Watchwatch Institution in Urban Security and the transformation of watchwatch in Turkey after 2017: A research on Nevşehir Hacı Bektaş Veli University

Since human history, people have made efforts to meet their needs and continue to do so. These needs include the basic elements for people to survive. One of the important basic elements is the concept of security. The security element is created to protect people's material and spiritual assets. When people moved to settled life, they resorted to various methods to increase their security. These methods can be listed from general to specific. For example, the duties of the police department employees, whose structure was established in the Seljuk Period and has survived to the present day, are divided into departments. Within the organization, personnel are divided into law enforcement units and reduced from general to specific. Thus, the peace, security and happiness of the society is ensured. Watchmanship is a concept created by the neighborhood culture. The phenomenon of guarding revealed its first effects in history during the Ottoman Period. During the Ottoman Period, neighborhood residents made a joint decision and appointed guards. These people aimed to ensure peace and security in the neighborhood. Therefore, it can be said that guards are assigned to ensure peace and security in the neighborhood. The watchman status, which was included within the scope of public security guard during the Republic period, is a structure that performs important functions in ensuring public security and social peace. In this respect, the importance of guarding comes to the fore with its duties and functions throughout the history of the Republic. The new situation brought about by the regulations regarding market and neighborhood guards, especially after 2017, shows this importance. In this study, the concepts of watchman and watchmanship, the development of watchmanship since the Seljuk Period, the restructuring in Turkey in the context of this institution after 2017, and the effects of these developments on urban security were examined. The basic assumption of this thesis here is that the watchdog institution is functional and necessary in ensuring security and public order in urban areas. In line with this assumption, in addition to the theoretical examination of the subject, an applied research based on a survey was also conducted. In the analysis of this field research, it was aimed to measure the perceptions regarding the stated functionality of the guard institution by using the "Servqual Service Scale" and the "Attitude Scale towards Guards". Keywords: Public Order, Guard, Public Security, Urban Security, Urban Public Order, City