Local Governments in Türkiye and Azerbaijan in the Context of the European Charter of Local Self-Government: Contradictions and Incompatibilities

Abstract

The Council of Europe (CoE) has attached great importance to local governments and local self-government in constructing an integrated Europe and, as a sign of this, has created an international convention entitled “the European Charter of Local Self-Government (ECLSG)”. The core aim of this investigation is to evaluate the local government legislation of Türkiye and Azerbaijan, which are contracting parties, within the framework of the principles and standards of the ECLSG. The assessment found that some of the articles/sub-articles on which both countries had made reservations have disappeared in practice, while some approved articles/sub-articles have yet not been incorporated into domestic legislation. Ultimately, Türkiye accepted twenty sub-articles (the minimum number required to accept the Charter) and made reservations for ten sub-articles. However, Türkiye is not applying the three articles it accepted and is actually applying nine of the ten articles for which it made reservations. On the other hand, Azerbaijan accepted twenty-six sub-articles and made reservations to four sub-articles. Like Türkiye, Azerbaijan does not apply the four articles it accepted, but actually applies three of the four articles to which it made reservations.