ANKARA - Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan said on Monday that the European Union (EU) target of the state and the society also required Turkey to have modern norms in administration and stated that they targeted local administrations to be turned into autonomous and democratic institutions.
Erdogan delivered a speech in an international meeting on ''Local Administrative Reforms in Public Management Reform Process'' organized by the World Bank Institute and local administrations at Ankara's Dedeman Hotel.
Prime Minister Erdogan said that they attributed great importance to re-structuring of administration and stated that it was an issue which had many dimensions.
Stating that initiatives on re-arranging administration were rooted in history in Turkey, he said that initiatives which aimed to re-structure administration had also been on the agenda of Turkey during the Republic period.
Erdogan said that Turkey's administrative system went through a crisis on ''incapability of management'' when the world was passing through a rapid change in its economy and politics and stated that all circles of the society shared the view that classic bureaucratic structure in Turkey was a function which prevented potential of the country and society from functioning.
Erdogan stated that globalizing standards of economy and democracy caused country to face with the necessity of re-structuring public management at that level which they reached.
''EU target of the state and the society also requires Turkey to have modern norms in administration field. The government committed that public management will be re-structured in its election declaration, the government program and also in the Urgent Action Plan. Public Management Basic Law can be opened to signature in the following meeting of the Council of Ministers as a result of the studies which were started in the period of the 58th government and carried out in the period of the 59th government,'' Erdogan noted.
Erdogan said, ''when preparing the public management draft, a serious discussion platform was formed among concerned parts of the state and society and compromise was searched. This law which determines basic principles and practices of the management will be followed by local administrations draft law. In parallel with these draft laws, Public Financial System Management, State Personnel Regime, and Code of Administrative Procedure will be put into practice as complementary of the restructuring works.''
The main element of the restructuring was strengthening local administrations and eliminating the central government structure, Erdogan stated.
Erdogan noted that Public Management draft law defined authorities and duties of the central government and authorized the local administrations to fulfil duties other than that of the public management.
Duties of the central government was limited with services to be performed by the state like determination of general principles of justice, national defense, security, foreign policy, finance, social security and national education, Erdogan pointed out.
Erdogan said that transfer of many duties of rural offices of ministries to provincial private administrations and municipalities was also foreseen.
''We aim to turn local administrations into autonomous and democratic institutions in real sense. We have to take this step. We are forming mechanisms which will enable participation of local society in administration and decision-making process. We have two main goals when we are re-structuring the public management. One of our goals is to democratize and rationalize administration. We aim to re-arrange an administrative structure which is closed to society, which doesn't make any explanations, and which doesn't regard human rights according to universal democratic norms,'' Erdogan stated.
Erdogan added, ''an administrative system which rationally uses sources and which is open to participation of citizens will not only help realize Turkey's potential but also bring state and citizens closer to each other. The society and nation will be the real owners of the system.''
(EÖ-BRC) 06.10.2003