The European Union's financial assistance and support to Turkey: Rize example

In the historical process, it is seen that the financial assistance and support of the European Union dates back to the early days of the foundation contracts. The scope of the financial assistance of the European Union has expanded over time. In the following periods, European Union candidate countries and their member countries, grants and aids are provided by the European Union in order to bring growth and development levels closer together. From this angle, since the late 1990s when Turkey was granted the candidate country status; credit has been realized in the assistance and support programs. The aim of this study is to investigate the effects of the financial aid to Rize by the European Union on the socio- cultural development and economic development of Rize. In this context, data were collected from seven operating stake holders who are interested in European Union projects working for Rize Governorate, Rize Municipality, Rize Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Special Provincial Administration and Recep Tayyip Erdoğan University. The research was carried out by a qualitative research method, and seven people were interviewed face-to-face by the use of the semi-structured interview form. According to the obtained data, due to insufficient number of projects, difficulty of EU projects, lack of qualified personnel and geographical location of Rize province; most of the participants share the idea that financial assistance to Rize by European Union is not enough. Almost all of the participants stated that the financial assistance provided to Rize by European Union had a positive effect on the level of economic development of the province and however these aids did not have a positive effect on the socio- cultural life.In addition, projects on agriculture and animal husbandry, transportation, water, employment, regional architecture have been produced and it has been concluded that financial assistance to the province of Rize should be increased.