ABSTRACT

The most important characteristic for a mayoral candidate, both in Konya and Eskisehir, is to have local rootedness. Most of the studies on local politics undertaken in the 1980s and 90s focused on political mobilisation in the gecekondu areas of Turkey's big cities. In general, the number of women in politics in large cities or in South-Eastern Turkey is comparably good; but devastatingly bad in the smaller cities and towns, particularly in Central Anatolia. The analysis of mayoral biographies has shown that there is not one 'prototype' of a Turkish mayor. The backing of candidates by both local elites and the national party leadership sometimes results in the appointment of mayors with little or no political experience prior to their nominations. The power of the party leader can be explained by the ways in which Turkish political parties are organised internally, especially in the determining of delegates for party congresses who, in return, elect the party president.