This research study examines the effects of varied text structures and response formats on Turkish university students&rsquo / reading comprehension test performance. More precisely, it deals with investigating the effects of awareness of rhetorical organization on reading comprehension and on testing of comprehension through different procedures. First, a short review of the relevant research on the text structure and response formats and their effects on reading comprehension is presented. Then, the results of a reading experiment are given. In this experiment, four groups of upper-intermediate level EFL students (100 students) read two English passages written in &ldquo / description&rdquo / and &ldquo / cause-effect&rdquo / rhetorical organization formats. Then, their comprehension of the texts was tested through a cloze procedure and a multiple choice test. The tests were carried out on first year university students from different departments at the English Language Department of BaSkent University during the 2006-2007 Academic Year Fall Semester. After the research period finished, the data collected throughout the research period were transferred into MS Excel and SPSS spreadsheets and analyzed using the statistical procedure of the paired samples t-test. Relying on the analysis of the data, the hypotheses formulated for the study were weighed against the results in order to see if they were confirmed or rejected. The study showed significant difference between the varied text structures and subjects&rsquo / reading comprehension test performance. However, there was not any significant difference between the different response formats and the subjects&rsquo / reading comprehension test performance. Finally, the thesis ends with an interpretation and discussion of the results of the study.

The aim of this thesis is to examine the relationship between the success of the decentralization schemes and the local capacity by concentrating on the case of Metropolitan Municipality of Diyarbakir. The Local Government Reform in Turkey was built on the argument that local authorities, compared to the central government, are better in providing services in a more efficient and more participatory manner. This thesis argues that such an argument is valid only in an environment where there is a strong local institutional and societal capacity to carry out the given responsibilities and to provide the necessary participatory framework. These issues are investigated with reference to the case of Diyarbakir Metropolitan Municipality, which is located at one of the least developed regions in Turkey (Southern Eastern Anatolia).

In this thesis it is aimed to explore the new social policy agenda, in which the role of local governments as policy makers has been increasing. In this respect, the contemporary Turkish local government system, and social policies of the municipalities are analyzed by drawing upon the European Union&rsquo / s approach on the social policy in the urban context. Within this framework, the social policies of the Ankara Metropolitan Municipality are studied.

This thesis will examine national/multi-national/international research andeducation networks of the some countries in context of innovation systems,and then Turkish case will be discussed. The developed countries are thepioneers of research and education network efforts, developing andundeveloped countries were integrated to the global research networks.Although Turkey has a lot experience in academic networking, its NREN(ULAKNET) should adapt itself to the global trends(i.e. direct fiber access,IP/DWDM networks, very demanding applications like grid), and networkingand supercomputing requirements in national innovation policies should berevised accordingly. Turkey can acquire some benefits from the globalinnovation policies and practices in order to improve its research networkinginfrastructure.

This thesis aims to explore the Transdniestr conflict in Moldova by examining the involvements of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) and the Russian Federation in their attempts at finding a working solution to this conflict. The thesis focuses on the reasons for the emergence of the Transdniestr conflict, the initiatives for the settlement of this conflict, and the causes, as of today, why the conflicting parties and the mediators have not been successful in reaching a working settlement. Contrary to the line of thinking on this conflict which suggests that the conflict has its roots in domestic factors in Moldova and Transdniestr such as ethnicity, socio-economic underdevelopment and the weakness of democratic institutions, this thesis argues that the primary reason behind the persistence of this conflict is international. It is the radically different definitions of the conflict by the OSCE and the Russian Federation that makes the conflict very difficult to solve. Russia tends to value the Transdniestr region as a geostrategic tool for maintaining its influence over post-Soviet Moldova and its neighbourhood. Since the involvement of the OSCE in this conflict limits Russia&rsquo / s capacity to use the Transdniestr region as a geostrategic tool, it becomes extremely difficult to alter the status quo that contributes to the existing impasse rather than to its opening of new avenues for the peaceful settlement of this conflict.

