CONTENT AND EXPLANATION OF LAWS NO. 5216

It is a regulation determining the duties, powers and responsibilities of metropolitan municipalities in Turkey. This law was enacted in 2004 to improve the administrative structure and service delivery capacities of metropolitan municipalities.

Some of the provisions of the law emphasize the coordination/parallelism of the European Declaration on Local Self-Government with the Charter. They are: Tasks, powers and responsibilities of municipalities and districts/primary municipalities Redefinition of the municipality organization Parallel to the regulation, the waiver of the approval of the Ministry of the Interior for the creation, dissolution and merger of units In the domestic law of the metropolitan councils, monthly meetings of the metropolitan councils and sources of income appropriate to their tasks should be ensured1

The Law aims to ensure that metropolitan areas can provide more effective services, that planning and coordination is carried out from a single source, and that local governments are provided with stronger structures. Metropolis provides services in major cities in Turkey, which are densely populated and are centres of economic activity. The Law was enacted with the aim of expanding the jurisdiction of these municipalities and regulating their relations with districts and municipalities.

For example, since Istanbul is the largest and most populous city in Turkey, transportation is one of the most important areas that the municipality is responsible for according to Law No. 5216. In order to overcome Istanbul's traffic congestion and infrastructure deficiencies over the years, the municipality has developed a transportation master plan. The plan aims to improve the public transportation system as well as road, shipping, and rail infrastructure throughout the city. In addition, similar projects are being implemented in other major cities, such as the Ankara Metropolitan Municipality, which has also invested in transport and infrastructure projects within the scope of its authority granted by this law and made various investments to solve traffic problems in the city.

Although the Metropolitan Municipality Law No. 5216 objectives to clear up a few neighborhood authorities troubles through regulating the management of metropolises, it could be stated that this regulation has a few bad outcomes in practice. Its centralised structure, uncertainties withinside the department of duties amongst districts, and the weakening of district municipalities are many of the criticisms of the regulation in practice. For those reasons, the regulation need to be revised and neighborhood governments need to have greater autonomy.