Turkish president hails key role of Court of Accounts

By Burak Bir

ANKARA (AA) - Turkiye's president on Monday praised the key role of the Turkish Court of Accounts in the country's public administration system, saying they will continue to make legal arrangements toward transparency and accountability.

Speaking at the 160th-anniversary program of the Turkish Court of Accounts in the capital Ankara, Recep Tayyip Erdogan said transparency and accountability are the most important characteristics of the modern democratic state system.

"The Court of Accounts has a key role in our public administration system, with its experience, the powers it has been given, and the mission it has undertaken," he added.

Erdogan also stressed that the Court of Accounts works to protect the rights of each citizen.

- 'Further legal arrangements'

"We have further strengthened the Court of Accounts, which is the supreme auditing body, equipped with judicial power according to our constitution, with the laws we enacted in 2006 and 2010," he noted.

Erdogan went on to say that Turkiye has proven its commitment to the rule of law by including all civil, military, and public institutions along with state economic enterprises that use public resources, including municipal companies, as part of the audit of the Court of Accounts.

"So, we have ensured that our nation can monitor how public resources are spent in the most accurate, reliable, and systematic way," he added.

Erdogan also underlined that Turkiye continued to expand the court's audit area as the country shifted to the presidential system in 2017 through a public referendum and put it into practice a year later.

"We will continue to make the necessary legal arrangements as part of the emerging demands of our country and the public administration," he noted, reiterating the country's aims to achieve its 2023 goals.

Established in 1862, the Court of Accounts is the supreme governmental accounting body of Turkiye, responsible for the comptrolling of the public accounts and the auditing of the accountancy of the political parties, in accordance with the constitution.