Geray, CevatÖzkan, Emin2022-04-082022-04-082007http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.12575/78558Rural development aims at the improvement of the life conditions and the increasement of the level of wealth of the people living at the countryside. In our country, where the 35% of the population lives at the countryside, the policies pursued have realized some projects and practices concerning the rural development. But it has not been reached to the expected level of success in the planning and realization of wholist approaches as to resolution of the problems relating to the rural development. In the recent Development Plans for Five Years it has been stated that the main target of the rural development is to raise the income and the employment by activating the local potential in the frame of the principles of the sustainable development. In this context, the rural tourism as a means of the sustainable rural development, is a kind of tourism which increasingly attracts attention and is been promoted. Aiming to put to use of the rural tourism also in our country which nowadays attracts more attention day-by-day in many countries especially because of its possible positive economic effects in the rural areas, taking in to account that the cultural and environmental values are also important to tackle the subject inclusively, in this thesis the rural development policies and practices in Turkey have been evaluated and in order that the rural tourism be a useful means for the rural development, an administrative and a spatial model has been suggested.trKırsal KalkınmaTurizmSürdürülebilir TurizmKırsal TurizmTourismRural DevelopmentSustainable TourismRural TourismmasterThesis