THE REPRESENTATION CAPABILITY OF CITY COUNCILS IN TURKEY: THE CASE FOR SİİRT PROVINCE

Uğur Yildirim¹ ---Zehra Gül² ---Soner Akin³⁺---Sevilay Kiraç⁴ ---Yusuf Kiraç⁵

¹Prof. Kahramanmaras Sutçu Imam University, Fac. of Economical & Administrative Sciences

²Assist. Prof. Kahramanmaras Sutçu Imam University, Fac. of Economical & Administrative Sciences

³Mustafa Kemal University, Kırıkhan Vocational School

⁴Kahramanmaras Sutçu Imam University, Social Sciences Institute

⁵Siirt University, Techical Sciences School

Keywords:Representation, Local administration, City council, Siirt.

Contribution/ Originality:This study contributes in the existing literature about how the representation capacity of city councils is in Turkey, being one of the new studies which investigates the city councils’ representation capability in Eastern section of Turkey.

1. INTRODUCTION

As is well known, local governments are the closest units for society. Today, organic ties across the democracy and representation were only constituted, thanks to local governments of which decision organs were elected by society. In this study, the representation power of local governments’ council members was studied in the scope of Siirt province in Turkey. Turkish process for representation’s own development along with its basic concepts was also reviewed in order to question the representation capacity of council members. In this respect, the legal amendments as the law no 5393 known as Municipality Law, the metropolitan city law in numbers 5216 and 6360 and the law no 5747 were paid attention, and the interpretations upon representation were analyzed. The method of this study was supported by the datum gained by polls performed for council members in Siirt. This data was analyzed through SPSS software, indeed the distribution patterns were enlightened via getting percentages and variance analysis.

2. CONCEPTS ABOUT REPRESENTATION

In our times, the concept as representation refers to a relation between two persons or groups as the represented and representatives, who are obliged to realize the function upon performing activities, i.e. previously defined in social agreements (Rao, 1998). The representation concept also means acting on behalf of somebody or some groups, along with reflecting the characteristics of the represented sides, performing the role as spokesman of an object or a social group, also protecting the rights and interests of the represented people (TDK, 2005). Indeed, acting on behalf of some other people based on an agreement or an obliged mission was named as legal representation (TDK, 2015). On the other hand, appointing someone as the representative of some groups, owing to his/her own characteristic as religion, race, language, social statue or membership was widely accepted as the social representation in literature (Rao, 1998). The political representation refers to a specific section in society who defends something for the interests of individuals or extended sectors in communities (Heywood, 2004; Yıldırım et al., 2011). According to political representation, those concepts as the system of election, the location of power, the political party regime, the size of representative structure, processes upon nomination, identity, harmonization, accessibility, related activities, the responsibilities of representatives, their abilities, the political knowledge of electors are all accepted as preliminary contexts (Norman et al., 2007; Aksu and Kurtuluş, 2011) . The elected representatives have to evaluate the demands of local society and also pay attention for their position (Arblaster, 1999). In those respects, two widely known functional types for representation come into play. They are accepted as direct and indirect representation. If the members of society participate into every decision related with their interests, the direct representation will reveal in a platform where everyone represent themselves (Bealey, 1988; Örs, 2006). In our time, the possibility for direct representation seems weak, and then the other alternative as indirect representation is widely used in modern crowded societies. In this type, some sections in society who have specific characteristics are chosen for the function as representation, via elected by others, in order to represent the masses (Yıldırım et al., 2011).

3. LOCAL GOVERNMENTS AND THE RELATION UPON REPRESENTATION

The direct representation within the local governance creates a platform in which an individual could participate in the administration by himself (Ulusoy and Akdemir, 2010). The distance in geographic and social terms can be short between the representatives and represented sides, and this might be accepted as the realization of a direct election process which was suppoted by the theory of democracy, along with an effective social control mechanism (Çitçi, 1996). Besides, the election of local governments’ decision and executive organs by the society, and the realization of local services by those units being closests to the society, improves the relation of those units with the democracy (Çitçi, 1989). Moreover, the local governments bring the opportunities for on participating in the governance, thus lay shared foundations for democracy. Indeed, this dissemination can form other bases for power sharing, or shared management patterns. An important step within this providence is to gain different views of individuals and represent them in the administration (Yıldırım et al., 2000). The local governments orient the voluntary attitude of society towards the local dimension and decline the political tension, thus contribute the legitimacy of political system in critical terms (Eryilmaz, 2012).

The local governments which are functioned in the representation mechanism have the basic mainstays and values as “freedom, equality, solidarity, political reliance and participation” (Çitçi, 1996; Yavaş and Demir, 2014).. In this respect, the citizens have to gain the opportunities on developing policies, decision making procedures, participating in the processes within multidimensional manners and evaluating the results of practices which are all related with them (Oktay, 2013). In fact, benefiting from the expertises and knowledge of individuals in different branches and employing them in the places they live within different titles are added up this aim (Oktay, 2013a). This type of representation can also reveal in specific units, insomuch as this might occur via the specificly aimed plans or projects along with the title as “the representative of society” (Yıldırım, 1993). According to Canpolat and Haktankaçmaz (2010) the reasons of the problems about representation in Turkey can be searched in many social-political values within culture . Besides, the weak nature of decision making or working together might be the main problem about representation in Turkey. By means of our study, this problem will be analysed for the scale of Turkey.

