Decentralization in Turkish political history

The concept of decentralization is the political view that emerged at the end of the 1800s as a solution to the bad situation of the Ottoman Empire. The decentralization pioneered by Prince Sabahattin is an understanding that offers suggestions for the end of the negative picture seen in all areas in the last periods of the Ottoman Empire. The centralisation of the Ottoman Empire, which has a centralised structure, can only be achieved by giving up the centralised structure that prevails in the administration of the country and giving more authority to the local governments. The idea of decentralisation, which advocates the granting of administrative and economic rights and powers to local government units, also states that this is necessary for the development and progress of the country. This phenomenon, which was revealed by Prince Sabahattin, experienced significant confusion of meaning both in the period when it began to be conceptualized and in the later period. In this research, the concept of "decentralization", which has passed into the literature with very different definitions and which has found a place in technical, legal, political and many senses today, is aimed to be studied theoretically. In this study, the concept of decentralization and the ideas of Prince Sabahattin, the pioneer of the concept, and his activities in this direction were examined. Moreover, the effects of the concept of decentralization on the administration of the country in the Ottoman Empire and the regulations made within the framework of the concept of decentralization in the administrative sense after the proclamation of the Republic were analyzed. Key Words: Decentralization, centralised state, Prince Sabahattin, local government.