The political attitude of Turkish youth in the context of political participation: The case of Konya

Politics is a social institution that includes all activities for the regulation of common public spaces in the context of social life. In this sense, the main function of politics is to ensure public order and to carry out administrative affairs. Order and administration are important formations that should exist in every social unity. Youth constitutes the most dynamic population category of any social cohesion. Therefore, participation of youth in politics in democratic societies is of great importance in terms of both democratic functioning and ensuring order, which is a basic necessity. The expectation that young people are generally a category that is more interested in social problems also turns into an expectation for them to take an active part in political processes. From this point of view, the attitude of the youth at this point is also important in terms of both their own future and the welfare of the country to be developed. Within this understanding, this thesis study is based on a field research conducted with a qualitative method in three districts in the city center of Konya. In the context of the study, which was designed as a phenomenological research, in-depth interviews were conducted with 24 participants, who were determined by the stratified purposive sampling technique, using a semi- structured interview form. Afterwards, the field findings were analyzed with thematic content analysis technique. As a result of the thesis study, it was concluded that the young people were not interested in politics, they had apolitical tendencies, they had basic differences of opinion with their families, and although they cared about participation, they considered this as a task they attributed to others.