Cluster and its application to the terms of rural and agricultural development in Turkey

Recently in Turkey, various studies are made concerning the adoption and implementation of clustering approach especially in the regions which have sectoral agglomerations. These studies draw special attention as they indicate the presence of a serious inquiry and motivation related to territories and actors with clustering potential in Turkey. When public policies in Turkey are examined, it is seen that clustering concept has recently drawn attention but it has not been elaborated in a clear-cut framework. In the forthcoming process how the clustering approach will be adopted in public policies is expected to be determined. In this study, it is aimed to point out the need for a guiding study in Turkey which explores how ?the clustering approach? will be used especially in regional and rural development policy field.In this study, at first, the literature background about development of "clustering concept" has been investigated and then it has been mentioned about the condition of clustering and the structure of clustering in view of the framework of changing regional and rural development policies. In addition, this study covers "the adopted models? -in order to support clustering- and also different countries' implementations in this field. Surveys and SWOT analysis have been applied on Mersin Agro-Food, İzmir Organic Food and Maras Pepper Clusters and their developments were evaluated after the process of clustering. Meanwhile, the importance given to the clustering in Turkey and the relevant supportive measures at present has been evaluated. As a conclusion, a model was proposed concerning, the need for integration among various policy fields, the necessity to support the clustering formations in Turkey, and the role of companies at regional level.