This thesis study analyzes the construction of a common national self, which bears the characteristics of a dominant male figure, over the mirror image of the other nation&rsquo / s women. It is believed in this thesis work that without examining the complex gender relations and gendered identity politics within national projects, it is not possible to understand the concept of nation. Accepting that nation is an -imagined- product of modernism and gendered identity construction takes place in the core of the creation of nation, it is believed that novels constitute an appropriate field of analysis because of their imagined structure and because their subtexts enable the researcher to focus on the identity production. The cases of Greece and Turkey as two nation-states that construct their national selves over the reflection of the other provide a proper base for a comparative analysis. The main aim of this thesis, in this context, is to come close to the understanding of nations and the oppressive gender relations within the nation-states focusing on the creation of the male national common identity.

With the 1980s, as a result of economic and financial deregulation policies, housing finance systems in most countries have had great transformations and have become market-oriented. Recently, in Turkey, a draft law was submitted to the parliament which can be regarded as an attempt to integrate housing finance to capital markets through the establishment of secondary market for housing loans extended by commercial banks. In this thesis, it is aimed to evaluate the role of housing loans extended by commercial banks on housing finance in Turkey, to assess the prospective legal regulation in terms of lenders and borrowers of housing loans and to discuss the anticipated impacts of this scheme to the commercial banks, the housing loans and borrowers within the context of global trends in housing finance. For these purposes, housing files extended by commercial banks have been examined and in-dept interviews have been conducted with interviewees from commercial banks, Capital Market Board and Housing Development Administration. As a result, it is found out that the role of housing loans extended by commercial banks is very limited in housing finance in Turkey and only high income groups can access these loans. Moreover, it is explicit that the housing finance scheme in the draft law is entirely market-oriented and targets the middle and upper income groups. On the other hand, such a policy orientation is quite problematic and paradoxical in that / the housing problem in Turkey is most dramatically felt by the lower middle and low income groups.

Journalists&rsquo / commitment to an objective, impartial, balanced way of reporting and their respect for ethical norms are considered a vital prerequisite for democracy to be carried out. The general purpose of this thesis is to reveal whether established journalistic practices in Turkey are shaped through commonly acknowledged professional principles in a way that is compatible with democratic expectancies. In order to achieve this goal, a group of journalists were interviewed in the summer of 2003 who worked as parliament journalists at some time in their careers. They were asked several questions mainly concerning the factors that might have influence on the processes of news making with a special emphasis on the negative consequences of the complex structure of media-politics relationships. The analysis of the interviews reveals Turkish journalists&rsquo / views that journalism in Turkey is faced with serious problems and even may be characterized by a high degree of &ldquo / degeneration&rdquo / .

The thesis attempts to illuminate the construction process of the Middle East as a separate region. Within this context, it first seeks to find out what a region means. For this sake, the thesis outlines the historical development of the discipline of geography and the changing meanings of region in line with the disciplinary developments. Furthermore, it concentrates on the emergence of the region Middle East, its denomination and transformation along with changing international politics. Finally, the thesis evaluates the existence of the ethnocentric geographical term Middle East within the context of current global conditions.

This thesis investigates Bektashi responses to the abolition of religious orders in Turkey in 1925. In order to understand the immediate impact of the legislation among Bektashis, I analyze three series of articles and a novel written in that period, while also tracing the repercussions of similar narratives which were continued to be used by Bektashis in the subsequent decades. I, thereby, explore the ways in which Bektashis developed alternative narratives rationalizing and justifying the abolition of their religious order. Since its proclamation, Law #677 regarding the abolition of religious orders has been subjected to many different readings by both the decision-makers of that period and the dervishes who were affected by the Law. In this thesis, I try to give an empathetic account of Bektashi readings, and argue that it is impossible to present a homogeneous stance by Bektashis towards the abolition of their religious orders, since there is a great diversity in their perceptions of the legislation, which are shaped by Bektashi cosmologies. Bektashis&rsquo / responses range from their harsh criticisms of the state policy to their imaginative strategies for accommodating the legislation. While arguing that Bektashis&rsquo / strategies exhibit common patterns that take shape around the strategies which I identify as accommodation, I still point out the significance of grasping the subjectivity within these strategies. Thus, in this thesis, through the analysis of an historical event, I explore the ways in which Bektashis transform and accommodate &ldquo / the past&rdquo / for constructing and legitimizing &ldquo / the present&rdquo / .