Turkish Knowledge Research Articles

Development of Turkish Reading Anxiety Scale

This study aims to develop a Turkish reading anxiety scale (TRAS) for secondary school students whose mother tongue is not Turkish. In addition, since the subject of our study is people who do not receive education in their mother tongue, but receive education in a second language, it aims to develop a measurement tool to determine the effect of this difference on second language learning anxiety. The data of the study were applied to 432 8th grade secondary school students whose mother tongue was Kurdish and who learned Turkish afterwards. As a result of the exploratory factor analysis (EFA), it was seen that the items in the scale were collected in three factors and consisted of 19 items. These three factors are: “Fear”, “Anxiety” and “Preference”. It is seen that the three-factor structure obtained as a result of EFA was confirmed as a result of CFA. It is seen that the three-factor structure obtained as a result of EFA contributed 46.280% to the total variance. It is seen that the factor load values of the items ranged from 0.487 to 0.789. As a result of the item analysis, it is seen that the items in the scale are distinctive. As a result of the ANOVA analysis, it was concluded that students’ Turkish reading anxiety differed significantly according to gender, mother's knowledge of Turkish, and the language that parents wanted to be spoken at home. However, it was concluded that there was no significant difference between the father's knowledge of Turkish and the language spoken at home preference. The Cronbach's alpha reliability coefficients of the three-factor structure obtained from the TRAS were calculated as .81, .75 and .70, respectively, and the alpha coefficient for all items of the scale was calculated as 0.87. As a result, considering the validity and reliability analyzes, it was concluded that the TRAS is a reliable and valid measurement tool.

Features of Russian-Turkish and Turkish-Russian simultaneous interpretation

The relevance of the study lies in the fact that nowadays cooperation between countries is constantly developing at different levels, which necessitates the use of simultaneous interpreting services. In order to meet the demands of today's market and above all to live up to the expectations, it is important to understand the special features of Russian-Turkish and Turkish-Russian simultaneous interpretation, regardless of subject matter and degree of complexity. Such interpretation is quite a complex task, since Turkish is a language belonging to the group of languages that is spoken by 83 million people worldwide, mostly in Turkey and Northern Cyprus, where it has the status of an official language. In the Russian Federation there is little knowledge of Turkish, which seems to be the main reason for the growing demand for simultaneous interpreting. The purpose of the study is to conduct a linguistic analysis of Russian-Turkish and Turkish-Russian simultaneous interpretation, which will reveal the features of language structures that influence the choice of strategies and actions in the simultaneous interpretation process.

Mother Tongue of Turkish Immigrant Children in Berlin: to Be or not to Be?

How do bilingual Turkish children develop their mother tongue knowledge in German kindergartens and what are some of the difficulties they face? These are the questions which this paper tries to answer. For this purpose, a study with Turkish kindergarten children from Berlin, Germany was conducted. A total of 40 children were divided into two groups between 3 and 6 years old and tested twice in a year with the TEDIL Test . The test consists of pictures and measures the knowledge of Turkish nouns, verbs, adjectives, prepositions, and syntax. All of the children were tested individually by a native Turkish speaker and by the researcher. The testing was done in the kindergarten setting. The results showed that the knowledge of both age groups on different grammatical categories in Turkish was equal on the first test and there were no statistical differences. However, during the second test the group of older children showed a decrease in their knowledge of the grammatical categories in their mother tongue. This paper discusses the factors that influenced the regression in the knowledge of Turkish. This study is one of only a few on bilingual Turkish children and it presents new information about mother tongue loss among kindergarten children, discusses the reasons, and suggests that kindergartens and families should cooperate and work together in order to prevent mother tongue loss from a very early age as well as its effect on the cognitive development of bilingual children.

Mother Tongue of Turkish Immigrant Children in Berlin: to Be or not to Be?

