Local Governments In Turkey Research Articles

Discussions of local autonomy in Turkey

The Europen Charter of Local Self Government was introduced and initiated in Turkey in 1992 however there were reservations placed on certain articles of the agreement. This Charter can be said to be considered as an essential reference paper for the agenda of Turkish Public Administration for the discussions of “reformation in local governments”, “empowering local governments” and “creating autonomous local governments”. The Charter has continously been present in the agenda of Turkish Politics before almost every elections, during preparation of a new constitution, the peace period and democratisation issues. These discussions are in relevance to removing or maintaning the reservations placed on the articles of the Charter.The Council of Europe has initiated the Charter and has started working in 1997 towards creating similiar documents at regions. The Council initially accepted the European Draft Charter of Regional Self Government and in accordance accepted the Reference Framework Document for Regional Democracy in 2009. The Draft Charter states that the recognition of the autonomy of regional governments will not be allowed to impact the policy of loyalty to the state in any way and that the regions will not be able to negatively impact the national unity.The purpose of this study is to research and present the discussions of the autonomy of local governments in Turkey in regards to the mentioned papers. The study will be limited to the impact caused or the impact that may be caused by the above mentioned documents and agreements in regards to autonomous local government discussions in Turkey. The above mentioned articles will not be examined in detail. Keywords: Local Autonomy, Local Government, The Principle of Subsidiarity, Decentralization and Regionalization, Turkish Political and Administrative Culture

Discussions of local autonomy in Turkey

The Europen Charter of Local Self Government was introduced and initiated in Turkey in 1992 however there were reservations placed on certain articles of the agreement. This Charter can be said to be considered as an essential reference paper for the agenda of Turkish Public Administration for the discussions of “reformation in local governments”, “empowering local governments” and “creating autonomous local governments”. The Charter has continously been present in the agenda of Turkish Politics before almost every elections, during preparation of a new constitution, the peace period and democratisation issues. These discussions are in relevance to removing or maintaning the reservations placed on the articles of the Charter. The Council of Europe has initiated the Charter and has started working in 1997 towards creating similiar documents at regions. The Council initially accepted the European Draft Charter of Regional Self Government and in accordance accepted the Reference Framework Document for Regional Democracy in 2009. The Draft Charter states that the recognition of the autonomy of regional governments will not be allowed to impact the policy of loyalty to the state in any way and that the regions will not be able to negatively impact the national unity. The purpose of this study is to research and present the discussions of the autonomy of local governments in Turkey in regards to the mentioned papers. The study will be limited to the impact caused or the impact that may be caused by the above mentioned documents and agreements in regards to autonomous local government discussions in Turkey. The above mentioned articles will not be examined in detail. Keywords: Local Autonomy, Local Government, The Principle of Subsidiarity, Decentralization and Regionalization, Turkish Political and Administrative Culture

Discussions of local autonomy in Turkey

The Europen Charter of Local Self Government was introduced and initiated in Turkey in 1992 however there were reservations placed on certain articles of the agreement. This Charter can be said to be considered as an essential reference paper for the agenda of Turkish Public Administration for the discussions of “reformation in local governments”, “empowering local governments” and “creating autonomous local governments”. The Charter has continously been present in the agenda of Turkish Politics before almost every elections, during preparation of a new constitution, the peace period and democratisation issues. These discussions are in relevance to removing or maintaning the reservations placed on the articles of the Charter.The Council of Europe has initiated the Charter and has started working in 1997 towards creating similiar documents at regions. The Council initially accepted the European Draft Charter of Regional Self Government and in accordance accepted the Reference Framework Document for Regional Democracy in 2009. The Draft Charter states that the recognition of the autonomy of regional governments will not be allowed to impact the policy of loyalty to the state in any way and that the regions will not be able to negatively impact the national unity.The purpose of this study is to research and present the discussions of the autonomy of local governments in Turkey in regards to the mentioned papers. The study will be limited to the impact caused or the impact that may be caused by the above mentioned documents and agreements in regards to autonomous local government discussions in Turkey. The above mentioned articles will not be examined in detail.
 Keywords: Local Autonomy, Local Government, The Principle of Subsidiarity, Decentralization and Regionalization, Turkish Political and Administrative Culture

Demokratikleşme Sürecinde Türkiye’de Yerel Yönetimler

Despite debates on centralism-local government and democratisation with respect to local government in Turkey have intensified after 1980, in fact the polarisation on this problem has historicaly begun before 1980. Nowadays, the debates on local administration and democratisation currently continue in Turkey. In the current situation, a lot of thinkers put forward that centralism is already influential in Turkey. On the other hand, in spite of influential centralism in Turkish society, it is suggested that the local administration is accepted as an applicable administration form even in the centralist approaches. The present study focuses on the discusses about this subject and developments in recent years

Decentralization and Recentralization of Local Governments in Turkey

Local governments in Turkey are based on a tripartite system: special provincial administrations, municipalities, and villages. In parallel to the extensive reforms in public administration since 2004, major laws have been changed to decrease the power of central government while empowering local governments. As stated in the Emergency Action Plan and the Public Administration Basic Law drafts of the newly elected government, (Justice and Development Party, which is still in power in Turkey) decentralization for the sake of democratization was one of the top priorities. The reforms were also in line with the European Charter of Local Self Government, as well as the dominant new public management paradigm. However, the latest law on metropolitan municipalities (Act No 6360) presents a different picture. With this law, the number of the metropolitan municipalities increased from 16 to 30, and the authority of the metropolitan municipalities expanded to include the province as a whole. The rationale of this expansion is explained as avoiding problems about planning and coordination among too many small size local government units, and benefiting economies of scale. As a result, 30 special provincial administrations, 1.591 smaller municipalities, and 16.082 villages will be closed. At this point, there emerges a controversial problem: is the local government system in Turkey becoming decentralized or is it becoming recentralized? In this paper, we discuss the consequences of expansion of the metropolitan municipalities on the basis of subsidiarity principle. We argue that the local government system is becoming recentralized around metropolitan cities for the sake of benefiting “scale economies”, and that this centralization conflicts with democratic principles on which the local governments are build upon.

