Special provincial administration in Turkey in the 21th century: He case of Izmir, Konya and Ağrı

Turkish public administration system consists of central administration and local authorities. The subject of this study is Special Provincial Administrations inherited from the Ottoman Empire and the oldest form of local government units. Even Though regulations related lo municipalities (1930) and village administrations (1924) were approved after establishment of Turkish Republic, Legal basis of the Special Provincial Administration dates back to Provincial Regulation of 1864. Special Provincial Administrations became legal personalities according to the provisional law of 1913. In addition, in spite of economic, political and administrative changes arisen from five constitutional amendments made after the constitution of 1876, Special Provincial Administrations have maintained their existence as constitutional units. Especially, Special Provincial Administrations' elected decision making bodies and legal personalities make them as democratic local authority unit. However, election and representation which are basic requirements of democracy do not make them functional. In addition, even many changes made after their establishment have not made them functional. The main reason lies under this fact is that central administration regards special provincial administrations as sub units depend on central administration. Even changes in 1987 have not found solutions to problems of special provincial administrations. This study examines if Special Provincial Administrations are democratic local authority units in a real sense by examining place of Special Provincial Administrations in Turkish public administration, their organizational structures and revenues, place of governor as executive body, supervision of Special Provincial Administrations, problems peculiar to administration in rural areas. This study including both theoretical information and empirical analysis has four parts. While the ls,,2nd and 3rd parts of this study reveal theoretical aspects, the 4th part of this study includes empirical analysis. In this empirical analysis, a questionnaire has conducted on members of provincial council and provincial executive committee from cities which have different socioeconomic and cultural characteristics such as Izmir, Konya and Agri. In this questionnaire, questions were asked on personal information, institutional structure and participation perception. Then, in this context, an effective, participated and democratic model was developed in the light of evidences obtained from theoretical and empirical analysis. VI