Issue: 47
As the famous Turkish children’s song goes, “there’s a village out there that is ours, even though we’ve never been there yet...” There are several communities surrounding the very eastern province of Kars that many of even Turkish people haven’t visited yet, but they hold a considerable potential to develop the tourism sector in the entire Kars region. House pensioning is already very common and popular in several regions in Turkey, and is now being considered as an excellent option for the villages of Kars, which has authentic natural and historical assets. And what project can be more enjoyable than one where several UN agencies work for developing the tourism sector of a culturally rich region? The shining and warm autumn sun, which the eastern province of Kars enjoyed during the first two weeks of October, only added more fun to this work. United Nations Joint Programme (UNJP) Alliances for Culture Tourism in Eastern Anatolia spearheaded several activities in Kars city centre and surrounding villages in the beginning of October.
263 people including employees and employers who work in the tourism and service sector in Kars and locals who consider starting house pensioning, participated in On the Job Training, Training for Trainers Course and a Social Behaviour Seminar and Instructive Seminars on House Pensioning that were led by specialised instructors from the Ministry of Culture and Tourism (MoCT). The week-long training culminated in a special ceremony on October 10th, where the dedicated and enthusiastic participants of the Training for Trainers Course received their participation certificates from Deputy Governor of Kars Murat Demirci and General Director of Research and Training General Directorate Mahmut Evkuran. The participants also attended an evaluation exam at the conclusion of the training week. Individuals with strong test scores received a Special Award Certificate from the MoCT.
To help the constructing of local prospects for cultural and economic growth, the training team visited five villages as part of the training programme between 5 -12 October. These outings began with three villages around Lake Çıldır. Despite the current busy harvest time in the region, 38 women and 43 men from Taşbaşı, Çanaksu and Doğruyol villages gathered to learn about the possibilities of House Pensioning in the area. These scenic townships around the lake do not only have a beautiful view but are also home to several species of birds and other wildlife. Spending leisure and recreational time outdoors in this beautiful habitat is already popular during warm months. And the harsh conditions of a long winter invite new and exciting tourism prospects. The mesmerizing scenery surrounding Çıldır Lake paints an inspirational backdrop for winter activities such as ice fishing.
The second portion of the instructional seminars was held in Boğatepe, a village that has previously hosted various Turkish and foreign guests. The locals of Boğatepe enjoyed the interaction and learning about increased tourism prospects in their community; these villagers make good use of their rich flora, cultivating and providing several plants and herbs for the medical and cosmetics sectors. The 22 local participants, 16 of which were women, were extremely enthusiastic about these seminars. Not only did they listen attentively to the experts but they also shared their own recent experiences in pension management. They even found time to serve their excellent home made cheese and kete (a type of local pastry). Since the village already has an established association that develops and nurtures the region’s tourism prospects, the village is now preparing to apply for a full training program from MoCT.
The third day of training found the trainers in the Hamamlı village of Sarıkamış district. Sarıkamış already boasts a growing popularity in its winter sports facilities and Hamamlı, a village tucked alongside a beautiful forest, also has excellent prospects for tourism. Many locals gathered in the elementary school of Hamamlı, including 24 women and 26 men, and 15 teachers (of whom 9 were women from nearby villages). Together they all learned about house pensioning and start-up procedures.
Before the training initiative, the villages of Kars displayed heartfelt hospitality by offering local delicacies and serving cheeses unique to Kars. In order to further build upon their tourism prospects however, they needed to be well informed and fully armed with strong tools for fostering further economic and cultural development in the region.
Recognizing Kars’ unique cultural heritage
The last activity of the week for the UNJP took place at Kafkas University. A Capacity-Building Workshop for the Mapping of Intangible Cultural Heritage in Kars was organized under the UNJP framework and contributions of Ministry of Culture and Tourism (MoCT) and Kafkas University. Students from Kafkas University’s Turkish Language and Literature Department attended workshops about research methodologies, techniques and processes that were run experts from Ministry of Culture and Tourism (MoCT). These students will conduct field research in the towns and villages as a part of the mapping of intangible cultural heritage in Kars.
