34. International Public Finance Conference
Review of Decentralization and Fiscal Autonomy With Fiscal and Legal Aspects in Turkey in the Last Years
Çağrı ÇarıkçıThe concept of decentralisation became one of the most discussed concepts in the literature, especially in political science and public finance in the post-2000 era with the globalisation process and the influence of international fiscal institutions. Many studies were made and literature was formed on the topic, based on the assumption that the transfer of fiscal authorities and responsibilities of the offering of public goods and services would create positive economic consequences particularly in developing countries.
In the post-2000 period, Turkey went into a reform process in the local administrations and made various administrative and legal regulations in this context. In this paper, the theoretic basis of the concept of fiscal decentralisation will be analysed and the progress of fiscal decentralisation in Turkey in the recent years. When talking about the post-2000 period in Turkey, this period can be divided in two. The first part is the one until the law no. 6360 in 2012 which can be called the decentralisation period. The main characteristic of the period after the law no. 6360 is the growing tendency of centralisation. This second period is called “the centralisation of the local” in various research articles.
In this paper, the decentralisation reform processes in Turkey will be analysed in detail in four aspects. In the first aspect, starting from the theoretical debates on the topic, the relationship between fiscal decentralisation and fiscal autonomy and the main arguments about the situation in Turkey will be summarized. In the second aspect, the dynamics of the decentralisation reform process will be discussed through a historical perspective and the fiscal decentralisation experience in the post-2000 period in Turkey will be examined. In conclusion, a general review will be made on the fiscal decentralisation process in Turkey.