Turkish local government: The need for reform

Turkey does not have a strong tradition of local government, and local government has not come into being as a result of an indigenous development. This characteristic of the system has to be kept in mind in order to make a fair evaluation of what is to follow. Turkish local government has been on the agenda of the nation during the last 15 years because of a growing interest in its affairs. This growing interest is directly related to efficiency and effectiveness in the provision of public services. The following questions have to be answered before transferring new responsibilities to local government: Do the local authorities function efficiently? To what extent are they effective? Are they ready to assume additional responsibilities? To what extent can local people participate in the administration and exercise control over their activities? If we do not have affirmative answers to the above questions, giving them new responsibilities and enlarging their field of activity will not bring any benefits. Our objective here is to evaluate critically the structure and functioning of Turkish local government and to try to answer the above questions, and propose certain measures for increasing local authorities' efficiency and effectiveness.