Potential Impacts of the Metropolitan Municipality Law No. 6360 on Rural Life: The Case of Kocaeli

Abstract

With the enactment of the Metropolitan Municipality Law no. 6360 in 2012, the service area of metropolitan municipalities was extended to the provincial administrative boundaries, without distinguishing between rural and urban areas in metropolises. Thus, the legal entity status of villages and towns in metropolises was abolished and they were transformed into districts. In the circumstances, the municipalities which had been previously delivering services to urban areas started to have new tasks such as delivering municipal services to districts that were previously villages as well as agricultural infrastructure services, livestock investments and supporting of breeding activities. The present study explores the impacts of the new metropolitan municipality law on those living in rural areas. It addresses the potential impacts of the law on rural life. The village of Nüzhetiye in Gölcük, Kocaeli was selected for this purpose. We asked the residents of Nüzhetiye, which had become a district with the enactment of the law in question, whether they were aware of the new law and whether they were affected positively or negatively. In light of the findings obtained, some recommendations are made in the final section.