Abstract:

Democracy makes possible to make a choice freely between political parties which represent different ideologies and ethnic identities. It is natural to have different preferences by individuals who have different belief systems and different socio-cultural aspects. As it is known "voting" is the most common and measurable form of political behavior. Purpose of many researches and statistical analysis about voting behavior is trying to bring out factors that shape voters' preferences. Recognizing the voters, learning their expectations and producing suitable policies have crucial importance for the political parties for winning the elections. As well as in many countries, voter oriented researches also being made in Turkey. Different variables are being used in these researches to analyze voting behavior. Purpose of our study is to bring out the ideas of Turkish voters about the Turkye's EU membership. As it is known Turkey's EU membership is a really important and really controversial question. It is a fact that Turkish people have different ideas about the membership and it is certain that there will be great difference between conservatives and overridingly nationalist parts in Turkey. This difference is quite sharp in some political parties and their voters which is trying to produce some policies based on ethnic identiti es. Attitudes and perceptions of Turkish political parties towards the European Union affects the preferences of their voters' ideas concerning with the European Union. In the same way the results of our field study has verified this point of view. Our field study was held on Turkey in general. We have done the research with a sampling which consist 2000 units of people from J 8 different cities of Turkey. Our subjects were at the age of 18 or older than 18 who represents rural and urban population of Turkey. Our aim is to reveal political party preferences of Turkish voters and the role of their preferences in the perception and attitudes towards the European Union.

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