Administrative management challenges of provinces with the highest and lowest number of districts

Türkiye’s Settlement Pattern and Population Dynamics (Supplementary Article 4)

Aydın Tiryaki (2026)

In the civil administration system of Türkiye, the management complexity of a province is directly related not only to the population it holds or the area it covers, but also to the number of its sub-units, which are the districts. Provinces that contain a high number of districts, such as Sivas (17 districts) or Kastamonu (20 districts), and provinces with few districts, such as Bayburt (3 districts) or Kilis (4 districts), offer diametrically opposite experiences in terms of administrative coordination. This difference in the number of districts has a decisive impact on the supervision capacity of civil administrative authorities and the coordination of public services (1).

In provinces with a high number of districts, the greatest challenge for the center is the sustainability of coordination. For a governor to be in constant communication with more than twenty district governors and to follow the unique local problems, investments, and security dynamics of each district requires an immense amount of work. In such provinces, the administrative mechanism takes on a multi-layered structure, which can sometimes cause sluggishness in decisions reaching local units. In provinces with many districts, the civil administrative authority assumes the role of a conductor managing a complex orchestra rather than just a manager, and spends more energy to eliminate development gaps between districts (2).

Conversely, in provinces with a low number of districts, the civil administration structure has a much leaner and more direct character. In provinces such as Bayburt or Kilis, management can establish a much more frequent and efficient contact with local units, and problems can be conveyed to the center directly and quickly. However, this lean structure sometimes leads to administrative units being unable to benefit from economies of scale and an increase in the cost of public management per person. Although administrative flexibility is high in provinces with few districts, the provision of services by specialized units can become difficult due to the low population and few units (3).

The number of districts also affects the variety of channels through which citizens can access public services. In a structure with many districts, although public service is more widely distributed among settlement units, keeping the standards of these units at the same level creates a serious supervision burden. In provinces with few districts, public services tend to cluster in a single center, which increases the dependence of districts on the center. Both situations necessitate different planning approaches in terms of settlement architecture (4).

In conclusion, Türkiye’s civil administration map requires a management approach that flexes according to the number and quality of districts. Increasing the delegation of authority and digital coordination in provinces with many districts, and encouraging service efficiency and sectoral specialization in provinces with few districts, are mandatory steps that will increase the quality of local management. Reconfiguring settlement units not just as numerical data but as living administrative organisms is a requirement of modern state management (5).

Aydın Tiryaki Ankara, January 12, 2026

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All ideas, opinions, and suggestions in this article belong to the author. During the process of writing the text, the artificial intelligence Gemini was utilized for writing assistance and information compilation.

REFERENCES

(1) Republic of Türkiye Ministry of Interior, Analysis of Civil Administration Restructuring and District Management Dynamics. https://www.icisleri.gov.tr

(2) Turkish Statistical Institute (TurkStat), Administrative Unit Statistics by Provinces and Districts. https://www.tuik.gov.tr

(3) Tiryaki, A. (2026). Efficiency-Oriented New Administrative Division (Article 17).

(4) Union of Municipalities of Türkiye (TBB), Research on Service Coordination and Economies of Scale in Local Governments. https://www.tbb.gov.tr

(5) OECD, Subnational Government Organization: Coordination Challenges in Fragmented Administrative Structures. https://www.oecd.org