Turkey - Local government



The chief administrative official in each of Turkey's 81 provinces (vilayets or iller) is the provincial governor (vali), an appointee of the central government who is responsible to the Ministry of Internal Affairs. During the military takeover in 1980s, governors were made responsible to the military authorities, and provincial assemblies were suspended. In 11 mainly Kurdish southeastern provinces, a regional governor exercised authority under a state of emergency declared in 1987. The state of emergency was lifted in November 2002. For administrative purposes, provinces are subdivided into districts (kazas or ilces), which in turn are divided into communes (nahiyes or bucaks), comprising kasabas and villages. In municipalities and villages, locally elected mayors and councils perform government functions. Both levels of government have specified sources of income and prepare budgets for the allocation of such income, which are then subject to approval by the central government. Most public revenue, however, is collected by the Ministry of Finance in Ankara.

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