How do bilingual Turkish children develop their mother tongue knowledge in German kindergartens and what are some of the difficulties they face? These are the questions which this paper tries to answer. For this purpose, a study with Turkish kindergarten children from Berlin, Germany was conducted. A total of 40 children were divided into two groups between 3 and 6 years old and tested twice in a year with the TEDIL Test . The test consists of pictures and measures the knowledge of Turkish nouns, verbs, adjectives, prepositions, and syntax. All of the children were tested individually by a native Turkish speaker and by the researcher. The testing was done in the kindergarten setting. The results showed that the knowledge of both age groups on different grammatical categories in Turkish was equal on the first test and there were no statistical differences. However, during the second test the group of older children showed a decrease in their knowledge of the grammatical categories in their mother tongue. This paper discusses the factors that influenced the regression in the knowledge of Turkish. This study is one of only a few on bilingual Turkish children and it presents new information about mother tongue loss among kindergarten children, discusses the reasons, and suggests that kindergartens and families should cooperate and work together in order to prevent mother tongue loss from a very early age as well as its effect on the cognitive development of bilingual children.

Türkiye’de Seçim Bütünlüğü ve Seçim Gözlemi

The political polarization, populist discourses and development of risk society inside the global contexthave been causing damages on electoral integrity and legitimacy. Domestic election monitoring is anecessity in order to establish a fair, secure and transparent election process. In Turkey, there is onedomestic monitoring organization, Vote and Beyond and a few non-governmental organizations tryingto observe elections. Elections in Turkey have not been analyzed around the concept of electoralintegrity and citizens are not aware of domestic monitoring. The aim of this paper is to present theconcept of electoral integrity and underline the importance of domestic monitoring, especially inpolitically divided societies. Our two key questions for this article are: “how can domestic monitoringorganizations help to establish electoral integrity and legitimacy in Turkey?”, “what are the ideas ofvolunteers at Vote and Beyond on electoral integrity in Turkey?” According to these questions, thisarticle aims to analyze the activities of Vote and Beyond aiming to develop electoral knowledge ofTurkish people and legitimacy of the elections in Turkey and the impact of volunteers working withinthis NGO. Our analysis will be based on in-depth interviews with the founders and a pilot study of asurvey realized with volunteers of Vote and Beyond. The first argument relies on the idea that socialand political polarization and the development of global risks by populist and post-truth politicshave negative impacts on electoral integrity. And the second argument is that election malpracticesencourage more and more citizens to participate in election observation in order to prevent fraudand corruption during the elections. Within this approach, the article aims to make a theoretical andempirical contribution to electoral studies in Turkey.

Home is Where the Heart Is? Forced Migration and Voluntary Return in Turkey's Kurdish Regions

What influences the decisions of internally displaced persons (IDPs) to return home after prolonged displacement? This article investigates the attitudes of victims of forced migration by analysing survey data on Kurdish displaced persons and returnees in Turkey. In an attempt to give a voice to displaced persons, we survey the conditions under which IDPs return home despite continuing tensions, lack of infrastructure and risk of renewed violence. The findings suggest that integration into a new environment in Western Turkey, measured by economic advancement and knowledge of Turkish, reduces the likelihood of return. Yet contrary to conventional wisdom, more educated IDPs demonstrate a stronger desire to return to their ancestral communities, suggesting that education increases available options for displaced persons. The findings are relevant in informing global responses to forced migration as well as understanding the local experiences and perceptions of IDPs in conflict ridden societies.

The Philosophy of Music by Abu Nasr Muhammad al-Farabi (review)

