The problem of production and distribution in Şanlıurfa from the early years of the Republic to the beginning of GAP

The structural transformations in the country's economy and the reflections of these transformations on the Urfa economy were examined in the period from the foundation of the Republic of Turkey to the beginning of the Southeastern Anatolia Project (SAP) Action Plan. The main objective of the study is to reveal how economic policies implemented at the national level affected the production, consumption, and distribution mechanisms at the local level. Within the scope of the research, a historical and comparative analysis method was followed using macroeconomic indicators, population censuses, agricultural and industrial inventories, and sectoral data. In the study, Turkey's structural transformation during the transition process from agriculture to industry and Urfa's level of adaptation to this process were analyzed within the axis of agriculture, industry, and service sectors. According to the findings obtained, it was determined that the Urfa economy largely preserved its traditional agriculture-based structure during the examined period, and developments in industrialization and the service sector remained below the Turkey average. Although mechanization and modernization attempts in the agricultural sector increased the production amount, it was observed that the expected increase in welfare could not spread to the base due to inequalities in land ownership, technical infrastructure insufficiency, and irrigation problems. In the industrial sector, it was determined that private sector investments remained limited due to the lack of capital and technical infrastructure, and public investments were not fully sufficient in eliminating regional inequalities. As a result, it was revealed that Urfa's economic development process followed the national development moves from behind, production relations could not fully break away from the feudal structure, and large-scale public-centered regional development projects were essential for solving the region's structural problems.