The main purpose of this study is to understand the mobilization dynamics and impacts of the environmental opposition movement against the Black Sea Coastal Road Project in Turkey. The study is original in the sense that for the first time an opposition movement against a national road project was realized in Turkey. The Black Sea Coastal Road Project is one of the main infrastructure investments in Turkey. It covers a large geographical area, Eastern Black Sea Region, and some districts/provinces in the region formed an opposition movement against the project which objected to sea-filling method and destruction of coasts. The fieldwork of the study was conducted in seven districts/provinces of Eastern Black Sea Region. They were investigated in terms of their mobilization dynamics, tactics and the outcomes of the opposition movement. The main analysis is based on an evaluative approach and qualitative research. The fieldwork of the study was conducted in the periods of March 16, 2002 to March 24, 2002 and April 13, 2006 to April 20, 2006. In-depth-interviews and focus groups with local activists are used as data collection techniques. The seven cases-regions displayed some differences in their opposition movement in terms of the mobilization, tactics and the outcome. In the districts, most crucial for mobilization were the political party affiliation and the economic opportunity structures. The project being a part of governmental policy and the perception by the public, living in the region that the road is needed strongly affected dynamics, tactics and outcomes of the movement.

This study aims to describe the quality of life of Turkey in comparison with the European Union Member States including the other candidate countries Bulgaria and Romania. The main question in the study is to determine where Turkey stands in terms of quality of life domains in the membership process to the European Union. For this aim, &ldquo / The European Quality of Life Survey&rdquo / that has been launched in 2003 including 28 countries in Europe has been used. The survey consists of eight life domains including different objective and subjective indicators to measure the quality of life in these countries. The findings revealed that although Turkey displays similar patterns with the other candidate countries, it lags behind the European Union Member States in most of these eight quality of life domains.

This study was undertaken with the objective of analysis of domestic violence against women by their husbands in terms of resource theory and its concepts. Domestic violence against women is a widespread social problem that can be observed in all societies. Studies on domestic violence in the past ten years were an important mechanism for bringing many women&rsquo / s experiences of discrimination and vulnerability to public attention. According to resource theory, major sets of resources like economic variables, prestige, force, and kinship are significant factors to explain domestic violence against women. These resources are indicators of power and the lack of ability of men to reach these resources or women&rsquo / s ability to get these resources can affect power relations in the family and cause conflict.

The aim of this thesis is providing an initial insight into the quite recent Northern European immigration to Coastal Turkey through exploring its causes and consequences within the context of a particular locality, Didim where a single nationality group, the British, comprise the most prominent lifestyle migrant category. In that frame, three aspects of the migratory move namely the causes and the meaning of the move through the migrant narratives / the new social spaces created in terms of everyday practices of the migrants and the interactions with the locals / and the meanings of the changes for the locals have been elaborated. Within a descriptive ethnographic approach, in depth interviews were conducted in Didim with 20 British lifestyle migrants and 20 locals. It is found out that while the migratory move to Didim is a strategy devised by the British migrants to react to the broader social and cultural changes impacting their lives / the meaning of the same move for the locals of Didim is a change impacting their lives which requires devising new strategies for coping and for challenging. The encounters and co-habitation of the two groups of people from countries of different affluence levels and with a significant cultural distance, in the social setting of migration transgressing the boundaries of the already established context of international tourism, shape the daily life in Didim through the new social spaces being constructed and identities being constantly re-negotiated.

This study is conducted in order to obtain information on the causes and methods of killings grounded by honor, and through which processes and by whom these killings are realized. The rationale behind honor killings is based on a primitive understanding of justice. The relatives of the killed person assume the honor of their family, clan etc. is cleaned, and justice achieved. What may be the reasons of the persistence of such an understanding of justice in present day? In trying to answer this question, the meaning and perception of the concept of honor, the social and historical roots of the honor killings, how these killings come about, the role and impacts of these killings in society are examined.

This study aims at understanding the 15-year long hegemonic struggle of the Bergama movement. In the pursuit of this aim, it first seeks to develop a conceptual framework through the articulation of the insights of Social Movement approaches within the discourse-theoretical framework of Ernesto Laclau and Chantal Mouffe. Analyzing the Bergama movement within this conceptual framework, it then argues that in spite of its emergence in the local Bergama context as a particular response to the operation of a goldmine, the Bergama movement has gone beyond a local protest campaign. It constituted an anti-gold mining discourse that, tying the issue of the operation of the goldmine in Bergama to some wider issues, such as protection of environment, operation of gold mines, operation of foreign companies, rule of law, human rights, and democracy, posed challenges both to the neo-liberal economic structure and to the authoritarian state structure in the Turkish context. The study also argues that despite its initial success in providing a discursive space for the articulation of a number of unfulfilled social demands and thereby mobilizing a number of social groups, the Bergama movement gradually weakened mainly because the challenges that it posed to the hegemonic structures impelled the several forces of the status-quo to the struggle, who did not only win the popular consent to the necessity of the operation of goldmines by means of constructing a pro-mining discourse on the basis of speculations but also antagonized and repressed the protesters on the basis of inevident allegations.

