Audit report again reveals financial mismanagement and unjustified spending at Turkish Foreign Ministry

Levent Kenez/Stockholm

In its 2023 report, the Turkish State Audit Office (Saytay), which audits public institutions, identified a series of irregularities and omissions in the Turkish Ministry of Foreign Affairs. The report found that the ministry recorded some transactions made in 2022 as if they had taken place in 2023. In addition, it was found that exchange rate differences resulting from payments made abroad were wrongly classified as personnel expenses. Irregularities were also found in the records of some movable assets and a lack of coordination with the Social Security Institution (SGK) in covering healthcare costs abroad.

Financial irregularities and numerous unjustified expenses detailed in the 2023 Court of Auditors reportThe report’s findings are consistent with those of previous years, indicating that the Turkish Foreign Ministry has failed to take steps to address these persistent problems. The reduction of the ministry’s internal audit staff from two auditors to one in recent years further confirms this lack of corrective action. Previous reports since 2017 warned the ministry that at least 15 internal auditors would need to be hired.

According to the report, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, which had a total budget allocation of 10.94 billion Turkish liras in 2022, was allocated 16.78 billion liras for 2023. With an additional 537 million liras in funds, the total budget reached 17.31 billion liras.

The Court of Auditors' report highlighted irregularities in the ministry's asset management records. During the examination, it was discovered that transactions related to the accounts for the supply of materials, machinery, vehicles and fixed assets that took place in 2022 were wrongly recorded as transactions for 2023. In addition, despite the fact that the regularization deadline had passed, correction entries and data entries for assets from previous years continued to be made by the units concerned.

The Court of Auditors found that all exchange rate differences resulting from payments made abroad were recorded as personnel expenses. The report states: “After reviewing the payments made abroad by the Ministry through the Ministry of Treasury and Finance, it was discovered that there were discrepancies between the exchange rate set by the Ministry for requests for funds and the rate used for payments made to the bank. As a result, all payments related to these exchange rate differences were wrongly recorded as personnel expenses.”

This led to an overestimation of personnel costs. Although these transactions did not take place in 2023 and did not affect the total figures for 2023, they caused personnel costs to appear inflated by more than 110 million lire.

The report also highlighted that some expenditures were not in line with the capital expenditure limits set in the central government's budget for 2023. The report concluded that the administration must ensure that expenditures exceeding the set limits are correctly classified as capital expenditures.

Another conclusion of the report is that there is no established mechanism to facilitate coordination between the ministry and the Social Security Institution regarding the review of documents relating to medical care abroad and the payment of treatment fees.

Staff distribution in the Turkish Ministry of Foreign Affairs

Job Title	Total
Deputy Minister	4
Diplomatic career officers and senior executives	2 006
Legal Advisor	18
Expert consultant	8
Consultant	16
Press and public relations advisor	7
Foreign Affairs Specialist	24
Internal Auditor	1
Attaché (Security Officer)	582
Financial Services Specialist	13
Central staff	1,053
Permanent worker	318
Contractual Legal Specialist in Foreign Affairs	27
IT staff under contract	25
Contracted service personnel	4
Contracted personnel (abroad)	3 139
Total	7,245

The Court of Auditors' report also provided detailed information on the ministry's staff structure for 2023.

According to the ministry's data, as of December 31, 2023, the ministry's central and external offices had a total of 7,245 employees. Among them, 1,143 are career civil servants and 860 are consular and specialized officers. Of these employees, 56 work at the central office, while 3,139 are employed abroad, giving a total of 3,195 contract staff and 318 permanent staff.

The main shortcoming of the Court of Accounts report is the lack of information on the amounts involved in past irregularities and the lack of measures taken for transactions involving criminal elements. One of the main reasons for this situation is the transformation of the Court of Accounts into an ineffective institution under the administration of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, which led to its partisan identity.

Speaking at an event celebrating the 160th anniversary of the Court of Accounts in May 2022, President Erdogan responded to the findings of the Court's report that were leaked to the media, saying: “I do not think that audits of executive institutions should be conducted with the aim of detecting irregularities and imposing sanctions.”

Turkish Court of Accounts Report 2023 on the Turkish Ministry of Foreign Affairs:

Wmo1MPEOZ3-Ministry-of-Foreign Affairs