The New Face of Village Managements: An Assessment on Rural Neighborhood Practice

Abstract

Villages, which are the most basic unit in the Turkish administrative organization, have had to constantly cope with problems throughout the history. In addition, the legal entities of the villages within the metropolitan municipality were terminated with Law No. 6360 and they were transformed into neighborhoods. This transformation has had financial, social, administrative, structural, and political effects on the villages. The financial responsibilities imposed on the villages by the Law No. 6360 caused the villagers to leave their settlements, and the potentials related to agriculture and animal husbandry in the rural areas could not be utilized. To keep the villagers in rural areas and to reduce the financial burdens on the villagers, the "rural neighborhood" status was established. This study aims to reveal the problems that will be encountered in practice in the settlements that turn from village to neighborhood and then gain the status of rural neighborhood, by comparing them with Law No. 6360. The study was designed as a case study (special case) method among descriptive analysis methods. The research was carried out as document analysis. As a result of the research, it has been determined that the rural neighborhood arrangement will increase the inequalities existing in rural areas, create a new dual structure and partially reduce the financial responsibilities of the villagers.