THE GOVERNORATE OF MUGLA

Muğla, which lies on the junction of Mediterranean and Aegean Seas on the west coast of Turkey, has twelve districts some of which are world famous touristic destinations such as Bodrum, Marmaris and Fethiye. As the whole province, Muğla has a population of approximately 1 million inhabitants but these figures may rise about threefold when the numbers in the more popular districts are boosted by influx of visitors during the touristic high season, between May and October. Located in a region full of historical riches, 5000 years old Muğla had been home to many civilizations like Dorians, Lydians, Persians, Macedonians, Romans and Byzantines in succession until the region was conquered by the Ottomans. This diversity has passed down as many as 190 concrete historical legacies in the province. Halicarnassus, one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World, is also located in Bodrum, one of its districts. Muğla has hundreds of paradisiacal beaches, 106 of which have been awarded with blue flags within the scope of "Blue Flag" program. You can dive into the legendary waters at the lovely beach of Cleopatra where she and Antonius once swam or enjoy different shades of turquoise and aquamarine with the ultimate water clarity in Blue Lagoon. The province’s economy relies primarily on tourism, agriculture, fish farming, and mining (e.g. marble). With a tourism accommodation capacity reaching to 350,000 bed-places, sustainable tourism is important for the Muğla province. The province has two international airports; Bodrum and Dalaman, a brand name acquired through its internationally-known touristic destinations visited by ~3.5 million tourists per year prior to COVID19 pandemic, and a striving young entrepreneur community whose members migrated from big cities Istanbul, Ankara and Izmir to its cities such as Bodrum and Fethiye. The main function of the governorate is to manage the public services in the province. The public services provided in the province are offered for the well-being of the inhabitants of the province, making its target group its own citizens. There are as many as 40 provincial directorates and many other sub-directorates which are directly linked to the governorate. The EU and Foreign Relations Office is one of these many organizations operating under this network. The implementation of local and international projects are carried out by this office. The Office was established in 2008 with the aim of helping the province of Mugla take part in projects using EU funds in the process of our country’s accession to the E.U; providing the development of these projects both in quantitative and qualitative respects; sharing knowledge, experience and technologies between our province and EU member cities; following the latest developments in public administration and civil society and thus transferring a European aspect to our province; helping the public bodies, non-governmental organizations and municipalities find project partners and providing technical assistance with the problems encountered in the process of project preparation. The most common service the EU office provides is technical assistance to institutions that wish to apply to grant schemes. We provide consultancy services for their projects and guide them, if they are in need, to prevent mistakes and to get the best possible results from the projects at the end. We are also responsible for hosting consuls, ambassadors or other foreign state representatives and providing interpretation and translation services. Although the governorate itself is an extensive center, our unit is a relatively small unit with five staff reporting directly to a deputy governor, which gives us flexibility, agility and initiative when compared to the other units under the governorate that are administered with wide hierarchical structures. The staff started working in the unit in 2013 and they took part in a project called VABPro which stands for "Building Capacity for EU Affairs