United Nations Joint Program “Alliances for Culture Tourism in Eastern Anatolia” aims to mobilize the culture sector in Turkey’s Eastern Anatolia, resulting in increased incomes for the people of Kars and thus, contributing to the realization of poverty reduction at a localized level. In specific, the joint program will develop the cultural tourism sector in Kars by contributing to social cohesion by recognizing pluralism and by reducing income disparities between people of Kars and the rest of the country.
[BAGLANTILAR]
The award was presented in a ceremony in Busan, South Korea on 26 October 2009.
Addressing the absence of a comprehensive youth policy in Turkey and suggesting that more coordination between public institutions and civil society is a must for progress, the report has made Turkey’s “5 million invisible youth” visible. While youth were traditionally seen as “dynamic, healthy, middle-class students”, the National Human Development Report explored whether all youth are given equal opportunities to be “dynamic, healthy and even students” by using quotations from the “invisibles” and thus changing the perception of youth in Turkey. The report, involving young men and women in its preparation, includes comments of public officials and local academics.
Taking a snapshot of youth in Turkey, this national report has significantly impacted the debate on youth in the country at various levels and channeled government attention to take advantage of the crucial demographic window of opportunity in preparing today’s youth for tomorrow’s challenges by investing in their education and providing more value-added employment opportunities. Not only has the report been quoted in youth studies, youth related news in media and relevant debate platforms in Turkey since its publication, but it has also brought together many youth organizations to collectively work towards achieving the report’s recommendations. As a result, these youth organizations are now participating in the preparation of youth policy, which the government is currently formulating using the report’s findings as a key resource. After his appointment to the position of the Minister of State responsible for Youth and Sports Faruk Nafiz Özak, has formed a youth committee to establish Turkey’s first youth policy.
The very competitive contest for the Human Development Excellence Awards involved several stages; from the nomination of candidates to reviews within and from outside the UNDP. Comments were received from several external reviewers such as the director of the Oxford Poverty and Human Development Initiative; OECD’s former Chief Statistician; the academic director of the UNDP Virtual School for Latin America and the Caribbean; professors from The New School and Oxford University along with other notable experts.
Other winners of the 2009 Human Development Excellence Awards in their respective categories are Bolivia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Colombia, and Swaziland.
UNDP Turkey Office is proud of this award for excellence in the category of influencing national policy debate. The winners were presented with the awards in a prestigious ceremony organized as part of the second global National Human Development Report meeting and the third OECD Forum on Statistics, Knowledge and Policy. On behalf of the writing team, Aygen Aytaç, lead author and Coordinator of the National Human Development Report of UNDP Turkey, has received the award in South Korea at a ceremony also attended by members of the Committee working on the new youth policy in Turkey under the leadership of State Ministry responsible for Youth Affairs.
[BAGLANTILAR]
By creating a platform where all parties can colloborate, Share your idea for Turkey will realize needs-based innovative e-government applications to improve the relationship between citizens and public institutions, to enable citizens to receive better services and/or to solve prominent challenges.
The Share your idea for Turkey competition aims to improve the quality of public services, reduce the bureaucracy, develop e-government projects which respond to real needs and guarantee that they are realized, ensure that e-government applications are better understood and more widely used, and lastly, raise awareness about providing and receiving quality public service.
The competition is open to residents of Turkey as well as Turkish nationals residing abroad. Additionally, a sub-category is designed for high school and university students so as to provide today's youth with the necessary consciousness for tomorrow.
Ideas will be assessed using the following criteria: the importance and prevalence of the problem or need, the originality of the proposed solution, the extent to which the solution is applicable as an e-government project, and the economic and social contribution which will be obtained by solving the problem.
The partners of the competition are the Public Innovation Leaders Platform formed by the high level representatives of key ministries in Turkey, Innovation Association, METUTECH, PPP Association, the Turkish Informatics Association, National Innovation Initiative, and the Public Management and Auditing Strategies Research Centre. The Competition is coordinated by Technopolis Group Turkey and the sponsors include UNDP Turkey, Oracle Turkey, IDE Consulting, Ankara Patent Bureau and Orkide Hareketi.
