The role of local government in the social aid policies in the fight against poverty in Turkey: Antalya Kepez Municipality example

Poverty is at the top of the most important problems facing all countries, whether they are developed or developing today. It means that food, shelter and health needs are not met, which are mainly basic needs. However, the issue of poverty means more complex than this definition. This multi-dimensional structure of the concept requires that the struggle with it be the same. In this context, many countries have begun to give more responsibilities to local governments, as well as central governments, in the fight against poverty. As a matter of fact, poverty has risen since 1980, new types of poverty have emerged, and the society's income distribution structure has deteriorated significantly. In addition, it has been understood that the central government alone will not be sufficient in the fight against poverty and meeting the demands of the poor. With the legal reforms carried out after the 2000s, important duties and powers have been given to local governments besides the central government. In this context, local governments are especially prominent in the fight against poverty because they are closer to the poor people, easier to identify the poor, and have the advantages of delivering them to the needy in less time. In this context, the aim of the study is to determine the general view of the poverty problem in Turkey and the level of the policies implemented in the fight against poverty after examining the concept of poverty theoretically. It is then to show how the social benefits of local governments, especially municipalities, are beneficial to reducing poverty. For this reason, Antalya Kepez Municipality has been selected as a model municipality because it is a place where people with less income in socio-economic terms compared to other regions of Antalya and its duties and responsibilities in the fight against poverty have been examined in detail. Semi-structured interviews were applied to the personnel responsible for social assistance in Kepez Municipality. In this way, what kinds of social assistance and services are provided in the fight against poverty, the types of assistance most often provided, problems encountered in the fight against poverty, the level of knowledge and consciousness of the personnel in the fight against poverty were tried to be analyzed. Finally, how the Kahramanmaraş-based earthquake, which took place on 6 February 2023, affected Kepez Municipality was examined.