Abstract:

In this study, the evaluation of the historical development, current status and economic importance of the cooperative organization in the agriculture and livestock sectors in Turkey and in the world was aimed. Nowadays, agricultural and livestock cooperatives have become important economical, political and social strengths, especially in developed countries. As for the Republic of Turkey, despite the social and economic accumulation such as the collective work of solidarity (imece), Turkish-Islamic guidance (ahi community) and the rift system (gedik) it received from Anatolia and the Ottoman Empire, along with the 150-year cooperative history it has not achieved the desired organizational success. Among the external causes of failure: the military, economic and political instabilities of the past; organizational movements’ being formed not by the public’s grassroots movements, but mostly by the shaping by the state; adapting a multi-purpose cooperative model; and authority and function confusion emerged due to the recent laws related to the organization of the producers and breeders. When the internal reasons are viewed, low partnership shares, low number membership and participation share, insufficient accumulation of capital, in addition to the management weaknesses in cooperatives, the lack of collaboration among cooperatives, the organizational awareness of the members and insufficient trust are quite noteworthy are draw attention. In order for cooperative organization to be successful in Turkey, the full implementation of universal cooperative principles, increased training activities that will provide organizational awareness for the members, enabling the alignment of legal statutes with the EU, and bringing forth expert cooperatives as a model, must be carried out. It is believed that the progress provided in the cooperative field in Turkey will not only remain simply to contribute to the economical and political gains in favor of the producers and, but also to playing an important role in protecting against the negative effects of globalization, increasing consumer welfare and in improving the rural economics

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