Dr. Nurşen Gürboğa

POWER, POLITICS AND LEGITIMACY IN THE COUNTRYSIDE:
ALANYA MUNICIPALITY 1914-15, 1928-29

Modern municipal government in the Ottoman Empire was constituted and institutionalized during the second half of the 19th century, when a set of intense political, economic, administrative and legal changes transformed the state and society. The municipal government was established first in the port cities and some other important commercial centers, and subsequently in the countryside where the inhabitants had no in need of various municipal services. Formation of municipalities in the important urban centers led various studies to consider municipal government mainly as an urban phenomenon, thereby underestimating the rural dimension of the matter. This talk investigated the complex relations between the municipal government of Alanya, a small town on the coastal line of Mediterranean region of Anatolia and various strata of the local population, through examining the register books of 1914-15 and 1928-29, covering decisions of municipal council. It aimed to shed light on the power relations between the modern centralized state, the local elites and the masses within the ordinary course of everyday life.