Winning ideas as well as the ideas with the potential of becoming e-government projects will be presented to the relevant institutions. Following the evaluation process, awards will be distributed at the Innovation in the Public Sector Conference which will take place in January 2010.
The deadline for applications is 15 December 2009.
[BAGLANTILAR]
The importance given to women in Turkey is reflected in the Gender Empowerment Measure, released as a part of UNDP’s Global Human Development Report in October. According to these results Turkey is 101st out of 109 countries, ranking behind Pakistan and Azerbaijan, effectively as the 8th country from last.
We talked about the reasons for this unacceptably low ranking with the president of the Women Entrepreneurs Union of Turkey (KAGIDER), Gülseren Onanç. She emphasized that women have no say in Turkish politics and there has been a steady decline on the subject since 2000. Pointing out that civil society has a big responsibility on the matter, she stated that “there is a need for a strong political will to implement a legal framework with sanctions.”
Gender inequality and the problems that come with it is a topic that never ceases to make Turkish headlines. Considering the events and developments in Turkey in recent years, how do you evaluate Turkey’s ranking of 101st out of 109 nations in the UN Gender Empowerment Measure?
Social gender equality and empowerment of women are topics that have always been the most important part of KAGIDER and other women’s organizations agenda, and these organizations have been trying hard to bring these topics to Turkey’s main agenda in order to make a change. However much debate there is on the subject, in civil societies, in political lobbies one thing is clear; it is time to take action. The apparent situation that we face is evident from the UN Gender Empowerment Measure. Making the necessary legal framework a reality is in itself a challenge. Apart from the research done by UN, the results of other international reports and surveys show the same dire gender inequality in Turkey. The 2009 European Development Report emphasizes precisely this. Being 101st out 109 is a serious situation. According to these rankings, we are behind Pakistan, United Arab Emirates, Ethiopia, and Azerbaijan. In this context we as the civil society have the responsibility to call relevant politicians and ministries to action, and even provide them with concrete solutions. At KAGIDER that is exactly what we do. Looking closely at the UN Human Development Reports since 2000 and concentrating on our ranking in the Gender Empowerment Measure we can conclude that there has been a steady decline, especially after 2006. Turkey ranked 64th in 2000, 63rd in 2002, 73rd in 2004, and 72nd in 2006. This is a situation that calls for immediate action.
According to the measure only 9% of the members of parliament in the Turkish Grand National Assembly are women. This ratio is much higher in countries like Kazakhstan, Macedonia, and Bosnia Herzegovina that are in the same human development category as Turkey. What is the priority of the political parties in order to overcome this problem? Do these priorities have actual meaning and importance in practice?
According to the report, the ratio of members of parliament that are women is an important indicator in the Social Gender Empowerment Index. When we take a look at the other countries in the index we are faced with a striking reality. Countries like Tunisia, Uganda, South Africa, and Moldova, which are far behind Turkey in the area of human development, have a 20% ratio of members of parliament who are women, which is much higher than that of Turkey’s. The current situation and these realities show that this subject, unfortunately, has no priority in the agendas of the political parties in Turkey. Despite our best efforts, the framework for positive discrimination in politics ceases to see the light of day. Political parties and actors are not too keen to implement the proposed quota system. There is a very clear problem: women have no place in politics. Women are having a hard time accessing any sort of political decision making system while political parties and the legal frameworks of the current electoral system do not give the necessary importance to positive discrimination mechanisms.
The Gender Empowerment Measure shows that women earn only one fourth of the income that men do. What is the importance of this situation? Are there any ongoing constitutional projects on this topic?
