HUMAN RIGHTS REFLECTIONS OF ISTANBUL UNIVERSITY FACULTY OF COMMUNICATION STUDENTS: A COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS OF CHANGES IN PERCEPTION AFTER GEZI PROTESTS

Abstract

The central theme of this study is the level of knowledge and understanding of Human Rights concepts held by students in the Istanbul University Faculty of Communication. In keeping with the students' education on media and communication subjects, a sample survey was conducted in order to determine the extent to which the students have acquired a command of Human Rights discourses and, as communicator candidates, what kind of perceptions they hold regarding the scope of this subject within Turkey and in the world. Further, in order to deepen the research the results were compared to those of a similar study conducted 7 years earlier. The Human rights discourse is developing in the Political Science, Law and Women's Studies fields and it seems to be extending to nearly all the social science disciplines. However, in the eyes of the youth the image of Human Rights in Turkey appears not to have developed in a positive direction. This article therefore can and should be assessed as a comparison of Human Rights perceptions of the generation before Gezi and the university youth after Gezi. However, the study universe observes, within the frame of Human Rights concepts, the possible cultural and social changes that can occur among Turkish university students studying in the same university and having relatively the same education. Additionally, the young people in this study universe have their own observations about the Gezi protests, in part because of the close distance between the Faculty of Communication and Taksim.