Reviewed by: The Philosophy of Music by Abu Nasr Muhammad al-Farabi Inna Naroditskaya (bio) The Philosophy of Music by Abu Nasr Muhammad al-Farabi. Saida Daukeyeva. Alma-Ata: Fond of Soros-Kazakhstan, 2002. 352 pp., in Russian, English; summary and table of contents, 3 colored photographs, Russian-Arabic glossary of terms, diagrams and tables of tones, melodies, modes, and forms; bibliography. ISBN 9965-13-819-2. For eleven hundred years scholars from distant world regions, working in and across scholarly disciplines and writing in different languages, have been allured to the monumental philosophical works of Al-Farabi (870–950). At the roots of the Islamic Renaissance, Al-Farabi navigated and shaped the humanistic thoughts of a period now perceived as the golden age of Eastern literature and sciences. From Turko-Persian historical cultural roots, Al-Farabi and other scholars of Khorosan made a fundamental contribution to Arabic literature, producing Arabic translations and interpretation of Aristotle, Plato, and other ancient classics at a time when Medieval Europe had neither knowledge of the Greek language nor a taste for this culture. Two hundred years later Al- Farabi’s works, translated into Latin, inspired and stirred Europeans toward the Risorgimento and later movements marked by fascination with and appropriation of ancient Greece as the origin of Western cultural history.1 [End Page 133] The discursive, interpretive mode of Al-Farabi’s translation and adaptation of Greek texts was embraced by scholars who translated and annotated his works. A founder of political philosophy, Al-Farabi was a music theorist and a performer, an ud player (praised as the inventor of the 5-string ud). Among his surviving writings on music are treatises on tuning, rhythm, and the philosophy of music (Kitab fi ’l Nuqra, Kitab al ti Ihsa al-iqa, Kitab fi ’l Musiqa) as well as a monumental work, The Grand Book on Music, Kitab al-musiqi al-kabir—the focus of Saida Daukeyeva’s The Philosophy of Music by Abu Nasr Muhammad al-Farabi. Daukeyeva’s monograph belongs to the steadily expanding literature on Al-Farabi’s theory of music and specifically on his masterpiece, reissued in many languages and with multiple commentaries.2 Few scholars have Daukeyeva’s background and capacity to write about Abū Nasr Muhammad ibn Muhammad ibn Tarkhan ibn Uzlagh al-Farab at-Turku.3 Al-Farabi, an ethnic Turk from the Central Asian city Farab in Persia’s Great Khorasan, traveled and resided in the Arabic cities of Damascus, Aleppo, Cairo, and Baghdad, also spending years of study in Constantinople. Daukeyeva, 11 centuries later, also of Turkic ethnicity and from the Central Asian state of Kazakhstan (formerly a Soviet republic), was trained as a performer and theorist in her native capital and in Moscow (the Moscow State Conservatory of Tchaikovsky), later residing in Damascus and other Arabic urban centers. She completed her book while studying in London (School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London). The monograph, engaging her knowledge of Turkish, Arabic, Russian, and English and written in Russian, consists of two parts, her own writing and her translations, the two-part structure mirroring the work she herself examines. In recent decades a number of Russian-language sources on Al-Farabi have been produced in former Soviet republics, now independent Central Asian states, including several volumes on his philosophy, ethics, epistemology, and music issued in Kazakhstan’s capital Alma-Ata (Daukeyeva’s home), where the Kazakh National University bears the name of Al-Farabi.4 To this expanding scholarly field Daukeyeva contributes her firm grasp of Arabic sources, familiarity with Soviet and post-Soviet materials, and an intimate knowledge of Central Asian literature as well as European and American scholarship. In this respect, the reviewed monograph is interesting not only because of its subject, but also as a glimpse into distinct intellectual traditions formed in Central Asia. The three chapters in the first part of the monograph move from a general historical view of the culture and music of Al-Farabi’s times in the first chapter, to the philosophy of knowledge and an epistemological discourse on music in the second, and a discussion of music theory focusing on sound, modes, rhythms, and musical...

Consumer price knowledge in Turkey – before and after the changeover of the national currency

PurposeThe first objective of the paper is to determine whether the national currency changeover in Turkey has altered the level of consumer price knowledge. The second objective is to investigate the level of consumer price knowledge in an emerging economy, quite apart from the currency changeover.Design/methodology/approachThe paper looks at price knowledge by comparing consumers' price estimations with actual market prices. Data was collected, designed as a panel interview, at two points of time. The price data contains the actual prices of six selected products, from 27 retail stores in Istanbul. The choice of retail outlets was conducted in such a manner, that they provide a highly representative image of prices in Istanbul. The price estimation was obtained at personal interviews (599 individuals) outside a shopping situation in different parts of Istanbul.FindingsThe analysis suggests that the price knowledge of Turkish consumers has not deteriorated since the currency changeover. On the contrary, it has slightly improved. According to the second objective, the price knowledge of consumers in an emerging economy turned out to be relatively poor, although the level of price differentiation is rather low in the market.Research limitations/implicationsThe first limitation is the context of price data, due to the specific economic infrastructure of an emerging country such as Turkey. The second limitation relates to the investigated product categories and refers to all of the results on the relatively poor price knowledge of Turkish consumers. Regarding further research, it would be useful to establish whether the price knowledge of Turkish consumers will improve in the future on account of the inflation rate, which has been declining noticeably during the past few months. In addition, other methods of measuring price knowledge can be used to determine whether the results for Turkish consumers are stable. Finally, including informal traders could raise the explanatory power of data about the price knowledge of Turkish consumers.Originality/valuePrice knowledge in an emerging economy is poor. The effect of a currency changeover on price knowledge depends on the conversion arithmetic.