Urban Civil Structures Effect in the Development of Governance Concept in Developing Countries: The Case of City Councils in Turkey

Governance is one of the main approaches of New Public Management (NPM) (Meuleman: 2008, Landman and Robinson: 2009) and it is an important concept for Turkey as it affects the entire private and the public sector. Expressing the participated governing process, its field of application includes non-governmental organizations and civil communities, central government and local governments. The emergence of more flexible decentralized and entrepreniuneal urban politics have been interpreted as an important part of transition from government to governance in economic and political context in Turkey like the other countries (Stoker: 1996, Ward: 2000, Jones: 1998, Oatley 1998, Whitehead: 2003). The mutual interaction with governance, the change in urban politics in Turkey has affected the new restructuring in local governments in large scale. This interaction is inevitable at a time of local and central government concept is eroding, the concepts of citizenship and participation are changing and urban economic development is restructured and globalized (Mac Leod and Goodwin: 1999, Stoker: 1996, Whitehead: 2003). The City Councils concept has appeared with Agenda-21 accepted after the Rio Summit. The City Councils in Turkey is an outcome of Local Agenda21 and established as an implementation of it. The main aims of them are to solve the problems that the cities are faced with, which affect the urban sustainability resulting from the city governments. The City Councils are established interdependently from the local governments in Turkey. Nonetheless they have made solutions for all the problems in the city as a civil initiative. But local governments, municipalities and private provincial administration have not notified them. The City Councils in Turkey gained legal status in 2005 after the admission of Municipality Act numbered 5393 in which there are regulations for them like in the article 76. In order to evaluate the city councils in Turkey two concepts, which are “governance” and “Local Agenda-21”, should be demystified. It is known that, city councils are suggested as a new participatory model based on governance in local. But the governance concept shouldn’t be seen only as a part of establishing new participatory models in cities but also, it's a key concept to establish a new government and social system as an instrument of New Public Management. In this study, it is argued if the City Councils implementations are transformed into governance based implementation and results of these implementations will be evaluated in terms of local governments and non-governmental organizations. Also, the structure, implementations and decisions of striking city councils in Turkey will be examined and the barriers in local governance will be discussed.

The Neoliberal Transformation of Local Government in Turkey and the Contracting Out of Municipal Services: Implications for Public Accountability

This research examines the extent to which neoliberal reforms have reshaped local government in Turkey. Two middle-sized provincial municipalities have been chosen in order to offer a comparative perspective. An important element of neoliberal reforms is the privatization of municipal services such as garbage collection and transportation through contracting out. This contribution describes the changes in the way municipal services are provided and how these changes reshape local power structures and labour relations, and public accountability in particular. It concludes that the two municipalities acquired new institutional capacities to shape their own developmental pathways but still to a large extent the paradigms within which the municipalities operate are being determined and constrained by the rules and regulations set out by the central government. Furthermore, the reforms encourage a shift of municipal affairs from public to private law and lead to bypassing of traditional checks and balances.

THE EVALUATION OF RESTRUCTURED LOCAL GOVERNMENTS IN TURKEY WITHIN THE CONTEXT OF THE EUROPEAN CHARTER ON LOCAL SELF-GOVERNMENT

In Turkey, local governments have been reconstructed in order to provide effective and productive delivery of the services by local governments, in parallel with European practices. This restructuring process brings very important changes to the functional, institutional, fiscal, and the manpower structures of local governments in Turkey. Therefore, the restructured local governments need to be re-evaluated within the context of the European Charter on Local Self-Government, one of the very important standards regarding the autonomy of local governments. Consequently, this article aims to re-evaluate restructured local governments in Turkey within the context of the Charter.

Public Attitudes to Local Government in Turkey: Research on Knowledge, Satisfaction and Complaints

This study examines prevailing characteristics of public attitudes to local government in Turkey based on the findings of a questionnaire based research project. The level of public knowledge of local government, people's satisfaction with local service provision, public views and complaints about local services are analysed. The findings show that the level of public knowledge of local government is low and people do not complain about local government services although the level of satisfaction is low. The belief that complaints would have no effect is the main reason for not complaining. The impact of sex, age, education, income, length of residence in the locality, housing tenure, and political opinion on public attitudes to local government is also assessed. Of these variables, age, education and income levels are found to be significant.

Relations between central and local governments in Turkey: An historical perspective

AbstractAs organizers of urban development in the modem sense, municipalities go back to the mid‐19th century in Turkey. The main theme of this article is an analysis of the trends over roughly 150 years. Three main headings are used within this framework: (a) the political and administrative level; (b) the level of financial policies; (c) historical development of the relationship between the central and local governments with respect to the legal and institutional framework of urban planning. This relationship is fundamentally paternalistic and authoritarian. The study investigates the authenticity of the currently pronounced liberal policies and the subsequent implementation mechanisms devised by the present administration over the past 8 years. Although a change of government seems imminent, most of the policies implemented are considered to be irreversible. Emphasis is given to an assessment of the claim that liberal governments have introduced positive changes in this structural mechanism, rather than a normative evaluation of this structural relationship.

Local Government in Turkey

Local Government in Turkey