The place and importance of neigborhood headmen in local politics: Antakya case

The services that the state is obliged to provide to the citizens are carried out by two units, central and local governments, according to their characteristics. Local administrations, which are local service units, meet the local common needs of citizens and enable them to lead a life in unity and integrity. Local governments, which are very important in the construction of a free and democratic society, are very important in terms of determining the needs of the local people faster than the central government and ensuring that the services produced are efficient. Neighborhoods, which are not included in decentralization but are seen as the assistant of the central government and local governments, appear as the smallest administrative unit without legal personality and taking place in the first step. Neighborhoods, which are the closest administrative unit to the people and whose foundations are very old, and the neighborhood headmen under their management have been an important structure that has solved the local common needs of the residents of the neighborhood from past to present. It has been stated that the neighborhood headman, which has an important place in the determination of local politics, was abolished in certain periods from the past to the present and re-established as a result of the problems experienced, and that it will continue to be used as a tool in local politics, as a structure depending on the pleasure and policies of the central government during the transition to multi-party life. However, developing Turkey, enacted laws and new governments have caused changes in the place and importance of neighborhood headmen in local politics. In this study, the place and importance of mukhtars, who are the closest administrative unit to the people in developing and changing Turkey, and an important actor in determining the direction of local politics, in local politics will be examined. Theses of the study; In Antakya district, headmen are very important by political parties and they are a structure that builds local politics. In Antakya district, headmen are used by political parties as a tool in local elections. The method of the study will be in-depth interview and document-based data analysis by applying historical and descriptive research methods. In this direction, the data obtained as a result of in-depth interviews with the neighborhood headmen were examined and the result was tried to be reached.