duties are regulated by the Constitution,
the Chief Ombudsman and Ombudsmen are elected by the Grand National Assembly of Turkey (GNAT),
its revenues comprise the treasury funds to be allocated from the budget of the GNAT,
the Chief Ombudsman and the Ombudsmen are elected for a given period and may be re-elected,
the Ombudsman Institution is authorized to conduct independent research in the fields within its mandate, and is not open to suggestions while conducting examinations and research,
the Ombudsman Institution is vested with the competence to ask for all the information and documents,
the Ombudsman Institution can publicly announce its recommendations,
the Ombudsman Institution can work in cooperation with the civil society organizations, etc.

The Mission of the Institution

The mission of the Ombudsman Institution is to protect citizens with its effective complaint handling mechanism against unlawful acts of the Administration and to contribute that public services are provided in compliance with human rights as well as the principles of good administration.

In the long term, the Institution aims at playing effective role in creating a public administration where the culture of seeking legal remedies is common and the quality of provided services is high.

Areas of responsibilities

Each Ombudsman has their own areas of responsibilities that mainly include the following areas:

Justice, National Defense and Security
Protection of Family
Labor and Social Security
Children’s Rights
Education, Youth and Sports
Economy, Finance and Tax
Energy, Industry, Customs and Trade
Disability Rights
Food, Agriculture and Livestock
Human Rights
Women’s Rights
Public Personnel Regime
Services Provided by Local Governments
Right to Property
Population, Citizenship, Refugee and Asylum Rights
Forestry, Water, Environment and Urbanization
Healthcare
Social Services
Transportation, Press and Communication

Organizational Structure

The Institution consists of the Office of the Chief Ombudsman and the Office of the Secretary-General. The Office of the Chief Ombudsman comprises the Chief Ombudsman and 5 Ombudsmen.

The Institution is administered and represented by the Chief Ombudsman. The Ombudsman Institution comprises 245 staff including 140 permanent staff, 80 permanent workers, 3 contractual IT specialists and 22 temporary staff.

STATISTICS

Being one of the newest and most dynamic institutions of Turkey, the Ombudsman Institution has received over 60 thousand complaints since its establishment. Through its recommendations, amicable settlements, and special reports, the Ombudsman Institution has resolved the problems of millions of people.

2018 At a Glance

The Ombudsman Institution in 2018:

received 17,585 applications
resolved 17,615 cases
examined 4.106 cases*
issued 2.498 amicable settlement decisions
issued 946 Recommendations including partial ones
had 84% ability to settle disputes
fulfilled 97,538 requests for information

*case files that passed through investigation and examination

Figure 1: 2018 at a glance

General Statistics

As of 2018, a total of 59.567 complaint applications have been received.

Table 1: Number of complaints as per years

Figure 2: Compliance rate of the Administrations with Recommendations as per years