4. THE REPRESENTATIVE POWER OF MUNICIPALITY COUNCILS IN TURKEY

A civil administration committee was founded in 1862 at Beirut city within the Ottoman period, and the very first quasi municipality structure was composed in 1863, thus this development is accepted as the milestone for local representation (Stratejik Araştırmalar Vakfı (SAV), 1994) This practice confirmed the existence of old local authorities in cities and the first municipality council edict was created in 1867, and this was conserved until the first Provincial Law was introduced (Mazza, 2015). As the representative power of municipality councils were paid attention since 1930, some improvements could be clarified. In this respect, the reasons of limited representation were abolished, and the right to vote and stand for election was expanded in order to cover the position of women (Bulut and Tanıyıcı, 2008). The role of local people on gaining the values of democratic local government became evident since 1980s (Kösecik and Sağbaş, 2004). On the other hand, the municipality council structure which is composed as strong mayor-weak council is valid in Turkey’s own municipal organization. The legitimacy producer organs of the municipalities are the councils (Arıkboğa, 2012). Political parties have the proportionally balanced members in the councils, which are correlated with the number of votes gained in the elections (Bulut and Tanıyıcı, 2008). The main characteristic which gives democratic feature to municipalities is the praxis in which the mayor and the council members are elected via general voting (Şakacı, 2009). The attitude on voting in Turkey was mostly determined by national problems and policies, on the other hand the effective position of local voter for the nomination of local representatives is rather limited (Tekeli, 1977). Moreover, the representatives could be seen as acting for the interests of political parties instead of the local societies (Baraç, 2005; Yıldırım et al., 2011) . Indeed, the candidates have to be determined by society via pre-election procedures so that the representation function can realize in effective way, and then the ties between society and the true representative instead of the party representative can be strengthened by rightful regulations which are already needed (Yıldırım et al., 2011).

The previous studies performed in Turkey show that the municipality councils are dominated by some specific social categories. According to Kazancı (1983) the working and functioning of local governments are checked by civic cooperation instead of extended social groups. Çiftçi states that the representation of the producers of services which are regulated and controlled by local governments realized over the effectiveness share-out within the population, on the other hand the representation of the ones who consume those services are still limited (Çitçi, 1989). Indeed, the most appropriate way through a more equitable representation among the other methods is the liberal democracy which cover the issues upon racial, age, gender, class based differences across the communities and the rights of habitation, and presents many outcomes within the parameters of this understanding (Sıemıatyckı and Saloojee, 2002).  As the previous studies were paid attention, a research performed upon Bingöl Municipality Council’s representation issue by Baraç (2005) showed that the relation between society and representative couldn’t be sustained because of the political parties dominant role upon the nomination of candidates who would be council members. Bulut and Tanıyıcı (2008) who studied the Erzincan province’s municipality council sample found that the members of the council members had to be known by the local society so that the functionality of the representation could realize, besides those candidates had to continue their own representation ability. Çelik and Uluç (2009) studied the case upon the weight of job owners as artisans and craftsmen in the municipality council of Şanlıurfa which is among the South Eastern provinces in Turkey, as those profession holders became an important power in local politics. Parallel to these, Aksu and Kurtuluş (2011) also stated that the members of Sivas municipality council were around median age and didn’t reflect the position of society by means of occupational distribution. People from the occupational branches as administrative and juridical sciences have become weighted in the councils after the years 2000s (Üste, 2005). As the study of Tekeli which was performed for some municipality council’s occupational distribution for the period 1973-1977 is paid attention, it is seen that the local society was represented by little artisans and craftsmen (Tekeli, 1977). Again the study of Varol (1989) in Bandırma shows that the freelancers, commercialists and craftsmen were the weighted group in municipality councils for all periods between 1950 and 1984. The same research found that the free lancers were gradually becoming the mostly weighted group in representation. Besides, as the period between 1994 and 2004 for Kahramanmaraş Municipality Council and 1994-2004 for Nazilli Municipality Council were paid attention, it was seen that free lancers and craftsmen are mostly dominant in municipality councils (Yıldırım et al., 2000). In another study which was performed for Çanakkale Municipality Council, a craftsmen and free lancer weighted council was determined again (Palabıyık and Görün, 2004; Akdoğan, 2014). As the occupational distribution of the representatives in municipality council of Şanlıurfa was observed in 2009, similarly the percentage of craftsmen and freelancers was seen as 78.4% (Çelik and Uluç, 2009). In the same manner, it is found in Baraç (2005) for Bingöl municipality council that the 74% of members of council was composed by free lancers and craftsmen, and then the same study was expanded for the central district of same province in which those level was found around %25 (Çelik, 2008). Albeit, another study which was performed by Bulut and Tanıyıcı in Erzincan showed the same picture and it was seen that the 65.2% of the members were free lancers and craftsmen (Bulut and Tanıyıcı, 2008). For the case study in Sivas, it was also observed that the questionnaire participants within the study were mostly freelancers and craftsmen again in 2011. In this respect, 34.6 % of council members were craftsmen, and 38.5 % of them were free lancers as architects, engineers etc (Aksu and Kurtuluş, 2011). The representation power of free lancers based on provincial evaluation across the municipality councils are reflected to general picture in Turkey. In another study about municipality council members which was performed for nation wide by Keleş and Toprak showed that the occupational groups as craftsmen, civil servants and architects were mostly weighted in Turkey, but retired civil servants and workers were relatively less represented (Keleş and Toprak, 2000).

