The Union of Municipalities of Türkiye (UMT) was established in 1945 as a public benefit association to operate in the field of municipalism and continued its activities in municipalism as an association for 57 years in order to protect the rights and interests of municipalities under the umbrella of the association.
The Union of Municipalities of Türkiye gained the status of a union of local administrations with the decision of the Council of Ministers No. 2002/4559 dated August 21, 2002, to gather all municipalities in Türkiye under one roof.
With the adoption of Law No.5355 on the Local Administrative Unions in the Grand National Assembly of Türkiye on 26.05.2005 and its entry into force upon being published in the Official Gazette dated 11.6.2005 and the approval of the Charter of the Union of Municipalities of Türkiye, which was prepared according to this Law by the Ministry of the Interior, on 28.09.2005, the Union of Municipalities of Türkiye has become the only local administrative union that has the authority to represent municipalities at national and international level and where all municipalities are natural members.
The duties of the Union of Municipalities of Türkiye (UMT) are listed in Article 20 of Law No. 5355 on the Local Administrative Unions and Article 7 of the Charter of the Union of Municipalities of Türkiye.
The main duties of the Union of Municipalities of Türkiye are as follows:
- To represent the municipalities at home and abroad, in this context, to become a member of the institutions, organizations, unions, associations, foundations and similar organizations operating in the field of local governments, to support international relations and cooperation of municipalities and to facilitate their access to international networks,
- To protect the interests of the municipalities, to guide the municipalities, to provide consultancy services and to form an opinion on the problems encountered in practice,
- To follow the developments in the field of local governments in the world, to support the municipalities in structuring and producing services in accordance with these developments,
- To organize all kinds of training activities and events such as conferences, seminars, panels, and workshops for the mayor, council members and employees of the municipality and its subsidiaries and their affiliates, to establish training centres, to encourage the dissemination of the best practices by sharing knowledge and experience and to this end, to organize domestic and international visits.
- With reference to the council’s decision, to cooperate with public institutions and organizations, local governments, universities, civil society organizations, professional organizations and chambers and similar international organizations in matters that will help the development of municipalism and local services, to carry out joint service projects and to support the development of twin town relations.