The possible contributions of development agencies on Turkish economy

The involvement of regional development policies in the period of Turkey's accession to European Union led us to abandon the regional development model, policy and means that we had been using for approximately forty years and to get into a reconstruction period. The basic means for this reconstruction is the new local units called "Regional Development Agencies" (RDA). Regional Development Agencies are defined as structures which aims at the economical development of a certain geographical region in a country by providing cooperation among that region's all private and public companies, local authorities and non-governmental organizations, and which are founded based on a legal provision. In this study, we will firstly refer to the definition and operation of Regional Development Agencies and then to Region Classifications in Turkey and Regional Development Policies. In conclusion, after a general evaluation, we will conceive that in Turkey, a number of means and policies were tried to implement Regional Development but positive results couldn't be accomplished, and then we will conclude the study by ascertaining that the development agencies should be tried despite of the criticism.