Reaction to Bahçeli's demand for '100 provinces, 1000 districts': 'It does not provide development, the number of provinces should be reduced to 30'

While MHP Chairman Devlet Bahçeli's project, which envisages increasing the number of provinces in Türkiye to 100 and the number of districts to 1000, remains on the agenda, a suggestion came from retired Chief Civil Inspector Recep Sanal to reduce the current number of provinces.

Sanal stated that increasing the number of provinces and districts alone would not provide socioeconomic development, and argued that it would be more appropriate to reduce the number of provinces in Türkiye to around 30.

Bahçeli announced that they envisaged the establishment of 19 new provinces and 78 new districts within the scope of the "100 Provinces 1000 Districts Project" prepared by his party. According to the project, it is aimed to increase the existing 81 provinces to 100 and 922 districts to 1000.

Speaking to Sözcü writer Saygı Öztürk, Sanal said that a settlement gaining provincial or district status is not sufficient for economic development, and the main determining factor is public and private sector investments.

He argued that if the number of provinces and districts is increased without relying on a virtual real need, the provinces will become districts and the districts will become villages.

He suggested that such changes could create new administrative tiers and lead to discussions of returning to a state-like structure.

"THE NUMBER OF PROVINCES SHOULD BE REDUCED TO 30"

Stating that increasing the number of provinces to 100 and the number of districts to 1000 will not provide development, Sanal said that ways to reduce administrative units should be sought instead of increasing them. Creating virtual, central villages, large districts and large provinces; He suggested that the villages that could not develop should be turned into neighbourhoods, the districts into villages and the provinces into districts.

He stated that reducing the current number of provinces to around 30 with this model would be more in line with the principles and principles of management science.