This opinion piece aims to underline the potential importance of the European Union accession process for local authorities in Turkey. The EU accession process can be a window of opportunity for local politics in Turkey regardless of whether membership materializes. In other words, the EU integration process can be leveraged to consolidate local democracy and development in Turkey. Among many, Turkish local authorities are the primary actors in the position to take advantage of this opportunity and will receive great paybacks provided that they have a coherent and consistent policy.