The forestry organization and its relationship with local people in the Eastern Black Sea Region of Turkey

The Forestry Organization is one of the oldest and most well-established authorities in Turkey. After the Republic of Turkey was founded, laws were passed to prohibit the free exploitation of forests and to only authorize the State exploitation of timber. The law no. 4785 was then issued in 1945 to expropriate all forests. Since the Forestry Organization was in charge of enforcing these laws, its relationship with people deteriorated in time. The relationship between the Forestry Organization and people has not been restored yet, mainly because rural people still suffer from poverty and mainly live in or around forests. The area of study of this article is composed of seven provinces of the Black Sea Region in Turkey, where there are 3,228,904 inhabitants, corresponding to 5% of the total Turkish population. Approximately 51% of this local population live in rural areas, a percentage that is much higher than the national average (34%). Eighty-two forest villages located within twenty-five boroughs and seven cities in the Eastern Black Sea Region have been selected to be studied. Rural poverty is more dominant in these villages than in the rest of the area. A questionnaire containing 111 questions was designed to find out the type of relationship existing between rural people and the Forestry Organization. A poll was held to examine the effects of two variables: the province of origin and the personal thoughts on official forestry policy. The Simple Correspondence Analysis (SCA) technique was employed in this study. On the basis of the results of this study, the authors suggest measures to take.