The Investigation of attitudes toward the solution of Kurdish question in terms of basic human values

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2014
Avcı, Nazan
The aim of the current thesis was to investigate attitudes toward the solution of Kurdish question and to explore the role of basic human values in these attitudes. Since 2009, Turkish government initiated projects to solve the Kurdish question with peaceful means; these projects included reforms about minority rights and negotiations with the Kurdish guerillas. Under these transforming circumstances, attitudes toward the solution of Kurdish question were studied within the frameworks of basic human values theory. The mediator roles of right wing authoritarianism (RWA) and social dominance orientation (SDO) on the effects of basic values on the attitudes were examined as well. In the literature, values are defined as standards that people base their choices, evaluations, and justifications regarding events, actions and people. SDO is a general attitudinal orientation about whether one generally prefers intergroup relations to be equal or hierarchical, while RWA is a general attitudinal orientation about believing strongly in submission to established authorities and the social norms. For the present study, 1021 participants filled the questionnaire as an online survey. The findings demonstrated that while self-transcendence and openness to change values positively predicted support for the solution of the question with peaceful means, conservation and self-enhancement values negatively predicted support for the solution of the question with peaceful means. SDO and RWA mediated these relations between value categories and the support for the solution of the question with peaceful means. The findings, as well as the contributions and limitations of the study, were discussed.

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Citation Formats
N. Avcı, “The Investigation of attitudes toward the solution of Kurdish question in terms of basic human values,” M.S. - Master of Science, Middle East Technical University, 2014.