Hey Thanks a lot for the input. Turkey is a unitary state by it's constitution, therefore central government is extremely strong. What you've said about the city governors are being appointed by the central government is true. It's not only that but also city governors are subject to the rule of Ministry of Internal Affairs. Meaning they are not only appointed by the central government but also get
direct orders from it.
There is one more difference about the local government. In US city police chief is assigned by the Mayor. And mayor is responsible for the crime rate of the city and in some cities (where the crime is a problem) the discussions about crime rate can be top priority of the voters. In Turkey city police chief is again assigned by the Ministry of Internal Affairs. I've looked at many studies and non-terrorism related crime rate is never a top priority for Turkish citizens.
Also there is the tax thing. In US state government, federal government and municipal governments collect different taxes and generate their own income. In Turkey all the tax is collected by the central government and "distributed" to the mayors. As you might suggest some cities are "favored" by the central government sometimes.
And sometimes you can see that central government makes infrastructure projects in some cities. It's also a kind of "favoring". For example do you know a mayor that goes to White House and demands a "subaway route" from the president? In Turkey we may have such situations. And it's not just the funding. They demand Ministry of Transportation to do the job.
As for the foundation of modern Turkey (decleration of secularism) part well I need to go through history a little bit. I will go way back because I love this history
. Maybe you'll love it too. By the way I'll be very berief because it's actually a very long discussion. Let's start in chronological order of course;
- Ethnic nationalism starts to cripple Ottoman Empire and most parts of Balkan territories starts to unrest. Beginning of 19th century.
-
Tanzimat Ferman (
Imperial Edict of the Rose House) is announced by Abdülmecid in 1839. Ottoman modernization period officialy started. In that period many officials and students from military to medicine, from architecture to science goes to Europe for education and to understand the system of Europe and also to understand why the Ottoman Empire was not functioning anymore like it's used to.
-
Young Ottomans (a secret society) emerges in 1865 mostly by the returned professionals and students from Europe. They taught Ottoman Empite needed a parliament that will rule by Islamic law. They've imagined something like today's Iran. They were
Ottoman Nationalist and promoting being an Ottoman as a National identity.
- After numerous events, problems, fighting etc. Young Ottomans forms the
First Constitutional Era of Ottoman Empire in 1876 under Abdulhamid II's rule.
- First Constitutional Era lasts for around 18 months and in 1878 absolute monarchy returns with the thin excuse of having a war with Russians.
- Right after that
Young Turks movement starts within the intellectuals of the Empire who are educated in Europe just like Young Ottomans. Unlike Young Ottomans, Young Turks were not a secret society and they were having a pretty public altercation with the Sultan.
- In 1889
İttihat ve Terakki Cemiyeti (Committee of Union and Progress) is founded as a secret society inside the Young Turks movement. Many military officers and professionals (especially doctors) had joined to the society. The aim was founding a Turkish nation-state and abolishing the Ottoman system completely. Ataturk was also a member, but left the society afterwards.
- In 1908 Committee of Union and Progress (CUP) overthrowns Abdülhamid with military coup. This is called as the
Young Turk Revolution. In 1912 we've made our first multiple party elections. It's called the
Election of the Clubs. As it can be understood from the name, the elections did not go very well
And CUP (transforming into a political party) won the elections.
- 1914 the leader of CUP
Enver Paşa who was extremely nationalist and -had a very soft spot for Germans
- enters WW1 as an ally of Germany. (But Germans tricked Ottomans on that one.
2 German warships being chased by UK Fleet comes to Istanbul and immediately we put Ottoman flags on them and told UK that we've bought the ships and if they attack the ships we will defend them. Then UK fleet says ok and returns. The ships are not actually commanded by Ottomans. Their entire crew is German. Than after UK leaves, German ships go to Black Sea without notifying the Ottoman officials and bombarding Russian costs. Russians sees the Ottoman flag on the ships and regards this as a declerations of war)
- After WW1 Ottoman Empire completely collapses, then Turkish Nationalism is spread through the Anatolian people to protect Anatolia from enemy invasion and our
War of Independence starts.
- After war of independence, the revolutions start to form a type of unitary, secular government and a nation-state. French system was seen as a model when forming the new state.