The nation wide values in Turkey for woman representatives are 0.6 % in 1984, 0.7 % in 1989 and 0.9 % in 1994 (Çitçi, 1996). Among the municipality council members, only 1.58 % of 34.084 members were women in 1999’s General Local Elections (Azaklı and Özgür, 2002). Only 12 % (3 individuals) of Bingöl Municipality Council members were women (Baraç, 2005). The study which was performed by Bulut and Tanıyıcı for Erzincan province also showed that no woman representative existed in Erzincan municipality council (Bulut and Tanıyıcı, 2008). Similarly, the study performed in Şanlıurfa showed that only 5.4 % of municipality councils were women (Çelik and Uluç, 2009). Another research which was done as to the local election results of the year 2009 showed that the number on municipality membership of women in municipality council of Isparta was 12 (Türeli and Çağlar, 2010). On the other hand, according to another study which was performed in 2014, the number of women members in Çanakkale and their districts’ municipality councils was only 25 after the local election of the same year (Anbarlı and Kutlu, 2014). As to the data collected by the participants of poll performed in 2011, only 4 women contributed to the study, compared with 22 men, indeed 15 % could be accepted for the weight of women (Aksu and Kurtuluş, 2011). Those studies showed that woman representatives are still few in municipality councils of Turkey, thus the dominant weight of men continues as well. Under the scope of our study, the gender based distribution of council members and mayors in Siirt province can be seen below, for the year 2014.

Table-1. Gender based distribution of mayors and municipality council members in nation-wide datum of Turkey for the year 2014. Resource: Prepared based on the datum which were obtained by Supreme Election Board’s final elections report after the general local elections in 2014 was occurred

     Source: Supreme Election Board Offical Web Site (2015)

Table-2. Gender based distribution of mayors and municipality council members in Siirt for the year 2014. Resource: Prepared based on the datum which were obtained by Supreme Election Board’s final elections report after the general local elections in 2014 was occurred.

    Source: SEBOWS (2015).

5. SOCIO-ECONOMIC FEATURES OF THE STUDY

Siirt is a province of Turkey and located in Southern Anatolian Region’s northeastern part, being surrounded by Şırnak and Van at east, Batman and Bitlis at north and Mardin with Şırnak at south.

Figure-1. Siirt Physical Map

    Resource: Turkish Geography Studies Unofficial Web Site (2015)

All lands of this province is included in Dicle River Basin. This basin is the fourth basin of Turkey on getting water inside, after Havza, Fırat, Kızılırmak and Sakarya (www.cografya.gen.tr, 2015). Along with its surface value as 5.406 km², Siirt province has 0.7 % of Turkey lands. 7 different districts together with the capital district, 278 villages, 214 arable fields and 13 municipalities exist in Siirt. Most of the lands of province are covered in mountains.

Figure-2. Distribution of Siirt Population based on years (2014)

Resource: Turkish Unofficial Demographic Studies Web Page (2015)

Muş Güneyi Mountains at north, Siirt Doğusu Mountains at east are the mountain chains which determine natural borders of province (www.siirt.gov.tr, 2015). Total members of municipality council are 91 in Siirt province which has the population as 318.366. 31 of this number is the member of Siirt municipality, the other are the members of district level municipality councils. Indeed, 9 in Baykan, 9 in Eruh, 15 in Kurtalan, 9 in Pervari, 9 in Şirvan and 9 in Tillo refer to the numbers of members across the districts (www.ysk.gov.tr, 2015).

Table-3. Age group and Gender based distribution in Siirt’s population (2014

Resource: TÜİK (2014) “Population as to province, age group and gender based factors, 2007-2014”

Siirt has 0.4 % of total Turkey’s population as 77.695.904. 51.4 % of this population is male as 164.098 individuals, and then 48.46 % of it is female individuals as 154.268 (www.tuik.gov.tr, 2015). The livelihood of society in the province is mostly based on agriculture and husbandary, and it is seen that the industry was not fairly developed.

Figure-3. Gross Added Value Per Capita ($) 2011

Resource: TÜİK, “Siirt with selected indicators” in 2014

The labor force is around 37.5 % and the employment rate is 29.8 % (TÜİK, 2014). Gross added value per capita for the year 2011 is 4.689 dolars for the zone of Turkey as TRC3 (which covers the provinces as Mardin, Batman, Şırnak, Siirt). This value is under the nation wide value of Turkey which is 9.244 dollars (TÜİK, 2014). Among the 81 provinces of Turkey, Siirt is the 79th for the labor force participation rate with 37 %, and 3rd for very hig unemployment rate as 20%, also 79th for very very low employment ratio as 27.2 % (Siirt Üniversitesi, 2015). According to the list for the development status indexes of provinces in 2012 datum, Siirt is at 75th order.

