Investigating the effectiveness of public participation in the EIA process in Türkiye

In this study; the effectiveness of the public participation process within the scope of Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) legally implemented in Türkiye was investigated. In line with the objectives of the thesis; the theoretical framework related to EIA and participation was examined and the place and importance of the public participation process within EIA was revealed in the light of the conceptual foundations and principles of EIA. In addition, since EIA is a legal practice, the legal dimension of the subject was examined in Türkiye and internationally, and binding and guiding legal regulations were investigated. Within the scope of the thesis, the study to determine the effectiveness of public participation was carried out on 18 sample EIA processes. Within the scope of examining the EIA and participation processes of the projects that were put into practice after the completion of the final EIA process in different sectors and different regions, the minutes of the public participation meetings belonging to the examples were obtained and examined together with the relevant EIA reports. Within the scope of the study, a survey was applied to two different groups and the themes, categories and codes were determined using the MAXQDA 2020 program for the analysis of the qualitative data obtained from the selected public participation meeting minutes, and a code cloud was created according to the frequency values of the codes in the minutes. In line with the results obtained, it was determined that public participation, one of the most important performance criteria of EIA, needs to be transformed into a more effective process in Türkiye and suggestions for the issues that need to be strengthened were discussed.