Prosecutor's Office rejects HKP's application against TURKSTAT! Here is the decision...

While the data announced by the Turkish Statistical Institute (TURKSTAT) continues to be a subject of debate, TURKSTAT President Erhan Çetinkaya had responded to criticisms regarding their decision to stop publishing item prices by saying, "The item prices announced in the past do not have the quality of an indicator. It requires an extra day of work to publish item prices. For this reason, we no longer publish these prices, which no longer carry the quality of an indicator."

According to the report by Mehmet Oflaz from ANKA; the HKP took the matter to the judiciary, arguing that the inflation perceived by the public differs from the inflation announced by TURKSTAT and that TURKSTAT data does not reflect the truth.

Lawyers for the People's Liberation Party (HKP) filed a criminal complaint with the Ankara Chief Public Prosecutor's Office on July 10 against TURKSTAT President Erhan Çetinkaya and TURKSTAT Vice Presidents for the crimes of "influencing prices," "misconduct in office," and "failure of a public official to report a crime."

'IT HAS BEEN GRANTED SCIENTIFIC AND TECHNICAL AUTONOMY'

The Ankara Chief Public Prosecutor's Office Bureau of Investigation for Crimes by Public Officials processed the criminal complaint filed by the party's lawyers and decided that "there is no room for an investigation." In the decision reached by the ANKA News Agency, it was pointed out that no instructions were given to TURKSTAT on any matter and that statistics are announced based on scientific principles and autonomy, and the following statements were included:

"When all information and documents in the file are evaluated together; it is understood that the Turkish Statistical Institute is authorized and tasked with compiling, evaluating, analyzing, and publishing official statistics of our country in the fields of economy, social, demography, culture, environment, science, and technology, as well as other fields deemed necessary, within the framework of the relevant provisions of the Turkish Statistical Law No. 5429 and Presidential Decree No. 4, and that it presents the official statistics produced in this way to the use of the Presidency, ministries, public institutions and organizations, all decision-making bodies, researchers, practitioners, and other users.

The institution is a public institution with a special budget that has legal personality and is an affiliated organization of the Ministry of Treasury and Finance. Furthermore, according to Article 599 of Presidential Decree No. 4, titled 'Scientific and Technical Autonomy,' it is regulated that no instructions can be given to institution employees and other implementing units on any matter, including the selection, distribution, content, form, and timing of data sources and statistical methods and processes, and the application of statistical confidentiality in the implementation of the Official Statistics Program, which determines the framework for the production of official statistics in our country. With this regulation, the institution has been granted scientific and technical autonomy in the processes of producing official statistics."

'THERE IS NO FAULT OR LIABILITY'

In the continuation of the decision, it was emphasized that the Ankara Chief Public Prosecutor's Office had previously issued decisions not to process investigations regarding similar allegations and that these decisions had become final. The following was recorded in the decision:

"It is understood that the allegations remain abstract and general in nature, that there is no fault or liability that can be attributed to those complained about regarding the said allegations, and that it is not of a nature to require the opening of an investigation against the person complained about; therefore, it has been decided that there is no room for an investigation regarding the complainant's application."