The role of development agencies in Turkey on rural development: Izmir Development Agency

Regional Development Agencies (RDAs), which begun to be established firstly in 1922 after economic crisis, primarily appear to be in America and European continents as a local structure model. Among the purposes of RDAs which remove the differences of interregional and regional development are to boost the economy by providing services in the region, increase regional investments, and ensure the participation of people in regions to the development.Accordingly, it is seen that Turkey has taken different precautions to remove the differences of interregional and regional development for 20 the last years. One of the ways followed to benefit from EU fund to remove the differences of interregional and regional development especially during European Union membership process is the establishment of RDAs. In Turkey, the concept of RDA firstly begun to handle in 1990s.In our country, as stated in the first article of law number 5449, RDA?s are constituted ?in order to accelerate the regional development, to insure its maintainability, reduce the differences of interregional and regional development, compatible with the principles and policies anticipated in national development plans and programmes by developing the cooperation among public sector, private sector and civil society organizations, ensuring the effective usage of resources and activating the local potency?. One of RDA?s purposes in Turkey is to maintain rural development which reduces significantly the differences of interregional and regional development.The purpose of this work is to reveal the role of İzmir Development Agency on rural development, by defining the changing in companies and the region within the frame of financial support İZKA, established in Aegean region, gave in 2009. For this purpose, a questionnaire was made to 25 companies which benefited from the financial support of İZKA in 2009.