That is the other side of the coin when it comes to gender equality, and it is closely related to economic empowerment of women. Equal wages for equal jobs is a legal reality in Turkey, but usually is not the case when it comes to practice. According to the 5th article of the constitution that governs work laws, “There cannot be any discrimination based on language, ethnicity, gender, political alignment, philosophical ideology, religious beliefs and anything else similar in the work environment.” Then the article continues with the following statement: “Of equal or equivalent jobs, there cannot be a disparity of wages based on gender.” On the other hand, there is not transparency in wage mechanisms in Turkish workplaces. When you consider that women workers are usually unregistered workers in Turkey, the wage inequality gets that much dire. If we take a general look at the developments in the equality of opportunity in Turkey: “Constant Gender Equality Commission” was established in the parliament in 2009, and the General Directorate of Women’s Status are continuing their efforts. However, there is still a lack of political will to implement the necessary legal framework.
In the Gender Empowerment Measure, Turkey is one of the last 5 out of the 45 countries in the “high human development” category with a value of 4%, in ratio of women ministers. When considered among all other countries, Turkey’s situation does not change. What do you propose Turkey that has an alarmingly low number of women representatives in the parliament, should do in order to increase the number of women ministers?
This problem originates from the same point concerning the low number of women in the parliament, and the solutions are very similar; positive discrimination mechanisms in politics and political party management, and the implementation of the necessary quota system.
In parallel to the topic of wages, the number of women administrators in Turkey is a mere 8%, far lower than other nations. What do you think this means for Turkish women in the context of the problems they face in employment?
There are very few women in the areas of politics, defense, security and decision making in economics. The number of women administrators in Turkey is dangerously low. When we consider that the ratio of women employment in Turkey is about 24%, this lack of women administrators is even more alarming. There are certain traditional and patriarchal ideologies at work that limit the economical power and freedom of women and force women to have a more home-based life, or limit the promotion of women into administrator status.
Finally how would you summarize the important lessons Turkey should learn from the UNDP 2009 Gender Empowerment Index results?
We as KAGIDER try to make accurate observations abouth the problem, and provide concrete solutions. When we look at the gloomy Gender Empowerment Index of 2009 we conclude 3 main points:
- Primarily, in order to empower women and get rid of the existing barriers we as KAGIDER embrace a monolith approach that includes awareness and education efforts to increase the participation of women in economical, political and social decision making processes.
- Secondarily we emphasize the need for a budget. There is a need for the establishment of a budget for gender equality.
- Unless the number of women participating in the political decision making systems increase, change and development cannot be sustainable in the long run. Political organizations and especially parties need to integrate women more into their ranks. We would like the quota system to be implemented.
With all things considered, how do you evaluate today’s women’s movement in Turkey? What else needs to be done?
The general picture shows us that there has not been much improvement in gender equality in the last decade, but we believe that we as civil society actors have a lot of work to do on the matter. These actors need to take the next step, stop analyzing the situation and instead take concrete actions. Political will needs to be exercised when necessary, the dialogue between the government and civil society actors needs to be expanded, and there needs to be steps taken towards a solution based action plan. We need less talk, more action. Trust based and sustainable civil society and government dialogue are of utmost importance.
Children are under increasing threat as they continue to be deprived of education, with many more at risk of dropping out of school due to unaffordable costs of living. In his message on the International Day for the Eradication of Poverty on 17 October 2009, Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon announced the theme of this year’s observance as “Children and Families Speak Out Against Poverty” and said “We recognize that investing in children and securing their rights is one of the surest ways to ending poverty.”
According to Ban Ki-moon, “We are at a critical juncture in the fight against poverty. Now is the time to amplify the voices of the vulnerable and ensure that the world follows up on its pledges”. Making the right investments to meet the Millennium Development Goals and taking concrete action, can make a profound difference to ensure that every man, woman and child has the opportunity to make the most of their potential.
As a form of concrete action, citizens have gathered at events across the globe on October 16-18, 2009 as part of “Stand Up, Take Action, End Poverty Now!” to demand that world leaders achieve the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). In a sign of the massive global demand for the achievement of the MDGs, last year more than 116 million people participated in “Stand Up,” shattering the Guinness World Record for the largest mobilization of human beings in recorded history. ‘Stand Up’ is a stark reminder that citizens will not accept excuses for governments breaking promises to the world’s poorest and most vulnerable citizens,” said Salil Shetty, Director of the United Nations Millennium Campaign. “This year’s mobilization places particular emphasis on telling world leaders that their track record on women’s rights, maternal mortality and hunger is unacceptable. Citizens refuse to accept the fact that 70 percent of the people living in poverty are women and children and 500,000 women continue to die annually in the process of giving life, and they are demanding urgent action from their leaders.”
