A study to define rural areas: An examine on the case of nuts II (TR22-TR52-TRB2)

Rural areas appear with different definitions and qualities throughout history by their changing dynamic structures. These changes are seen in the form of changing ownership structure, differentiating sectoral structures, education, health and job opportunities, mechanization in agriculture, wars, and the effects of epidemics with the beginning of the industrialization process. The definitions made for rural areas have been not sufficient in the face of the dynamic structure in social and economic paradigms. The multiple definitions, therefore, were introduced for rural areas for the first time in 1964. UN said that it was not a standard urban-rural distinction and definition, and it has been emphasized that a rural area definition should be made by developing different criteria within each country. As in the world, there are many definitions for the definition of rural area in Turkey. Today, it has been observed that the reflections of this change, in which rural areas still vary with their dynamic structure and are not the same in all areas. In this study, the importance of the rural was emphasized by taking into account the changing structure and definitions of rural areas. In this framework, comparative evaluations were made by EUROSTAT, OECD and Turkish Legal Legislation regarding the approaches of rural areas on the rural-urban distinction in the conceptual background and their changes in the historical process. Population changes in Turkey between 1970-2010 was analyzed on the basis of 973 districts according to the rural structure of EUROSTAT, OECD and Turkish Legislation. As a result of these analyzes, the provinces of Karaman, Çanakkale, Bitlis and Muş were determined as sample areas. The rurality level of the districts connected to these four provinces in the context of various indicators has been analyzed by the decision tree model method. As a result of the study, it was concluded that the threshold values of the criteria considered to determine the rurality structure include differences between regions and that rural areas have different qualities according to regions.