International Relations of ？stanbul Township Municipalities

Today, international relations are being carried out by local and regional as well as national governments. This is called local diplomacy. Local governments are engaged in external relations activities in order to carry out joint activities with local governments of other countries.Cooperation among municipalities are known as twinnings, sister cities, and partnerships applications. These forms of cooperation can be explained international networks (UCLG, (United Cities and Local Governments )Eurocities, Healthy Cities, etc.), and similar platforms, study visits (Mutual visits of municipal councils), cross-border co-operation (arrangements to solve a common problem between contry municipalities that share the same border-Eurogios), projects (project-based collaborative work to solve a specific problem). In line with all these definitions, the municipalities have established partnerships with neighboring cities to reach different knowledge and experiences within the scope of an international joint project or in order to improve their Furthermore, the fact that the European Union's cooperation in the utilization of grant funds is an important condition has been influential in increasing the interest in this issue.capacities and about the problems they face .This study aims to evaluate the structure, dimensions and outcomes of the external relations of Istanbul township municipalities especially for improve their institutional capacity building. The study was completed within the framework of the data collected through face-to-face interviews method as well as the institutional official resources