Abstract

This study was carried out in order to evaluate the political and socio-economical views of students studying in the School of Physical Education and Sport in Gazi University, on Turkey’s membership to the European Union. The population consisted of 1453 students studying in the School of Physical Education and Sport and a questionnaire of 42 questions was applied to 338 students by random sampling method. Data obtained from the questionnaires were processed in SPSS 10.0 to determine whether the data is in proper distribution, then frequency (f), percentage (%) and questionnaire items were evaluated in political and socio-economical terms and independent sampling t-test and one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) values were checked. Also the averages of answers given by the participants to items relating to the European Union and Turkey were considered. Cronbach’s alpha reliability coefficient was found 0,75 for the questionnaire. Based on the findings of the research, it can be seen that 51.5% of university population are "male” (N=174) and 48.5% are "female" (N=164). It was determined that views on the socio-economical and political sub-dimensions of the approach that Turkey's EU membership will not be accepted do not vary by gender (p>0.05). Socio-economical levels of the students' view that Turkey' EU membership will not be accepted exhibit a significant difference by the age variable [F_(2-335)= 4,97 ; p<0,05]. Political sub-dimensional levels of the participants' view that Turkey' EU membership will not be accepted exhibit a significant difference by the class variable [F_(3-334)= 1.48 ; p<0,05]. In conclusion, it can be said, in political and socio-economical terms, that Turkey's EU membership will not be accepted.

Key words: Turkey, EU membership, student, political, socio-economical.