Bahçeli proposes 19 new provinces and 78 districts in Türkiye

Nationalist Movement Party leader Devlet Bahçeli unveiled details of a plan to restructure Türkiye’s administrative divisions by creating 19 new provinces and 78 districts. The Turkish Parliament will decide which districts become provinces based on objective criteria.

Nationalist Movement Party leader Devlet Bahçeli has proposed creating 19 new provinces and 78 districts in Türkiye as part of the “100 Provinces and 1,000 Districts” plan his party has revived to restructure the country’s administrative divisions. Türkiye currently has 81 provinces.

In remarks to the Türkgün newspaper carried by Anadolu Agency, Bahçeli said: “Through the plan we prepared in the Nationalist Movement Party, we expect to create 19 new provinces and 78 districts. We aim to elevate to provincial status the districts identified according to objective criteria such as population, development potential, geographical conditions, difficulties in accessing services and strategic location.”

خريطة تركيا مقسمة إلى ولاياتها الحالية

Parliament will make the decision

Bahçeli said the districts that will become provinces would ultimately be determined by the Turkish Grand National Assembly, based on an agreement reached by the relevant state institutions in line with objective criteria. He added that a bill on districts proposed for provincial status and towns that could become districts might be introduced in the next stage.

“An administrative vision for the Century of Türkiye”

Bahçeli said the plan was not merely a response to economic and social needs, but “a forward-looking step for a growing and developing Türkiye.” He linked it to the transition to the presidential system of government in 2017, stressing that these reforms are also important for consolidating stability within the “Türkiye Without Terror” process.

Bahçeli first presented the “100 Provinces and 1,000 Districts” vision in 2023, on the centenary of the founding of the Republic of Türkiye.

Bahçeli proposes 19 new provinces and 78 districts in Türkiye