Stand up, online
This year, for the first time, organizers have taken advantage of the power and reach of digital technology to make mobilization and engagement possible online. The UN Millennium Campaign has partnered with Skype and Ustream, the leading live online video platform that enables anyone to broadcast to a global audience of unlimited size. The unique partnership helped bridge technologies in order to connect the world in conversation about the most important issues facing this generation. On October 12-15, in the lead-up to the mobilization, former Irish President Mary Robinson and African entertainers Femi Kuti and Angelique Kidjo were amongst a group of high profile decision makers and cultural celebrities participating in a 30 minute conversation with ordinary citizens around the world to discuss poverty and its root causes. For the first time ever, the Skype calls were broadcast live on Facebook and viewers were encouraged to start their own conversations about poverty and its root causes on social networking platforms.
Shattering the world record, again
A Guinness World Record was shattered when 173,045,325 citizens gathered at over 3,000 events in more than 120 countries, demanding that their governments eradicate extreme poverty and achieve the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). “Stand Up, Take Action, End Poverty Now!”, now in its fourth year, has been certified by Guinness World Records as the largest mobilization of human beings in recorded history, an increase of about 57 million people over last year.
“The more than 173 million people who mobilized sent a clear message to world leaders that there is massive, universal, global demand for eradicating poverty and achieving the Millennium Development Goals,” said Salil Shetty, “In particular, we have seen citizens determined to show their governments that they will hold them accountable for keeping their promises to end hunger, improve maternal health and abolish trade-distorting agricultural subsidies. They will not accept excuses for breaking promises to the world’s poorest and most vulnerable people, who have already been hardest hit by the global food, economic and climate crises they had no role in causing.”
In Asia more than 100 million people participated while over 37 million people stood up against poverty in Africa. 31 million people in the Arab region and over 2 million in Europe participated in the campaign.
3,000 events were organized around the world. From Cape Town to Cairo and from Accra to Kampala, millions of Africans stood up in churches, mosques, schools, markets, streets and work places to call on their leaders to end poverty and inequality. In Italy, more than 400,000 people participated in 200 sports events across the country. Paris streets were invaded by 4,000 roller-bladers proudly sporting ‘Stand Up, Take Action, End Poverty Now!’ t-shirts. In Spain, coordinated marches nationwide included a rally in Madrid on October 16 which was followed by an outdoor concert featuring Spanish rock bands.
Peru was one of several countries which used “Stand Up” to start a process of climate justice hearings aimed at gathering the testimonies of people whose lives and livelihoods are being destroyed by global warming.
The event was jointly organized by TEMA (the Turkish Foundation to Fight against Soil Erosion, Forestation and Preservation of Wild Life), Buyuk Kolej high school and Sabanci high school along with the support of the United Nations Information Centre (UNIC) in Ankara and the United Nations Association in Turkey, to promote both the United Nation’s “Stand Up Against Poverty” campaign and the World Food Day.“Stand Up” was also supported by the entire United Nations system, with events organized by United Nations Information Centers (UNICs) across the globe. In Turkey, students from Buyuk Kolej, Sabanci primary and junior high schools, together with representatives of the United Nations Association in Turkey, Youth Section, demonstrated their support to the “Stand Up Against Poverty” campaign at the event organized at ANKA Mall, one of Ankara’s largest shopping centers, on October 16th.
The UNIC Ankara Information Officer, Ahmet Parla, delivered a speech at the event emphasizing the importance of public support for UN initiatives to create a better world for all.