6. EVALUATION OF THE DATA OBTAINED FROM THE QUESTIONNAIRE

The datum which was obtained from the polls performed for council members in Siirt province’s scale were evaluated by SPSS software, and then some are analyzed by variance analysis via giving percentages of all of them. Independent sample T-Test analysis was performed in order to determine a significant difference among the variables, and then a one-way ANOVA analysis was done. Indeed, the non parametric version of one-way ANOVA which is Kruskal Wallis H-Test was performed in order to explain some variables more accurately. Some part of the data which was obtained from the polls was prepared within tables, and some other was directly interpreted without tables. A field study was performed in order to determine the attitudes of council members upon the ability on representation powers in Siirt province and its districts. The total number of municipality council members in Siirt province and its districts is 91. Indeed, the council members and major resigned in the district as Tillo (6 members for AKP, “Justice and Development Party”, 3 members for SP, “Happiness Party”), thus the questionnaire research couldn’t be performed for council members in Tillo. Therefore, the investigation, in which the questionnaire method was performed, was made with 82 individuals, but 76 of them made a comeback. In other words, approximately 92.7 % of participants in the questionnaire research answered the questions. According to this, 31 Siirt council members participated in the questionnaire (19 members for BDP, “Peace and Democracy Party”, 12 members for AKP). Among the districts, 9 members for Baykan (6 for BDP, 3 for AKP), 9 for Eruh (6 for BDP, 3 for AKP), 15 for Kurtalan (6 for BDP, 9 for AKP), 9 for Pervari (3 for BDP, 5 for AKP, 1 for CHP, “Republican Society Party”) and 9 for Şirvan (4 for BDP, 5 for AKP) participated in the study as council members from districts (www.ysk.gov.tr, 2015). As the return rate for the study is at the adequate level, the evaluation step was performed. The demographic features of participants in the questionnaire were presented herein. Afterwards, the views and approaches of council members in province and districts, which were about the representation and related topics, were evaluated.

Table-4. Demographic Results (n=76)

   Resource: Weeks (2000)

61 (80.3%) of council members who participated in the poll was male, thus 15 (19.7%) was female. Most of the council members in Siirt had the birthplace as Siirt (96.1%). If the council members of province and district were paid attention, it would be seen that 51 of the total participants as 76 members (67.2 %) had been living in Siirt for more than 30 years. The average age for the participants was 37.7 years old. If the distribution of the ages was focused, it would be seen that 22.4 % was between 43 and 48. As the education levels of the participants were evaluated, the individuals whose education level as high school graduates had the highest majority with the ratio as 31.6 %. The very first order for occupational distribution was defined for the craftsmen’s majority as 39.5%.

As the political party membership within the distribution of mayors and council members who participated the study was investigated, it was seen that BDP with the ratio as 56.6 % was the leader party. AKP with 42.1 % was the secondary, and then CHP with the minority as 1.3 % was the third follower in this rank. As is the distribution of council members were paid attention, it was seen that the other parties didn’t have any members.

Table-5. Occupational Distribution (n=76

  Resource: Weeks (2000)

The Table 6 below shows that the great majority with 71.1 % of the party members within the councils were only “a party member”. Indeed, 9.2 % of council members which follows it were the members of “Board of Directors”

Table-6. Which position did you have in the party you represented/became a member?

Resource: Weeks (2000)

As a result of this study, among the answers in poll which were upon the question as “How did the participants from council members enter the politics?” the highest score was obtained for the option as “the effect of party leader” as 15.5 %. This means that the most important effect for entering politics as to the participants’ view was being “party leader”. As the gender-age relation across the participants was paid attention, 5 women and 7 men existed within the range of age between 25 and 30. Between the age-range as 31 and 36, 2 women and 10 men exist. For the range as 37-42, 4 women and 8 men exist. Again 4 women and 13 men exist within the range as 43-48, and only 11 men exist for the range, 49-54. Moreover, all of the participants who are above 54 are men, and their number is 12. As the distribution of age is seen within the table, women concentrated on the range as 25-30, and the men centered upon the range as 43-48. Age –education distribution was also stated in table 8.

Table-7. How did you enter

    Resource: Weeks (2000)

Table-8. Age-Gender Relation

 Resource: Weeks (2000)

The relation between age and gender status could be seen the table below. It is seen that the age range 43-48 is the highest section in number, but primary school graduation was mostly seen in those members.

Table-9. The relation upon age-gender status

Resource: Weeks (2000)

As the gender-education relation of the participants in the study is paid attention, it is seen that most of the women is primary school graduate, and most of the men is high school graduate. Although there is not any bachelor’s degree owner, 10 university school graduates exists among the men.

Table-10. Education Level-Geneder Relation

  Resource: Weeks (2000)

It is seen in the table that the number of men for each level is more than the number of women.
As the issue how many periods the participants in the research sample became members of councils was paid attention, the individuals who were in their first session were among the majority with the rate 78.9 %. Scoring method was used upon the evaluation of factors. The significance level for each option given as answers by participants was scored, and then the highest score was determined. In this respect, each option which was determined for the first level significance was given 4 point. Each option which was determined for the second level of significance was given 3 points. The options in the third level of importance gained 2 points and the latest level of significance in fourth degree obtained 1 point. All collected points were scored in descending order and given in the following table.

