Miliband is no exception to this rule, and he underlined during his meetings in Turkey that the UK unwaveringly supports Turkey's full membership in the European Union. His government sticks to the officially agreed roadmap which will result in nothing but full membership. Leading by example? I suppose so.There is, however, a certain feeling of uneasiness linked to present British policy makers as it seems that many of them use their mandate to shop around for benefits and perks they do not deserve. To make matters worse, some simply ignore any common sense and ask for even more of the same. Let me give you some indicators.
One UK politician claimed 22,500 pounds to have her seaside “second residence” cleaned. Another one asked for 25,000 pounds to have mobile security set up to protect her house despite the fact that her husband is a millionaire. Perhaps topping the list is the politician who made a profit of 320,000 pounds after selling the house in which he lived for only 27 months and had originally bought with the help of public funds. It is not important to mention the names of these three people or any of the many, many other culprits as they have received enough bad publicity already. The much more important matter at stake is the damage done to the political system as such. How can we trust a minister or member of parliament asking the taxpayer to accept bailing out banks with funds worth billions in any currency when at the same time he or she cannot control their own private finances, or worse, starts cheating the system?
What has to be scrutinized is the issue of whether they actually did cheat the system or whether the system is at fault. Let me explain:
A UK member of parliament receives an ample salary of 64,766 pounds before tax and national insurance (correct on April 1, 2009). One would expect that when staying in a hotel on business they could pay for their own pay-per-view television expenses; not least because travel expenses are added to their salaries. Living near the seat of parliament? I would reckon that you do not need a “second home” paid for by the taxpayer if you happen to live only 20 kilometers away, anyhow. The list could go on and on. The devil's in the detail, and here is where the buck stops. Not only is the individual to blame but the previous and past lawmakers who established this expenses reimbursement system in the first place. It has to be overhauled at once. Will British politicians left, right and center have the courage to come clean and do just that before the next general elections in 2010?
Seen from a Turkish perspective we wonder whether a scandal like the one involving the UK politicians' expense claims is only the tip of the wrongfully claimed perks iceberg and if it could happen anywhere else? In other words, could it happen in Turkey?
Turkish members of Parliament -- I am talking in particular about the Turkish Grand National Assembly -- are underpaid as they roughly earn in Turkish lira what their British counterparts take home in pounds. Running for public office implies going heavily into debt, often to the extent of your first annual salary once elected. No wonder that parliamentarians from all major Turkish political parties fear early elections. Members of a national parliament should earn in line with other professions but must at all times be safeguarded from untoward advances including free business trips or invitations to stay in wealthy citizens' holiday villas. It will not hinder someone entering parliament who has a less honest approach towards claiming unfair expenses, but they should be the minority, not the standard. The latter apparently happened in the United Kingdom, and we should monitor our own politicians so as to make sure a similar milking of the public funds system is prohibited.
Starting a career in politics is often seen as an unwise choice, and many younger citizens, unfortunately, totally ignore this professional track. Not enough is published about the day-to-day lives of our representatives and how they work and sometimes struggle to make ends meet. Yes, more than TL 6,000 is a huge amount of money in this day and age of economic worries, but honest deputies will have paid all of it or more by the end of the next month as we expect them to buy us drinks, invite their voters for a meal and so on and so forth. The more we educate ourselves about the way our elected politicians live, the more they will understand that wrongfully claiming expenses will not be tolerated. Fair salaries and fair claiming of extra expenses is what the public deserves and asks for. And many more young people must enter politics and appreciate it as a decent profession.
Are Turkish politicians different? With more support and checks and balances originating from within the Turkish public, the chances are that they will be indeed!
