Turkey is a presidential republic within a multi-party system. It is subdivided into 81 provinces for administrative purposes. Each province is divided into districts, for a total of 973 districts. Turkey covers an area of 783,562 square kilometres (302,535 square miles) with a population of 85.3 million inhabitants. It is estimated that 73% of Turkey’s population lives in cities and the trend in rapid urbanisation is forecast to continue.  

The European Union has allocated EUR 22.8 million to support the preparation of Sustainable Urban Mobility Plans (SUMPs) and finance the implementation of related investments in cities. Investments will cover public transport services as well as promoting the use of bicycles, developing pedestrian areas, promotion of carpooling etc. Activities under this Action Area require the involvement of the municipalities which does not have the sufficient technical and institutional capacity to carry out SUMPs.  There will be at least six SUMPs that will be prepared by Turkish greater metropolitan municipalities.