Participation in municipal administration and city councils: Malatya case

In this study, that is a subject of the City Council which is a new instrument of participatory administration in the local governments - has become an indispensable element of democracies in our time- ; local participation in development from past to present in Turkey and the contribution of the local participation to the City Council at the coming point, was evaluated by examining the application in Malatya. Since the second half of the 90s, successfully implemented Local Agenda 21 in various cities and towns in Turkey, representation problem of local representative democracy and need to be a party to international agreements when thought together, efforts to increase participation in local governments have been accelerated. With this aim and as a result of the thought of reform, reorganization of administration; the Municipalities Law No. 5393 when put into effect at the year of 2005, made the City Council which an instrument of participatory management, legal. This study consists of three parts these the development of local governments in Turkey are discussed in the first part, the basic concepts of participatory administration are discussed and the process leading to the City Council is described together with Local Agenda 21 in the second part. After the second part, the field research was conducted in Malatya City Council and 13 districts. The data obtained by the interview method were evaluated in the conclusion part with considering the current scientific knowledge, actual developments and legislation.