Turkey Unitary state

Reforms

Several reforms carried out in Turkey pretend to promote local self-government and the development of a modern local administration.

The process of decentralisation, which has been a work in progress in Turkey since 2004, apparently went through an overhaul in recent years with several reforms. On paper, the country’s local and regional authorities have been bolstered by a clause giving them general competence and management over all local public services. The central government’s administrative supervision over sub-national authorities has also been presented as more relaxed at the political and financial levels, and the same applies to the management of personnel. Indeed, any hiring at local level previously required governmental authorisation. Nevertheless, the reforms have been watered down in practice and the central supervision is still predominant.

A law passed in March 2008 set out to reduce the number of municipalities: those with less than 2 000 inhabitants lost their status of local government. However, this law has been applied only partially. Any new municipality created as the result of a merger needs to have a minimum of 5 000 inhabitants. Inter-municipal associations, particularly those regarding water distribution, are strongly encouraged by the central government in the rural areas.

Some reforms underway in Turkey also try to modernise the local public administration by setting up programmes in the municipalities and provincial administrations that are intended to improve efficiency and promote innovation. Progress has also been made in terms of financial autonomy, as it seems that there has been an increase in state transfers in favour of municipalities since 2008.

The Metropolitan Municipality Law (December 2012) is set to dramatically change the administrative structure following the local elections in 2014: 14 more metropolitan municipalities are to be established in addition to the existing 16, and the Special Provincial Administrations within the metropolitan municipalities will be abolished. Legal entity of villages and town municipalities within the metropolitan provinces will be abolished and these units are to be transformed into municipal neighbourhoods (mahallas).

Local self-government in Turkey:

Although local self-government has not yet been fully achieved, the reforms carried out in recent years do promote – on paper – a modern public administration based on the standards promoted by the Council of Europe and the European Union. Metropolisation is promoted at the expense of surrounding municipalities and powers of provincial governors and district sub-governors are being reinforced.