Abstract
Since the early 2000s, the Republic of Turkey has undergone significant reforms of its central and local administrative systems. These have been highly influenced, if not boosted, first by the legal framework of the Council of Europe and later by the accession process to the European Union. The European principles have indeed guided a general empowerment of local governments. However, last years have shown an ‘authoritarian drift’ of Turkish internal politics accompanied by an increase of power for the central government at the expense of weakened local institutions.
The essay analyses the structure and hierarchy of Turkish local governments, as well as its founding principles and evaluates its reformist efforts in the light of the principles contained in the European Charter of Local Self- Government, highlighting improvements and deficiencies with a chronological and evolutionary approach.