GENÇLERİN AVRUPA BİRLİĞİ’NE BAKIŞI ÜZERİNE BİR ARAŞTIRMA; SELÇUK ÜNİVERSİTESİ ÖRNEĞİ

A SURVEY ON THE OPINIONS OF THE YOUTH TOWARDS THE EUROPEAN UNION: SELÇUK UNIVERSITY CASE

Özet

Türkiye'nin Avrupa Birliği'ne dâhil olma serüveni 50 yılı aşkın bir süredir devam etmektedir. Kimi zaman hızlanan, kimi zaman yavaşlayan, kimi zaman da durma noktasına gelen üyelik görüşmeleri bir türlü arzulanan seviyeye ulaşamamıştır. Sürecin bu zikzaklı seyri birçok kesim tarafından farklı yorumlanmış, ilişkilerde yaşanan bu istikrarsızlık ve belirsizlik tartışmalara neden olmuştur. Özellikle son zamanlarda Avrupa ülkelerinin Türkiye'ye karşı tutumları sebebiyle Türkiye'nin Avrupa Birliği üyeliği, kamuoyunda sıkça tartışılmakta ve gündemde kalmaktadır. Türkiye'nin Avrupa Birliği'ne üyeliği toplumun farklı kesimlerinde farklı anlamlar taşımaktadır. Ancak gençlerin, Türkiye'nin Avrupa Birliği'ne üyeliği ve üyelik süreci hakkındaki düşünceleri ayrıca önem taşımaktadır. Çalışmada, üniversite öğrencilerinin Avrupa Birliğine bakışını tespit etmek amacıyla Selçuk Üniversitesi öğrencileri üzerinde bir saha araştırması gerçekleştirilmiştir. Araştırmanın evrenini, Konya Selçuk Üniversitesi Alaeddin Keykubat yerleşkesinde bulunan fakülte ve yüksekokul öğrencileri oluşturmaktadır. Araştırmaya göre, katılımcıların yüzde desteklemektedir. Katılımcıların yarısına yakını ise Türkiye'nin Avrupa Birliği'ne hiçbir zaman üye olamayacağını düşünmektedir. Çalışma, gençlerin AB'ye bakışının tespiti açısından önem taşımaktadır

Abstract

The journey of Turkey’s EU membership negotiations has been continuing for more than 50 years. The negotiations which sometimes speed up, sometimes slow down, and sometimes come to a halt have never reached the desired levels. This zigzag in negotiations has been evaluated differently by the public, and this instability and obscurity have caused discussions. Especially due to the stance of the European countries towards Turkey lately, the EU membership of Turkey is a hot debate in the public debates. The membership of Turkey has various meanings in different categories of the public. By the way, the opinions of the young people towards Turkey’s membership and negotiations have private place in the debates. In this study, a field research was carried out at Selçuk University to determine the opinions of the students towards EU. The population of the research are the faculties and the high schools in the Alaeddin Keykubat Campus of Selçuk Universty. According to the research, more than 55% of the participants support Turkey’s membership to EU. Almost half of the participants think that Turkey will never be accepted as a member of the EU. The study is important for the determination of the young people's point of view to the EU A field survey was conducted on Selçuk University students in order to determine the point of view of university students towards the European Union. The universe of the research consists of faculties and college students operating in Konya Selçuk University Alaeddin Keykubat settlement in the center of Konya. A face-to-face questionnaire was applied to 420 participants selected through random sampling; the preliminary reviewer was seemed eligible for the analysis of the 400 questionnaires. Data collection tools A questionnaire consisting of 35 questions was formed in order to determine the perspective of the participants on the European Union. In the study, participants used the five-point Likert-type question to determine the most important obstacles that participants have seen in the European Union process of Turkey, as well as why the supporters of the European Union support and those who do not support it. On the Likert scale type, there is a regular decrease and increase and the distances between them are equal. In order to measure the level of confidence in the EU in general and the level of knowledge in the EU, the table marking method between (1) and (10) was used in the questionnaire. The lowest level is set as (1) while the highest level is set as (10). The last part of the question paper consist of the questions that will reveal the social-demographic characteristics of the interviewees. Analysis of data and tests used Field research was conducted face-to-face with participants from 10 April to 20 May 2016. The obtained data were processed in electronic environment using SPSS 17.0 statistical program. It was subjected to appropriate statistical analyzes to find the answer for the research questions. In the analysis of the data, frequency analysis was used to determine the demographic characteristics of the participants. On the other hand, the data obtained in this research is limited by students of Selcuk University and the number of respondents from Selcuk University students Research questions Thanks to above the literature review, 8 basic questions were sought in this study: Research Question 1: How many years can Turkey become a member to the EU? Research Question 2: What is the level of knowledge of participants in the EU? Research Question 3: What is the level of confidence in the countries within the European Union? Research Question 4: Which country is the most unreliable in the European Union? Research Question 5: Does the European Union act sincere and neutral towards Turkey? Research Question 6: Is it enough that the government is working to join the EU? Research Question 7: What are the most important obstacles to Turkey's European Union process? Research Question 8: Do you think that even if Turkey meets all the requirements of the EU, it will not be taken to the EU? Research Question 9: Which is the most important unity for Turkey? Research Question 10: Could Cyprus be compromised in Turkey's EU membership process? Research Question 11: What is the reason for Turkey to support the EU in the process? Research Question 12: What is the reason for Turkey's opposition to the no-votes process in the EU process? The information on the method of this research is detailed above before revealing the findings of this field study conducted on Selçuk University students in Konya between 10 April and 20 May 2016. The findings of the fieldwork started with the examination of the sociodemographic characteristics of the participants who participated in the study. Participants' socio-demographic characteristics The distribution of socio-demographic characteristics of participants in the study was tried to be revealed by frequency analysis. 52.3 percent of the university students participating in the study are male and 47.8 percent are female. Although the results show a difference in favor of men; a very uneven distribution of the sample in terms of gender is not seen. When descriptive statistics of age distribution were examined, it was found that the participants were interviewed with the lowest 18 participants and the highest 26 participants. The average age of respondents who answered the questionnaire was calculated as 21,60 and the standard deviation of the distribution was calculated as 1,53. When we look at the descriptive statistical results of total monthly incomes of the participants' families, the lowest is 750 TL, the highest is 9.000 TL. According to these results; the average monthly income of the participants' families is TL 2,115. The standard deviation of the income level is 981.58 TL. Findings and comments (result) With this research, it has been tried to show how the desire and intention to enter the European Union, which Turkey has been p