Guidance of Turkish National Ethics Legislation on Constitution of Ethical Culture in Public Administrations

In an organization participants` level of consciousness about ethical rules and their engegament to these rules are very important for successfully carrying out its activities in accordance with the purpose of its establishment. However, the concept of ethics is often confused with the concept of morality. Often these two concepts are used interchangeably. This complexity of definition also makes it difficult for organizations to define their ethical rules. The existence of ethical rules and the adoption of such rules by public employees are also vital for prevention of unethical behaviors such as corruption and bribery in public administrations operating in order to use public resources effectively and efficiently. The adoption of ethical rules is only possible with strong ethical legislation. This study aims to evaluate guidance degree of Turkish ethical national legislation to employees and examines the aspects that legislation needs to be developed. For this purpose Regulation Regarding to Ethical Code of Conduct for Public Employees was analyzed in the scope of the study. Although the regulation is strong about avoiding behavior that would harm public resources, it is found out that internalization of the rule-based provisions laid out in the scope of the regulation is difficult for employees. It has been determined that the regulation should be developed in a way that embraces whole society more.

Keywords

ethics, ethical legislation, public, public employee, guidance