Local people's opinions on geographically indicated products: The example of Şanlıurfa province

The main purpose of this research is to determine the opinions of the local people about the geographically indicated products in Şanlıurfa and to examine their thoughts about the awareness level of the geographically indicated products and their purchasing status. The reason for the formations within the scope of the researches of the province of Şanlıurfa is that the number of food culture, food sources and geographically marked product tips from the past to the present are numerous. In the study, first of all, the domestic and foreign literature on geographical indication and geographical indication products in Şanlıurfa was scanned and information has been given. The population of the research consists of the local people living in Şanlıurfa. In this direction, a questionnaire was applied to 396 participants living in Şanlıurfa. The analysis of the data obtained was made in the SPSS program, and the demographic information of the participants, the views of the local people about the gastronomic products with geographical indications in Şanlıurfa, the effect of gastronomic products with geographical indications on the city were evaluated, and the frequency and percentage distribution of the obtained data were presented in tables. In the analysis, firstly, whether the data showed a normal distribution or not was calculated by skewness and kurtosis values, which are among the measures of central tendency and spread, and non-parametric tests were applied after it was determined that the data did not show normal distribution. "Kruskal-Wallis Test" and "Mann Whitney U" analyzes were used to reveal differences between groups. The focus of this study is to inform both future generations and tourists about the geographically marked products of the province, and to increase the active participation of the local people for the protection and sustainability of the products. According to the results of the research, the opinions of the local people have an important role in the geographical marking of the local products and the use of the products in the production and promotion of local dishes. Generally, the preparation and serving of local dishes have geographical indication substantiated by the local people. In this study, it also found that although most of the participants knew about the geographically indicated products, they were undecided about paying high prices for these products.