The effect of the perception of intangible cultural heritage on the perception regarding the preservation of intangible cultural heritage

Due to its location, geographical features and long history of settlement, Turkey has a very diverse and rich potential not only with its natural beauties but also with the values inherited from past societies and civilizations. Turkey, which is almost an "open air museum" with just its visible cultural heritage, is open to great developments in terms of cultural heritage research. In particular, the term intangible cultural heritage emerged and gained popularity as a result of UNESCO's efforts to protect cultural heritage. In this context, considering that Şırnak, which has hosted many civilizations with its cultural and historical riches and where different religious beliefs live together, is an important research subject in terms of intangible cultural heritage, this paved the way for this research. The research aimed to reveal the effect of the perception of cultural heritage on the perception of protecting intangible cultural heritage. Quantitative research method was used in the research. In the study, data was collected with a survey form containing two different scales to reveal the perception of intangible cultural heritage and the perception of the protection of intangible cultural heritage. The population of the research consists of the local people of Şırnak. The research sample consists of the local people of Şırnak, who participated in the research voluntarily and met the sample adequacy. 412 people participated in the research, but after the extreme values analysis, the detected extreme values were removed from the data set and analyzes were performed on 406 participants. The data were analyzed using a statistical program in accordance with the research purpose. Descriptive statistics were made, and the data was checked by analyzing missing data. Additionally, skewness and kurtosis analyzes were used to determine whether the data came from a normal distribution. Afterwards, reliability and validity analyzes were conducted to determine the consistency of the scale expressions with each other and the reliability of the scales. Factor analysis was used among validity analyses. Correlation and regression analysis were performed to reveal the relationships between variables. As a result of the research, it was determined that the perception of intangible cultural heritage has a significant effect on the perception of protecting intangible cultural heritage. Additionally, it was determined that there were low, medium and high levels of correlation between the dimensions of the research variables. Finally, it was found that the participants expressed positive opinions regarding the research variables.