Table-11. The factors which are effective upon the election of council members

Resource: Weeks (2000)

As a result of the evaluation, the answers upon the question as “Please give an order for the significance level for the factors which affected your election on being a council member” were analyzed, and the option which gained highest score was determined as “my political views/background” with the ration 37.3%. This means that the most important factor which affected the election of participants is within the statement as “my political views/my background”. The scoring method to evaluate the factors which affect the decisions of municipality council was used again. In this respect, the answers of each participant was scored as to the significance level, and the highest score owner option was determined. Each option within the first rank of significance gained 12 points, the second important option gained 11 points, the third significant one obtained 10 points and finally the latest option in 12th rank got 1 for each. Each point was ordered in a rank for descending and given in the table below. As a result of the evaluation made, the highest scored answer for the question as “which one are the mostly effective upon the decisions of council?” is 18.6 % weighted option as “political party organization”.

Table-12. Factors which are effective upon decisions taken by municipality council

   Resource: Weeks (2000)

The participants who were elected as council members are questioned with the statement as “municipal members represent whom in reality”. Among the answers, the highest score as the first rank was for the option in majority as “all the society who exist in the election occurred” with the ratio 39.04 %. Besides, as the degree of significance was paid attention, 36 of the participants in council were (47.4% of them) stated that women were not fairly represented. For the issue on the representation of young people, 38 individuals (50 % of them) thought that the young people were tried to be represented. 43 individuals (56.6 % of them) stated that “physically handicapped people are never represented”. Besides, 33 individuals thought that (43.4 % of them) older people were tried to be represented. In order to investigate the processes of representation ability of council members in the council, the views of participants about 5 different processes were taken. Among those processes, the codes of Turkish Algorithm in options were “Giving on the job training service, coded as HİEV”, “ Benefiting from political academy coded as SAY”, “Benefiting from the senior council members’ experiences coded as KÜTY”, “ Receiving help from the political party coded as PYA” and “Self learning coded as ZKÖ”.

Table-13. The process upon improving the representation power of council members

  Resource: Weeks (2000)

The answers taken by the participants for the question as “how the processes on improving the representation ability of council members in the councils are?” were presented in the Table 13. As to this table, 43.4% of participants (33 individuals) stated that they agreed strongly upon the idea as on the job training, 51.3% of them (39 individuals stated that they agreed on the idea that they could improve their representation ability by benefiting from the political academy. 44.7 % (34 individuals) stated that they agreed on the idea as benefiting from the senior members’ experience to improve the representation ability. Again, 44.7 % of them (34 individuals) stated that they agreed strongly on the ideas as improving the representation ability via receiving help from the political parties. Besides, 44.7 % of them (34 individuals) stated that they agreed on the idea as self-improving the representation ability by the course of time. The reliability analysis upon the political and administrative features of council members with the representation characteristics was paid attention, and then it was seen that the Cronbach's Alpha value was 0,719 for political and administrative representation, but 0,894 for representation characteristics.  In general respects, Cronbach's Alpha coefficient within the range as 0,60-0,80 refers to the quite reliability, and the range as 0,80-1,00 means high reliability of the scale in the literature.

Table-14. The reliability analysis results upon political and administrative representation’features and the characteristics of representation

   Resource: Santos (1999)

As the open ended questions in the poll were paid attention, it was understood that the main aim of the council members on being a member was (1) Giving services for society. Besides they stated that they would run for(2) Transparent administration (3) Defending Women Rights (4) Fair Management as well. Most of the council members answered the question upon what the biggest problem of council is via the problem statements as (a) the lack of education (b) political pressure/ political gain (c) the lack of control. The following hypotheses are based on the political, indirect, sociological-representation themed questions’ analysis. The statements for hypotheses were code with the letter “H” and its related order number. Indeed, the independent sample T-Test analyses were performed for H1, H2; ANOVA analyses used for H3, H4, H5, H7, H8, H10 and H11, Tukey test was performed for H7 and a correlation analysis was done for H12 and H13.
H1: There isn’t any significant difference between the genders of council members and their representation characteristics.

After analysis, there was found a difference between the genders of members and the representation in one statement among the others, but there was no difference on behalf of the others. When those statements about the genders of council members were paid attention, the significance levels were rejected for the statement as “the local society was fairly represented in councils via today’s election regime” (p=0,025<0.05), but they are accepted for the others. Therefore this result shows that the thoughts of women council members are upon being not fairly represented in the local societies’ municipality councils in adaquate levels.
H2: There isn’t any significant difference between the genders of municipality councils and which sections are represented at which degree in the councils

Table-15. Independent Sample T-Test Result related on the genders of municipality councils and which sections are represented at which degree in the councils

Resource: Baldi and Long (2001)

For the analysis, the datum about the representation of women, young people, handicapped people and olders and those data’s averages don’t show a normal distribution, the extraction of this 5 point likert scale’s averages was performed, and its harmonization to the normal distribution was sustained. As a result, There exist no significant difference between the genders of council members and which sections are represented at which levels” was accepted. In other words, there is not any statistically significant difference between the genders and the representation of some sections.

Table-16. The group statistics upon the genders of council members and which sections are represented at which level

Resource: Cornell (1996)

The average value of women is 1,597, but the average of men is 1,633. This situatiın is seen in the Table 17.

H3: There is not any significant difference between the ages of council members and how they entered to politics.

Table-17. The result of one way ANOVA test result which is about the ages of older members in couuncil members and how they entered to politics

Resource: Freund and Littell (1981)

According to the results obtained, there exists no significant difference between the ages of council members and how they entered in politics. Hence, H3 hypothesis, which was formed as “There is not any significant difference between the ages of council members and how they entered to politics.”, was accepted.

