ABSTRACT
This chapter examines the factors that promote anti-corruption related change in the Turkish public sector over time. The empirical evidence shows that it has been mostly external actors, especially the European Union (EU), pushing Turkish authorities into domestic change at the turn of century. The acceleration of the EU accession process after 1999 urged a more prominent fight against corruption in Turkey. After the 2001 financial crisis, Ankara launched a serious of structural reforms, supported by a three-year International Monetary Fund (IMF) standby agreement and a thematic programme from the World Bank on public sector adjustment. Besides the low EU conditionality, the IMF and the World Bank also did not offer sizeable and credible incentives to pay off the costs of further reforms. The external rewards and domestic incentives proved to be necessary conditions to generate comprehensive reforms to fight corruption in Turkey.