The aim of this study is to find some indications about social exclusion in some neighbourhoods in Ankara. Social exclusion has increasingly gained importance as a concept in contemporary social sciences. To attain this aim, firstly, a theoretical framework, through which theories of the concept of social exclusion, main dynamics and differences of this concept from the concept of poverty were discussed. Secondly, a field work was carried out in some squatter settlements in Ankara known as &ldquo / poor&rdquo / , to see whether there is social exclusion perceived and lived, by analysing recent immigrants&rsquo / daily life experiences of urban poverty and social exclusion. In this study, a qualitative approach formed the basis and in-depth interview were collected. The in-depth interviews were realized with 8 men, as heads of households, and 7 women, as spouses of heads of households, living in squatter settlements in Ankara in February and March 2007. All interviews were recorded and transcribed for the analysis Since De Haan&rsquo / s (1998) theory of social exclusion shaped the theoretical fame, his methodology and operationalization of social exclusion&rsquo / s multi-dimensionality were adapted in an attempt to identify experiences and &ldquo / examples&rdquo / of excluded and processes forming their exclusions. In conclusion, two main indicators&rsquo / , gender and ethnicity, impacts on the respondents&rsquo / experiences and perceptions of social exclusion appeared as follows: Gender has not appeared as a striking indicator that makes women perceive themselves as excluded. The reason for this has to be seen in the fact that do not have had any serious experiences of social exclusion. They did not mention any conditions of exclusion in terms of economic, social, cultural and political participation in the society that would lead to the experience of exclusion or to a perception of themselves as excluded. The recent women migrants interviewed have a very limited social interaction and direct participation in the social and local life. A reason might be seen in the existing patriarchal system still controlling gender roles in general and a lack of trust of the interviewed women migrants towards their social environment. Ethnicity, however, as an indicator has more determining effects on the respondents&rsquo / experiences of exclusion and on their perception of being excluded. Forcibly migrated Kurdish respondents&rsquo / experiences after migration to Ankara indicate that, their ethnic identity is a dynamic factor since: first, it results in exclusion from economic and social domains of life, though it does not make them be the &ldquo / poorest&rdquo / second, it makes them perceive themselves as excluded from these domains. Thus, at the last stage, it leads them into a kind of &ldquo / isolation&rdquo / from society, as response to exclusive attitudes of the society. In reaction they form ethnic based &ldquo / semi-isolated communities&rdquo / which can be described as: strong ethnic and familial/kinship-ties determining their social, cultural, economic life and also their geographical living spaces.

The main purpose of this thesis is to explore the oscillation between different identities and nationalist discourses during Hafez Al Assad era in Syria. Syrian Arab Republic has been facing with an identity crisis ever since its independence due to several dynamics. Throughout the decades, there emerged several different self-images of Syrians. The major clash subsists between loyalty to Arabness and Syrianness. In order to find out the perceptions of politically relevant elites concerning this clash and the roots of identity crisis, a fieldwork was conducted during the spring 2006 in Damascus. An exploration of the nationalist ideologies &ndash / Arab nationalism, Greater Syrian nationalism, Pan-Islamic nationalism and liberal nationalism &ndash / during the Hafez Al Assad&rsquo / s era in Syria gives us the clues of the identity crisis. Moreover, the insights of Syrian politically relevant intellectuals exemplify and explain the current debate on the identity crisis in Syria.

Social science research has been slow to incorporate the international migration of skilled and educated women, and the impacts of their return migration. At the same time, Turkish female migrants have been negatively stereotyped in the literature. This exploratory and descriptive study aims to address these gaps by examining the impacts of emigration and return migration on the social and work lives of educated Turkish women who have returned to Turkey from Canada. Oral history interviews were conducted with six working-age, educated female returnees in Istanbul and Ankara between February and April 2007. Aside from some common features, the six women in this study differ greatly in terms of age, marital status, field of study and work, length of time in Canada and Turkey, and the opportunities and resources available to them throughout their migrations. From the interpretive examination of the women&amp / #8217 / s narratives, patterns in their subjective social and work life experiences emerged. The issue of gender was found to pervade all aspects of the women&amp / #8217 / s lives at all stages of their migrations as they negotiated their often contradictory social roles as mothers, wives, daughters, and professionals. This study also reveals that none of the women migrated as an individual actor. Rather, contextual and stratification factors such as marital status, family configuration, language skills, prior exposure to different cultures, socio-economic background, education and labour force participation were found to shape and influence their initial potential for migration, as well as the processes and outcomes of their migrations.

The aim of this study is to analyze the transformation of the official discourse and perception of the Kurdish issue and Kurds through its representations in Turkish media since 1990. Ottoman period and the Republican period till 1990s are studied in the first phase, in order to provide the historical backgroud of the Kurdish question and state&rsquo / s perception of the issue. In the second phase, representations of state&rsquo / s perception of the Kurdish issue in H&uuml / rriyet and Cumhuriyet newspapers are analyzed by using Critical Discourse Analysis techniques. The transformation of the official discourse of the Kurdish issue is examined through eight cases: the Gulf War I in 1991, events occurred during the Parliamentary Oath Ceremony in 1991, Nevruz of 1992, HADEP congress in 1996, capture of Semdin Sakik in 1998 and Abdullah &Ouml / calan in 1999, the Gulf War II in 2003, Nevruz of 2005, Semdinli incident and debates on identity in 2005 and 2006. In this study, it is claimed that state&rsquo / s perception and discourse of the Kurdish issue has transformed since 1990s without a total detachment from its traditional perception and discourse of the issue.