H4: There is no significant difference between the ages of council members and the factors upon electing as council members.

Table-18. The result of one way ANOVA analysis upon the relation between the ages of council members and the factors on their electing as council members

  Resource: Freund and Littell (1981)

It was found that there existed no statistically significant difference between the ages of council members and the factor on their election. Indeed, H4 hypotheis as “There doesn’t exist any significant difference between the ages of council members and the factors on being elected as council member” was accepted.

H5: There exists no significant difference between the ages of council members and which institutions or who are effective the decisions given by municipality council.

Table-19. The result of one way ANOVA analysis upon the relation between the ages of council members and which institutions or who are effective the decisions given by municipality council.

Resource: Freund and Littell (1981)

Table-20. The result of Kruskal Wallis H-Test analysis upon the relation between the genders of council members and which groups have to be given the status of natural membership.

  Resource: Kruskal and Wallis (1952)

In the analysis upon the relation between the ages of council members and which institutions or who are effective the decisions given by municipality council along with whether a significant difference among them exists, the hypothesis as “There exists no significant difference between the ages of council members and which institutions or who are effective the decisions given by municipality council” was accepted. Indeed, the hypothesis H5 is true.

H6: There exists no significant difference between the genders of council members and which groups have to be given the status of natural membership.

As a result of this analysis, the hypothesis as “There exists no significant difference between the genders of council members and which groups have to be given the status of natural membership.” was rejected for two variables and accepted for the other variables. It was seen that there exists no significant difference on giving the status of natural membership for NGO [χ2=6.602; p=0.010; p<0.05] and craftmen and free lancers [χ2=5.007; p=0.025; p<0.05]. The average values on order in NGOs are 26.07 for women and 41.56 for men. The average values on order in craftmen and free lancers are 28.20 for women and 41.03 for men.

H7: There exists no significant difference between the jobs of council members and the processes on improving the ability for representatio

Table-21. The result of one way ANOVA analysis upon the jobs of council members and the processes on improving the ability for representation

Resource: Freund and Littell (1981)

 According to obtained results, there was found a significant difference between the occupational positions of council members with the statement as “Benefiting from political academy” (p=0,033<0.05) and “Self learning by the course of time” (p=0,047<0.05). TUKEY Test was performed from among the multiple comparison tests in order to determine where this difference was rooted from. As a result of multiple comparison test, there was found difference between the average group scores of the people who defined their occupational status as student among the ones in councils who think that they could improve their representation ability via benefiting from political academy and the average group scores of the ones whose occupational status is craftsman [F(6-65)=2.463, 0,033<0.05)] and retired people [F(6-65)=2.463, 0,033<0.05)].

Table-22. The result of Kruskal Wallis H-Test Analysis upon the relation between the memberships of council members for NGO and who or which institutions are effective upon the decisions taken by the municipality council

Resource: Kruskal and Wallis (1952)

Again, as a result of multiple comparison test, there was found difference between the average group scores of the people who defined their occupational status as craftsmen the ones in councils who think that they could improve their representation ability via self learning by the course of time and the average group scores of retired people [F(6-65)=2.276; 0,047<0.05)]. According to this, H7 hypothesis was rejected from the as “benefiting from political academy” and “self learning by the course of time”

H8: There exists no significant difference between the memberships of council members for NGO and who or which institutions are effective upon the decisions taken by the municipality council.

As a result of the analysis, the hypothesis “There exists no significant difference between the memberships of council members for NGO and who or which institutions are effective upon the decisions taken by the municipality council.” was rejected for a variable, and accepted for other variables.

It is seen that there exists a significant difference between mayor, municipal board, municipality council [χ2=4.680; p=0.031; p<0.05] and the memberships of council members for NGO. Among the ones who stated that mayor, municipal board and municipality council are effective upon the taken decisions, the order average values of individuals who said “yes” for a membership of NGO is 29.11, but the people who said “no” gained the average score as 21.48. In other words, the average score of the ones who said “yes” for the statement as “Mayor, municipal board, municipality council is effective” is higher.

H9: There exists no significant difference between the education levels of municipality council members and which groups are represented in municipality councils.

Table-23. The results of Kruskal WallisH-Test which is about the education levels of municipality council members and which groups are represented in municipality councils

 Resource: Kruskal and Wallis (1952)

As a result of the performed analysis, the hypothesis as “The education levels of municipality council members and which groups are represented in municipality councils” was rejected for a variable, and accepted for other variables. According to the results obtained, there was found a significant difference between the education levels of council members and young people [χ2=9.832; p=0.043; p<0.05]. This difference was derived from the reason that average difference of young people whose education level is secondary school (28.86) is smaller than the ones who have the other education levels. According to this, the hypothesis H9 is rejected for the section as young people, and accepted for the others.

H10: There exist no significant difference between the education levels of council members and the groups who have to be given a quota for natural membership in municipality councils.

Table-24. The result of one way ANOVA analysis upon the groups who have to gain quota for natural membership: The education levels of council members and the natural membership quotas in councils.

