Significant Contribution from EUL Academicians to the Local Governances of T.R.N.C

Under the scope of a project sponsored by T.R Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, a book titled “Administration, Financial Structure and Supervision of Local Governances in  theT.R.N.C” prepared by Academicians of European University of Lefke Prof. Dr. Okan Veli Şafaklı, Prof. Dr. Harun Şeşen and Assoc. Prof. Dr. Bülent Evre is published by Detay Publishing.

Authors of the book who are also academicians of EUL Prof. Dr. Okan Veli Şafaklı and Prof. Dr. Harun Şeşen made a common statement and said that, “Local Governances of TRNC, which are expected to offer better service to their citizens in the 21st century, have experienced many developments since the day the state was founded, but in many cases it has been in the center of criticism. The “Reform in Local Governances” discourse, which has been gradually increasing its influence in the world since the year 2000, has pave the way for the establishment of many researches in the TRNC centered on Local Governances. However, when the previous related studies are evaluated, it is observed that that most of the problem areas are not approached holistically, all stakeholders are not taken into consideration, the approach is generally related with the “nature” of the problem rather than “offering a solution”, and the question of how to solve problems is not identified in short, medium and long terms with a strategic approach”.

Şafaklı and Şeşen pointed out that the book titled “Administration, Financial Structure and Supervision of Local Governances in the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus” is planned in the direction of eliminating insufficiencies and stated the first aim of the book as identifying the tasks and services that the local governances of T.R.N.C, especially the municipalities, should meet by fulfilling their legal, administrative, institutional and supervisory situations. Şafaklı and Şeşen stated the second aim of the book as assesing the effectiveness of municipal services in terms of citizen satisfaction and quality, by developing performance measures for the municipalities and the third aim as developing strategies for problem areas identified and to formulate action plans for these strategies.

EUL Academicians said that, “Furthermore, our third aim is to restructure the action plan in accordance with the population, area, scale and coverage criteria that will ensure the sustainability of the productivity and effectiveness of the municipalities and to make the proposal for amendments and adjustments to the legislation. Finally, Şafaklı and Şeşen listed the main titles of their book as; Basic Literature of Local Governances, Current Situation of Local Governances in T.R.N.C, Research Method for Stakeholder Analysis, Research Results for Municipal Residents, Interview and Focus Group Results, SWOT Analysis, Strategic Vision and Objectives, and Action Plan.