Audit of Disaster and Emergency Administration Presidency by Turkish Court of Accounts in the Context of Disaster Administration

Abstract

Disasters have emerged as one of the most significant public policy issues in contemporary times. Turkey is among the countries most affected by disasters. Earthquakes are at the forefront of these disasters, but floods, landslides, rockfalls, and similar events are also frequently encountered. These disasters often result in substantial loss of life and property, profoundly disrupting dailylife and activities. While the memory of the Marmara earthquakes of 1999 remains vivid, the February 2023 earthquakes centered in Kahramanmaraş, which affected 11 provinces, once again highlighted the devastating impact of disasters and emphasized the importance of disaster administration efforts. In Turkey’s public administration system, the Disaster and Emergency Administration Authority (AFAD) was established as a coordinating institution tasked with managing the processes of disaster preparedness, risk reduction, response, and recovery. AFAD continues its activities today, utilizing its extensive powers and significant public resources for disaster administration. However, like all public institutions with responsibilities in disaster administration, it is essential to ensure that AFAD operates effectively, efficiently, and accountably. To achieve this, AFAD must be subject to auditing. In Turkey, this responsibility is undertaken by the Court of Accounts (Sayıştay), a longstanding institution of public administration. The Turkish Court of Accounts plays a vital role as the institution that audits the financial activities, decisions, and operations of public instituitions. Within this framework, the Court of Accounts also audits AFAD and regularly publishes reports on its findings. This study aims to evaluate the Court of Accounts’ audits of AFAD, by examining both regularity audit and performance audit reports. The research focuses on the findings of Court of Accounts audits conducted between 2012 and 2023, assessing the effectiveness of AFAD’s disaster administration activities. Given Turkey’s frequent exposure to disasters such as earthquakes, floods, and wildfires, effective disaster administration is an absolute necessity. In this context, the Court of Accounts’ audit of AFAD plays a critical role in improving the institution’s performance, ensuring the efficient use of resources, and providing the public with a reliable disaster administration system. This study seeks to offer a deeper understanding of AFAD’s role in disaster administration, highlight the deficiencies identified in Court of Accounts audits, and propose potential areas of improvements. The research underscores the importance of addressing the issues revealed by the audits to enhance disaster administration processes and policies in Turkey. The research has adobted qualitative research method, specifically content analysis. The data was collected from, 12 audit reports published by the Court of Accounts between 2012 and 2023. However, since performance audits were conducted regularly only between 2013 and 2018 and discontinued thereafter, the performance audits from this period were evaluated based on the criterias outlined in the Court of Accounts’ performance audit guidelines. The findings of this evaluation were presented in year-specific tables, reflecting compliance with the criteria. The research is limited to publicly available audit reports issued by the Court of Accounts and related literature.