Perceptions of University Students about the Basic Issues of Democracy in Türkiye

The thoughts of university youth, which is the most important fragment of a country especially in terms of social intellectuals, on democracy will provide important information about democracy education and tendencies. In our study, we aimed to see the basic democracy perceptions of university students in Türkiye. Four hundred eighty-six (486) university students investigated the opinions of Turkish University Students on Democracy. They are from 34 different universities, most of which are public universities (64.2%). 486 university students with an associate degree, undergraduate and graduate and postgraduate university students between the ages of 18 - 65 filled out the questionnaire. As 4 out of 486 students did not complete most of the questions, they were eliminated and the evaluation was made on 482 students. Out of all students 62.3% were women, 91.2% were single, and 57.9% of the students lived on family assistance. 61.1% of the students live on less than 3000 TL per month. 24.5% live in the dormitory, and 56.8% live with their own family. With the two best definitions of democracy, 99.5% of the students chose the correct definition, and they only defined democracy with its institutions. 71.3% of students indicated education as the three most important institutions for democracy. Approximately 68.2% of students do not consider the election sufficient as a democracy alone. The rate of those who believe the separation of power is necessary for democracy is 62.8%. Those who think the rule of law is important or essential for democracy are 86.1%. The rate of those who see an effective parliament as indispensable for the existence of democracy is 75.6% and 79.6% of students consider media necessary for democracy. 91.9% of the students evaluate democracy in our country as weak.