No disciplinary penalty can be given to civil servants, other public servants, members of professional organizations and their higher organizations having the attribute of a public institution, unless they are recognized with the right to defend themselves.

According to the provisions of the current Labor Law No. 1475 in effect in Turkey; the person who works at a job in return for a wage based on a service contract is called a "worker". The contract does not have to be in writing for the existence of a service contract between the parties. The relationship of a service contract can also be established verbally, it is also sufficient that the employee has worked actively and this has been accepted by the opposite party. In the labor law, no independent definition for the employer has been identified, but it is defined as the "juristic or real persons who employ workers in a workplace".

The number of employees with civil servant status or contracted personnel in the public sector in Turkey is around 2 million, and the number of employees employed with worker status at workplaces in various sectors is more than 4 million, of which about 1 million belong to the public sector. The number of workers employed in Operating State Economic Enterprises (SEEs) has gradually decreased because of the privatization policies of the governments in recent years.

The ministries and all the state units were reorganized through organizational laws and a series of decrees having the force of law, in December 1983, with the objective of carrying out public services in a more effective manner and the number of executive ministries was decreased. As a result of reviewing public administration, new standards were brought to civil service permanent staff and the hierarchic steps in bureaucracy were reduced from 14 to 7, and a reduction in bureaucracy was targeted.

Furthermore, the status of civil servants and experts also started to be applied in Turkey, as in many countries, and the formation of a career system was accelerated. Today, many public institutions employ personnel with the status of "assistant expert", and also transfer personnel from within their own organization to expert status by different means.

The number of workers employed in public sector has gradually decreased in recent years because of the privatization policies.

Another tendency observed in Turkish public administration is to form institutions such as the Chairmanship of the Regional Development Administration of the Southeastern Anatolia Project with the objective of taking into this scope the subjects which were not found in the public sector previously and performing the services envisaged for a definite period of time.

The Marmara Earthquake
Following the earthquake which occurred on 17 August 1999 in the Marmara region, the government established a crisis control administration immediately, and began to heal the great suffering that the quake had caused. The disaster left over 15,000 people dead and about 100,000 families homeless in its aftermath.

The government envisaged a three phase solution to provide the quake victims with housing. In the first phase, a tent city has been established, housing over 100,000 families, thereby improving the dire situation at hand. The second phase includes the construction of temporary prefabricated residences, settlement of the victims in guest houses and social facilities owned by public institutions, along with financial aid for rent, spanning the duration of a year. The third and final phase towards providing earthquake victims with housing shall be the repair and restoration of damaged houses, where it is reasonable to do so, and the total rebuilding of those residences where it is not feasible otherwise, which shall then be turned over to their rightful owners.