The role of local government in Turkey”s rural and agricultural development gives complex and instructive illustration of the problems of overall institutional change in developing countries. Turkey”s considerable economic and social growth since World War II must be viewed against the background of her large farm population. This was estimated at 77.7 percent of the employed population in 1962 and 72.3 percent in 1967, and was expected to be roughly 68 percent of the employed population under the Third Plan (1973-1977). Although the agricultural sector is in many respects declining in Turkey, the farmer remains the key figure in Turkish political and economic life. From 1955 to 1967, in fact, the number of Turks employed in agriculture has increased from just under 9.5 million to nearly 10 million. When one considers also the number of partially employed persons supported in the rural society and the vast numbers of Turkish children in the countryside; when one considers also the controlling vote of the farmer in Turkish politics, not to mention the vital economic contribution of the rural sector to Turkey”s continued industrial and economic growth; one begins to see the significance of the organization and operation of rural local government and its related agencies.