Resource: Freund and Littell (1981)

As a result of this analysis, the hypothesis “There exist no significant difference between the education levels of council members and the groups who have to be given a quota for natural membership in municipality councils.” was rejected for one variable and accepted for other variables. According to the obtained results, it was found that there existed a statistically significant difference between the education levels of council members and NGOs [χ2=11.545; p=0.021; p<0.05]. This difference is derived from the reason that the average difference of community college graduates (54.80) is higher than the averages of the ones who have other education levels. Hence, the hypothesis H10 is rejected for NGOs, and accepted for the others.

H11: There exists no significant difference between the ages of council members and the representation characteristics of them.

According to the obtained results, there was found a difference for the statements as “The local society only accepts the council member lists which were determined by the political parties.”, “Municipality council members represent their own party/political voters” and “Woman representation is important in politics.” The significance between the ages of council members and “The local society only accepts the council member lists which were determined by the political parties.” was found as p=0.000<0.05. The significance level for “Municipality council members represent their own party/political voters” is p= 0.036<0.05.  The significance level for “Woman representation is important in politics.” is p= 0.001<0.05. According to the performed comparison test, as the ages of the council members who thought that the local society only accepts the council member lists which were determined by the political parties were compared, it was seen that the average difference for the range of age as 37-42 (55.88) and for the range as 43-48 (46.44) were higher than the other age groups.

Table-25. The result of Kruskal Wallis H-Test upon the ages of council members and the representation characteristics

  Resource: Kruskal and Wallis (1952)

As the ages of the council members who thought that municipality council members represent their own party/political voters were compared, it was seen that the average difference for the range of age as 49-54 (19.15) were lesser than the other age groups. If the ages of the council members who thought that woman representation is important in politics were compared, it it would be that the average difference for the range of age as 49-54 (15.00) were lesser than the average differences of other age groups. Hence, the hypothesis H11 is rejected for the statements as “The local society only accepts the council member lists which were determined by the political parties.”, “Municipality council members represent their own party/political voters” and “Woman representation is important in politics.”, but accepted for the others.

H12: There exist no significant difference between the time in which the municipality council members has lived in Siirt and the representation ability improving processes of them.

Table-26. Correlation Analysis Result upon the time which the council members in Siirt lived in Siirt and the processes on improving the representation ability of them

Correlation is significant for the level as 0.05

The aim of this hypothesis is to investigate the time passed as the members lived in the city wasn’t effective upon the processes on improving the representation ability of them. The result of correlation analysis between the times passed as the members lived in the Siirt and the processes on improving the representation ability of them was presented in Table 26.

Table-27. The result of Correlation Analysis upon how many years the council members lived in Siirt and which groups are represented in the councils

* Correlation is significant for the level as 0.05

** Correlation is significant for the level as 0.01

A significant and positively directed relation between the times passed as the members lived in the Siirt and the members who stated that they improved their ability via benefiting from the experiences of senior members was found (p=0.014<0.05). In other words, benefiting from the experiences of senior members increases while the times passed as the members lived in the Siirt are getting longer. In this respect the hypothesis H12 was accepted for senior members.

H13: There exists no significant difference between how many years the council members lived in Siirt and which groups are represented in municipality council.

The aim in this hypothesis is to study the relation on effects between the years passed in the city by the council members and which groups are represented in the councils. In the Table 27, a correlation analysis’ result on the relation between how many years the council members lived in Siirt and which sections were represented in the council was presented. Only “the older people” section (p=0.027<0.01) and the times council members lived in Siirt showed a significant relation. In other words, as the times council members lived in Siirt increases, the ratio upon representing the older people also increases. According to this, it is seen that H13 hypothesis is accepted for the older people. Among the viewpoint about the representation of women, a very strong and positively correlated relation was found upon the views on the representation of young people, handicapped people and older ones. Smiliarly a positively correlated strong relation was seen found the views on the representation young people along with the views on the representation of women, handicapped people and older people.

H14: There exists no significant difference between the political parties of which the council members are member and the repsentation characteristics.

Table-28. The result of Kruskal Wallis H-Test analysis upon the political parties of which the council members are member and the characterestics of representation

  Resource: Kruskal and Wallis (1952)

