GYV holds panel discussion on corruption at UN Office in Vienna

The Journalists and Writers Foundation (GYV) has held a panel discussion on fight against corruption at the UN Office in Vienna.

The discussion titled “Fight against Corruption from the Perspective of Equal Opportunity” was held as part of the 24th Session of the Commission on Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice (Crime Commission) on Friday.

The panel, jointly organized by GYV and the Vienna-based Friede Dialogue Institute, was led by GYV’s UN representative Yasemin Aydın and attended by political scientist Ahmet Erdi Öztürk from Ljubljana University and İştar Gözaydın, a professor of law and politics.

GYV Vice President Hüseyin Hurmalı also delivered the opening speech of the discussion, which drew a large number of international guests.

During his speech, Öztürk stressed that corruption, which is one of the most important reasons of inequality and lack of social justice, is used by politicians of anti-democratic countries for their personal interests.

Öztürk also listed justifications frequently expressed by the politicians who are involved in corruption. He said these politicians claim that they use “their resources for the nation.”

Gözaydın brought theoretical explanations to recent discussions on corruption in Turkey, which have been increasing since a major graft operation that erupted on Dec. 17, 2013.

The professor recalled that the government has been using the judiciary as an instrument in the wake of these probes, stressing that such practices can only be seen in authoritarian regimes.

Published on Today's Zaman, 22 May 2015, Friday