THE SITUATION UNTIL THE PERIOD OF TANZIMAT

Before the Tanzimat there was no separate institution that applied the services of the Municipality in the Ottoman cities. The representatives of the government, qadis (Muslim Judges), representatives of craftsman organizations and prominent people used to be responsible for the works of the Municipality.

The qadi, who was the highest administrator of the city administration, was not only a judge but also an official who was responsible for the functions of the municipality, management and finance.

Until the first period of the 19th century the people who managed the local regions were imams (leaders of prayer). The imams, who were appointed by the Sultan of the Ottoman Empire, were also the representatives of the qadis who were territorial governors. The authority of these qadis lasted until 1839 and then lost its importance. In other words, the function of these qadis declared. On the other hand, the imams did not lose their influence.

In spite of the changes and developments going on in Europe socially and economically and in the management of local regions, there was no such development in the Ottoman Empire.

A local management status was established in the Ottoman period only during the 19th century as a result of trade, development of cities, the establishment of financial centralizations and other countries’ pressures on the gaining of the minorities’ ethnic rights. As a result of, the Ottoman management gave consent for the leaders of minority congregations to be included in management.

At the first half of the 19th century, the developments that took place made it necessary for the change in the management of the cities and as a result, the foundation was laid for the transition to the modern municipality management.

After the 2nd half of the 19th century, relations with the European countries had developed. European traders had settled and established colonies.

Development in trade had brought the necessity for new services, transportation and communication. Especially in cities that had docks, it was a problem to provide institutions of quarantine for trade ships and to provide transportation. For this reason, the first municipalities were established in business centres and in coastal cities.

As a matter of fact, the first enterprise for the municipality to be established in Izmir was by foreign merchants.

THE MUNICIPALITY DURING THE PERIOD OF THE REPUBLIC

After the war of Independence that started in 1919 and with the establishment of the National Assembly in 1920 in Ankara, the foundations of a new state were laid. Ankara became the capital of Turkey and with law 417 dated 1924, the city’s name changed to Ankara Şehremaneti. With this arrangement the capital city’s management was separated from the other municipalities.

After the Establishment of the bank of municipality (1933), the power of municipalities was strengthened. Nevertheless, because of the insufficiency of resources, they were unable to function properly, so the central government took over their duties. There was a decline in the function and the power of the municipalities.

The difficulties of the 2nd World War also increased this decline. With the 1961 Constitution, part of the political and administrative powers were transferred to authorities other than the central government; thus the principles of local management were introduced.

As was briefly explained, the foundation of metropolitan administration was provided by laws passed in 1930 and 1984. The metropolitan model was applied in our country according to existing laws. The metropolitan council is accepted as the competent authority for making decisions it is there that important decisions are made such as those regarding planning, making programs budgeting approving the district municipalities budgets and budget and amendments and establishing coordination are among the Metropolitan City Council's duties

The job of making decisions to straighten out disputes between the metropolitan and district governments was also given to the council. Another of the Metropolitan City Council’s important responsibilities is to establish mutual cooperation and brotherly relationships with foreign municipal administrations.

The bureaucratic structure of the Metropolitan administration is composed of main service departments and assisting departments. The departments are under the commend of Metropolitan mayor. They are administered by the Secretary General and are composed of the department heads, managers and officials. they are the main service units of the Greater Metropolis.