Migration, most commonly known as people moving from one place to another, is often affiliated with negative outcomes in which people are forced to move as a result of war, conflict or lack of opportunities and services. Despite such conceptions, migration’s benefits can be plentiful, leading to beneficial and transformative flows of social, cultural, political and economic ideas in both origin and destination countries. Thus, instead of using migration to define movement, Francisco Rodriguez, head of the research team of the Human Development Report Office at UNDP, suggests using the term mobility to refer to the positive freedom of people to be given the opportunity to move.
Guest speaker at the Human Development Dialogue series seventh seminar held at Middle East Technical University (METU), Francisco Rodriguez introduced Overcoming barriers: Human mobility and development UNDP’s 2009 Global Human Development Report (GHDR). Presenting the report’s findings, Rodriguez explained that people who move and their families, as well as those who stay at home and destination communities can all benefit from migration. However, these benefits cannot be reaped due to inequality in the distribution of opportunities and the difficulty in obtaining permission to enter, stay and/or work both of which lead to immense pressures for human movement. Saying that opposition to migration is often caused by misperceptions, Rodriguez further drew attention to research which indicates that migration brings positive aggregate gains for destination countries resulting in investment rises, and contrary to widely held beliefs, causes no job losses.
In the Migration and Urban Poverty Symposium organized by Support to the Solution of Economic and Social Integration Problems in Istanbul, Izmir, Ankara and Bursa as Major In-Migrant Destinations Project (IGEP), academicians, migration experts as well as government representatives came together to address the important migration challenges in Turkey. Sabahat Tezcan, Director of the Institute of Population Studies at Hacettepe University said that according to the 2006 Turkey Migration and Internally Displaced Population Survey results, 48.9% of the household population live at places other than their place of residence at birth meaning that 1 out of 2 people in Turkey is a migrant and therefore, it is important for migration to remain on the agenda.
Speaking at the symposium, Füsun Çiçekoğlu, Sector Manager for Regional Development and Cross-Border Co-operation at the Delegation of the European Commission to Turkey explained that paradigms concerning migration have begun to shift. Whereas migration was previously perceived to result in poverty for those who migrate, it is now becoming a tool for development. However, in presenting the findings of the 2009 GHDR, Rodriguez stressed that although migration can help development, it should not be regarded as development’s substitute or an alternative method for developing countries to achieve growth and improve well-being. According to the Report, national development plans offer an opportunity to better integrate mobility into overall development priorities, and therefore that migration—while not a magic wand for a country’s problems—must be considered when creating strategies for development.
The overarching outcome that emerged in both seminars was the necessity of integrating migration policies in national development strategies. Osman Can Ünver from Başkent University pointed out that migration policies are generally security-centered and efforts must be made to accomplish migration policies that focus on human development. Similarly, Emre Işık from Mimar Sinan University expressed frustration in the fact that none of the political parties in Turkey address the issue of migration in their agendas, making it very difficult to establish a comprehensive migration policy in Turkey.
In forming such migration policies, it was suggested that Turkey can take advantage of the core package of reforms presented in the 2009 GHDR. The GHDR encourages policy makers to ensure basic rights for migrants, reduce transaction costs associated with migration, improve outcomes in destination countries and make mobility an important part of human development strategies.
The seminars were important in bringing attention to the issue of migration in Turkey which witnesses internal migration to a considerable extent. In addition, the country is gradually becoming a destination country. As an important step in initiating the development of national migration strategies, research centers have already been established at various reputable universities such as the Center for Global Migration Studies at METU and MiReKoç at Koç University.
In order to establish mutual understanding, direct complaint mechanisms, consideration of citizens’ assessment of the efficiency of security services, and cooperation with local authorities are listed among the necessary measures that can be taken by security forces.
According to Sebastian Roché, the project’s Chief Technical Advisor, this is only possible to the extent to which the security sector is open to media scrutiny and transparent to the public as well as to non-governmental organizations, a concept referred to as horizontal oversight. As the New Horizons team, we asked Sebastian Roché to further elaborate on the plethora of technical terms that are used in the Improvement of Civilian Oversight of the Internal Security Sector project so as to gain a better understanding of how the project really hopes to improve civilian oversight of the internal security sector in Turkey.