Family planning in the Southeast Anatolian Project Region

Objectives The aim of this study was to evaluate contraceptive use by women of reproductive age in the Southeast Anatolian Project Region and the promotion of the use of family planning services.Methods An optimum sample size to represent the rural and urban area of the region was determined and the sample was chosen by sampling method proportional to the size. A total of 1126 houses were visited and questions about reproductive health were asked of 1019 ever-married (currently married, widows and divorced) women.Results The study showed that 48.2% of the ever-married women of reproductive age had never used any method of family planning; 37.4% were currently using a family planning method, and 14.4% had used a family planning method in the past. Of the women who were currently using a family planning method, 73.1% were using an effective method. The result of the logistic regression analysis showed that educational level, knowledge of Turkish, type of residence, and total number of living children were the main variables that affected the use of family planning methods.Conclusions Use of family planning methods in the region was not at the expected level. In order to decrease the barriers to family planning in developing countries, we must provide obtainable, acceptable, integrated health services.

NOTES ON SOME TURKISH NAMES IN ABU 'L-FADL BAYHAQĪ'S TĀRĪKH-I MASʿUDI

Islamic historians, at home in Arabic and Persian, have tended to ignore or to skate over Turkish linguistic and other elements which they have come across in the Arabic and Persian chronicles. Most of the early copyists of the manuscripts of such chronicles were ill-equipped to render Turkish linguistic materials in the first place. Certainly, many wrote under dynasties whose ruling strata were Turkish, since at various times, rulers who were ethnically Turkish in origin were to be found right across the Islamic world, from Algiers to Bengal, from Yemen to Siberia, but such Turkish-directed states in the Arab-Persian heartlands usually depended on an administrative and secretarial classes whose working languages would be Arabic or Persian. Not until the Ottoman sultanate developed its own Turkish cultural and literary traditions from the later fifteenth century onwards, and not until Chaghatay emerged as a flexible and expressive literary medium in the fifteenth century under the Chaghatayids and Timurids, did Osmanll and Chaghatay Turkish come into their own as literary media, and the secretarial class in the lands where these tongues flourished had to add to its ancient mastery of Arabic and Persian a sound knowledge of Turkish, i.e. Turkish was no longer essentially, as it had earlier been, an oral means of communication among the Turkish military and governing classes. Before the early twentieth century, European scholars, faced with Turkish names and titles in the Arabic and Persian historical and literary texts before them, had only inadequate means for elucidating these. Outside the Ottoman Turkish realm, the two standbys for reference were M. Pavet de Courteille's Dictionnaire turc-oriental, destine principalement a faciliter la lecture des ouvrages de Baber, d 'Aboul-Gazi et de Mir-Ali Chir-Nevai (Paris

Les Jeunes de langue de Péra-lès-Constantinople

Frédéric Hitzel : the 'jeunes de langue' at Pera of Constantinople. Following Venice, which had created in the 16th century a school of oriental languages in order to form dragomans, the French minister Colbert's edict of 18th November 1669 set up, at the request of the Marseilles Chamber of Commerce, a school of professional interpreters to act as dragomans for French ambassadors and consuls in the East. The school was called the school of "Enfants de langue" or "Jeunes de langue". After studying at the Parisian college of Louis-le-Grand, the pupils were sent at the age of twenty to the Capucin convent at Pera in Constantinople, where they perfected their knowledge of Turkish, Arabic and Persian. The great period of this school was between 1721 and 1762, after which it declined, particulary on the creation in Paris of the School of Oriental Languages. It ceased to exist in Constantinople in 1831 and in Paris in 1873.