 According to the obtained results, there was found a difference for the statements as “Woman representation is important in politics”, “In the political party of which I am a member, the topic as ‘The representation of women’ was placed emphasis at adequate level” , “Women can’t find place in candidate lists and the decision mechanisms of political parties at adequate level.” , “ ‘The women representation rate’ in Turkey is lower than the other countries.” , “‘Woman representation rate’ in municipality council is not adequate.” and “ ‘The rate of women’s representation’ is not adequate in local governments.” The significance between the occupational status of council members and “Women representation is important in politics” (p= 0.026<0.05), or “In the political party of which I am a member, the topic as ‘The representation of women’ was placed emphasis at adequate level” (p=0.034<0.05), or “Women can’t find place in candidate lists and the decision mechanisms of political parties at adequate level.” (p=0.005<0.05), or “‘The women representation rate’ in Turkey is lower than the other countries.” (p=0.036<0.05), or “‘Woman representation rate’ in municipality council is not adequate.” (p=0.004<0.05) or “ ‘The rate of women’s representation’ is not adequate in local governments.” (p=0.002<0.05) was found. As a result of the performed comparison test, when the occupational status of council members who thought that the representation of women is important in politics was compared with each other, the average differences of the ones who defined their occupational status as student is 59.00 and higher than the other jobs. Indeed, the members who defined themselves as student thought that the women representation in politics wasn’t important in politics. As the occupational status of council members who thought that “In the political party of which I am a member, the topic as “The representation of women” was placed emphasis at adequate level.” were compared , the average differences of housewives is higher than the other jobs with the value as 53.50. In other words, compared with the other jobs, the housewives thought that “the respresentation of women” wasn’t given adequate importance. As the occupational status of ones who thought that women couldn’t find place in candidate lists and the decision mechanisms of political parties at adequate level was compared, the average differences of unemployed people are higher than the other occupational groups with the value as 65.50. Indeed the unemployed people think that women could find place in candidate lists and the decision mechanisms of political parties at adequate level, compared with the other occupational groups. As the occupational status of the ones who think that “the women representation rate” in Turkey is lower than the other countries was compared, the average differences of housewives are higher than the others with the value as 53.88. In other words, the housewives don’t believe that “the women representation rate” in Turkey is lower than the other countries. If the occupational status of the ones who think that “women representation rate” was compared, the unemployed people are more than the others with the average value difference as 64.00. In other words, the unemployed people in municipality council think that “the representation rate of women” in councils was at adequate level. When the occupational status of municipality council members who think that “the representation ratio of women” in local governments was not adequate was compared, it is seen that the unemployed people is more than the other jobs with the average difference value as 65.50. In other words, the unemployed people think that “women representation ratio” in local governments wasn’t adequate. According to this, the hypothesis H14 was rejected for the statements as “Woman representation is important in politics.”, “In the political party of which I am a member, the topic as “The representation of women” was placed emphasis at adequate level.”, “Women can’t find place in candidate lists and the decision mechanisms of political parties at adequate level.”, ““The women representation rate” in Turkey is lower than the other countries.”, ““Woman representation rate” in municipality council is not adequate.”, ““The rate of women’s representation” is not adequate in local governments.”, but accepted for the others.

7. CONCLUSION

When the demographic and representation characteristics related results of the study were paid attention, it was seen that the great majority of council members was composed by men (80.3 % for men, 19.7 % for women). As the age distribution was paid attention, it is seen that 22.4 % of them is around the range as 43-48, the men are at the “over-representation” level for representation and being representative, but the representation of women in the council is at the “under-representation” ”. According to the datum of 2014, the total woman population in Siirt is 154.268 (48.46%) (TÜİK, 2015) thus the women in municipality councils on behalf of representation is at “under representation” with 15 individuals (19.7%).  The datum of 2014 shows again, the male population (51.54%) in Siirt is higher than females (TÜİK, 2015). In this study, it is also seen that the male members in council are at the majority (80.3%) and the representative status of men is at “overrepresentation”. As the local government general election results of 2014 was paid attention, it was seen that the number of voters in Siirt for the age range as 18-39 was at the ratio 64% among the total number of voters (TÜİK, 2014). The number of individuals in Siirt who are high school graduate is 30.645 and within the ratio as 9.42% at total population .Indeed 31.6 % the council members of Siirt is high school graduate, and thus this section is “over represented” in the council (TÜİK, 2015).

As the results on the representation of groups/ sociological representation, 36 of the council members who participated in the study (47.4%) stated that women are not represented at adequate level. Besides, 38 inviduals (50%) said that young people were tried to be represented, 43 individuals (56.6%) stated that the handicapped people were not represent and 33 individuals (43.4%) declared that the older people were tried to be represented. As the results of the study about NGOs were paid attention, 20.3% of council members stated that they were members of at least one NGO. 16.1 % of them stated that the natural membership quota could be given for NGOs. 82% of council members declared that their relation with NGOs were not effective upon being elected for councils. Indeed, this shows that the relation between politics and NGOs was weak in this sphere. This performed studies shows that the municipality councils didn’t represent the section in the society at fair levels. According to the results of the study, some suggestions can be presented. The deficit/gap which was rooted from the common viewpoints of groups in councils on actions and their keeping away from the problems of local society as they weren’t handled seriously etc. was wanted to be repaired via city councils. The issues as the inducement of upcoming of different people from different social sections (women, older people, handicapped people, different occupations, ethnic roots and religions etc) to be candidates in local governments and the making the representation functional have to be realized via the reforms in election systems. Through a new election system, the topics as the representation of all sections/trends in councils and creating an administration which is supported by the majority have to be aimed. A pre-election on determining the candidates for municipality council membership has to be performed via the participation of party members/delegates. The list principle has to be vital in elections, and countrymen can vote candidates instead of parties. Indeed, the candidates have to be at the forefront instead of the parties in local elections. The council members who will enter in the political elections have to introduce themselves in the meetings of neighborhoods and districts to the local society for a better representation. Thereby, the interaction between the council members and the local society will be increased, and the representation status of council members will be improved. Indeed, the council member has to be councious of being responsible, the responsibility of his/her chair and the importance of vote. In order to realize the function as representation at fair terms along with improving the profile, the job holders (civil servants, academicians, mukhtars etc.) have to exist in the councils without giving up their jobs, smiliar to the natural membership status of mayors in metropolitan district municipalities. Especially for the representatives of neighbothoods who are the mukhtars, there have to be new regulation on participation and getting responsibility in the decision mechanisms of local governments. The NGOs which is organized in order to defend the rights of their members have to be represented at adequate levels in councils.

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