In defining the concept, Roché explains “civilian oversight has two dimensions. The first is hierarchical and is linked to command and control as well as audit of police and gendarmerie by the government, the judiciary, the parliament. The second dimension is horizontal and focuses on establishing cooperation at the local level between the internal forces and other agencies (for example the municipality or the chamber of commerce) and promoting transparency vis-à-vis citizen.”
Within civilian oversight, the security pilot models constitute a roadmap for providing support to the governors in the project’s 3 pilot provinces (Niğde, Erzurum and Istanbul) so that they can implement the necessary changes to align Turkey with EU best practices in the field of horizontal oversight. The models aim to introduce proactive inter agency coordination and mechanisms which will allow local security plans to reflect the concerns and security priorities of local citizens. Although the models are designed to cater to the needs of each province, the core of each model is similar in terms of strengthening the role of the Governorate in coordinating and leading civilian oversight of the internal security sector.
These models recognize that in modern approaches to security and community safety there is a need to move away from the top down central approach of security towards a more flexible and participatory approach. The project predicts that the implementation of these pilot models will lead to more effective and sustainable community safety and security approach which better reflects and addresses the views and concerns of the citizens.
Security pilot models are necessary because there is a need for improving local coordination mechanisms to prevent each administration from working in isolation. Furthermore, the role of NGOs and local public authority needs to be institutionalized in the production of security. For this to be accomplished, stakeholders can sign local security contracts as a clear signal that they want to work together” Roché argues.
As part of the security pilot models these local security contracts improve civilian oversight because horizontal oversight can only be achieved if there are local security plans that are prepared under the leadership of the governors in consultation with civil society. Roché adds: “No policing plan means no defined policing policy and thus restricting oversight by the governors.” In Turkey, he claims “the contributions of the police and the gendarmerie can for example be better coordinated for the next 3 years.” The real challenge in Turkey, according to Roché is “about bringing police and gendarmerie as well as other organizations around the same table.”
Improvement of Civilian Oversight of the Internal Security Sector project’s security pilot models draw from aspects of models of inter-agency coordination and local security strategic planning that are being used in France and the UK and aim in particular to move towards citizen focused policing. Roché summarizes the reason for choosing these two countries as follows: “we use the EU examples as a reservoir of diversity. A centralized unitary country with governors (France) and a more decentralized country with local police forces and local Parliaments (the UK) are very useful in this sense. These two countries have recognized the need for these “local security contracts”.
The security models will be applied in the three pilot provinces of İstanbul, Niğde and Erzurum. These provinces were selected on the basis of a number of criteria including size, geographical location, social and cultural situations and the capacity of the Governorates to provide leadership and coordination through a participatory approach of including stakeholders in the development of pilot models. Though “the formal structure is identical” says Roché, “it is filled according to the local realities. In the commission, the membership can differ. The selection of the priority targets will also be different.” When asked whether each province has challenges of its own, Roché further continues: “In a large city like Istanbul the civil society is stronger, and it is perhaps a metropolis more open to innovation. In smaller provinces, the coordination can be easier, but the resources will be less.”
The models will allow for planning the policing policy at the local level, integrating civil society into that planning, and this will permit oversight by the governor which will benefit all stakeholders including the internal security forces.
Perhaps the most challenging task in the application Improvement of Civilian Oversight of the Internal Security Sector project in Turkey, was gathering all key stakeholders together. It became apparent during the process that for many of the stakeholders in these provinces it was the first time that they had actually sat together in a formal meeting scenario. Therefore, it is not surprising that Roché, as well as internal experts that worked in other countries in the same geographical regions, are impressed by the commitment of the stakeholders in Turkey because “people who have never met before are now around the same table.”
Editor: Aygen Aytaç
Assistant: Ece Ergen
Interns: Begüm Kalemdaroğlu, Ersev Özer
© 2009 UNDP Turkey
All rights of New Horizons are reserved to UNDP Turkey. Any use of information should be accompanied by an acknowledgment of New Horizons as the source citing the URL of the article.