Development agencies in the EU regional policy, development agencies in Turkey and İstanbul Development Agency as an example

The European Union's regional policy was set up to reduce development disparities between member states and regions. The enlargement process has increased the differences between the member states' regions. It has caused the EU to give more importance to regional policy. The European Union has sought to eliminate regional disparities by renewing its regional development policy. Changing the implementation understanding of regional policy has created new institutional structures. Development agencies are one of the important structures in the implementation of regional policy. The increasing importance of the local community, concepts such as governance, the impact of the European Union's regional policy approach have increased the need for new development tools to increase the effectiveness of regional policy in Turkey. Development agencies have become an important part in the new regional policy approach developed by the EU candidacy process. In the first part of the study, regional policy and development agencies of the European Union are discussed and in the second part, Regional Policy and development agencies in Turkey are examined. Finally, in the third part, Istanbul Development Agency (ISTKA) as a implementation of the development agency in Turkey is discussed. Keywords: Region, Regional Policy, Regional Disparity, Development Agency, Istanbul Development Agency