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E-Government in the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus

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E-Government in the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus Chapter 21 E-government in the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus Mustafa Sagsan˘ and Mete Yıldız This chapter describes the process of e-government application and defines the barriers to and outcomes of e-government adoption in the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus. Archival document analysis, analyses of Northern Cyprus gov- ernment Websites, analyses of governmental statistics and e-government-related laws and regulations are utilized for this study. The main findings of the study are that (i) e-government applications are still in their infancy, i.e. in the cataloguing, and to a lesser extent in transaction level; (ii) there is a lack of an adequate IT infrastructure, qualified IT personnel and meaningful and useful content on govern- ment Websites; (iii) digital divide is a serious problem that hinders e-government development; and (iv) a new organizational structure that can plan and coordi- nate the implementation of e-government applications has to be established. The lessons derived from this case study may benefit efforts to understand the adop- tion of e-government, especially in small countries in the Mediterranean region and elsewhere. 1 Introduction This chapter describes the process of e-government application and defines the bar- riers to and outcomes of e-government adoption in the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus. This introductory section first explains the concept of e-government and its importance, as it is the central notion of this chapter. Second, the national context M. Sagsanˇ (B) Ba¸skent University, Ankara, Turkey e-mail: [email protected] M. Yıldız Hacettepe University, Ankara, Turkey e-mail: [email protected] This book chapter is a revised and improved version of a conference paper, which was presented in a conference and published in the conference proceedings (Sagsan and Yildiz, 2009) under the title of “The state of e-government and its application in the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus”. C.G. Reddick (ed.), Comparative E-Government, Integrated Series in Information 409 Systems 25, DOI 10.1007/978-1-4419-6536-3_21, C Springer Science+Business Media, LLC 2010 410 M. Sagsanˇ and M. Yıldız of the case under study (the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus) is presented to the readers in some detail. In the third and final part of the section, the reasons for considering the case of North Cyprus as an e-government example that deserves attention are explained. 1.1 Importance of the E-government Concept The concept of electronic government (e-government) has been a major subject of scientific interest in the public administration literature at least for the last decade (Fountain, 2001; Garson, 2003; Heeks, 2006;West,2005). Defined as “utilizing the Internet and the World Wide Web for delivering government information and services to citizens” (UN and ASPA, 2002, p. 1) and other stakeholders of govern- ment, such as businesses and government agencies themselves, the concept and its applications have become so popular that, Bannister, cynically, argues that it is the “flavour of the month” in academic circles (2007, p. 228). A “stages approach” for understanding e-government development is widely used in the literature: E-government development is studied by building models of its stages. A widely accepted model, presented by Layne and Lee (2001, p. 124), argues that e-government projects evolve through four stages of development as their integration and technological and organizational complexity increase. The first stage is cataloguing, providing government information by creating government agency Websites. At this stage, only one-way communication between the government and the governed is possible. The second stage is transaction. Agencies at this stage can provide online transactions with government agencies. This makes two-way communications possible. The cataloguing and transaction stages focus on creating an electronic interface for government information and services. The third stage is the integration of government operations within functional areas in gov- ernment. Agencies working in the same functional area integrate their online operations. For example, database sharing by the FBI, CIA and NSA. The final stage is horizontal integration. Different functional areas are integrated within the same electronic system and put to use through a central portal. The last two stages focus on the integration of the provision of e-government activities within the existing governmental structure (Yildiz, 2009, p. 19). It has to be emphasized that Layne and Lee’s model is an oversimplification. The stages of this model do not necessarily follow each other in a neat, step-by- step fashion. In addition, since countries like the TRNC has the opportunity to observe the development of e-government in other countries, their learning curve is lessened. Consequently, several stages can be observed simultaneously in countries like the TRNC. For example, as government agencies create a basic web presence via their Websites (stage 1), they may simultaneously provide online transactions (stage 2). In addition, they may attempt to integrate with similar online agencies 21 E-government in the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus 411 (stage 3) and connect to a central portal that links all projects to each other (stage 4). This difference in e-government development between the developed and the developing countries largely stems from the time lag regarding e-government imple- mentation. Thus, Layne and Lee’s model has partial applicability on the evolution of e-government in developing countries (Yildiz, 2009, pp. 185–186). 1.2 Country Background Information In order to examine and explain the development and applications of e-government in the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus, it is essential to present some back- ground information about the history, geography and demography of the country under examination, and the island that hosts it: Cyprus is the third largest island in the Mediterranean Sea, after Sicily and Sardinia; it is the biggest island in the Eastern Mediterranean. It lies 65 km to the south of Turkey and 112 km to the west of Syria, its closest neighbours. There have been settlers in this island for almost 4,000 years. Throughout this time period, it has been controlled successively by Mycenaeans, Phoenicians, Assyrians, Egyptians, Persians, Macedonians, Romans, Byzantines, Franco- English, Franks, Venetians, Ottoman Turks, British, and since 1960, by Turkish and Greek Cypriots. After an unsuccessful and violent cohabitation experience under an unworkable constitution (Mallinson, 2005, p. 5, 9), the Turkish Cypriot Community established its own state in 1983 under the name of the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC, or North Cyprus), which is recognized only by Turkey. International diplomatic efforts are underway in order to find a peaceful solution to the Cyprus problem. The TRNC covers an area of 3,355 km2, which is approximately one-third of the island of Cyprus. To the south and west of TRNC is the Republic of Cyprus (South Cyprus), a member of the European Union (EU), with its predominantly Greek Cypriot population and its close political and economic ties to Greece. The population of the TRNC is 265,000 according to the 2006 Census. Many other Turkish Cypriots also live in foreign countries such as Turkey and the United Kingdom. The official language of North Cyprus is Turkish. Because of the British military and administrative presence in Cyprus during the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, English is also widely spoken. The political system of the TRNC is parliamentary democracy. The system of government is as follows: The president and the council of ministers form the executive. A prime minister directs and coordinates the council of ministers. The Assembly of the Republic with its elected members is the legislature. The judi- ciary is made up of the Assize Courts, District Courts and Family Courts, with the Supreme/Constitutional Court at the top of the judicial system. The TRNC is a unitary state. Its capital city is Lefko¸sa (Nicosia). The population of the capital city is approximately 85,000. It is the main administrative and business centre of the country. Other big cities in the TRNC are Güzelyurt in the west (the 412 M. Sagsanˇ and M. Yıldız major citrus production centre of the country), the resort towns of Girne (Kyrenia) is on the northern coast, and Gazimagusa (Famagusta) in the east. The country is divided into five administrative districts (Lefko¸sa, Gazimagusa, Girne, Güzelyurt and Iskele)˙ for efficient administration of the Republic. Districts are governed by a “district officer” (Kaymakam), who is the local representative of the central government. There are two types of local governments: Municipalities in urban areas (28 in total) and villages in rural areas (187 in total) (TRNC Prime Ministry, 2009). The country hosts 40% of its population in rural areas. This urban– rural ratio is quite different from most EU countries (UNDP, 2007, p. 13), which are highly urbanized. The economy of the TRNC is based on the services sector. Agriculture and trade have traditionally been significant sources of income. Tourism is currently the most important economic activity. The provision of higher education through public and private universities is also becoming an increasingly important economic sec- tor. New private universities established in TRNC gradually add more value to the North Cyprus economy both through their students’ economic activities and with the outcomes
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