NCJ Number
225420
Date Published
2007
Length
11 pages
Annotation
Using Provinces of Turkey as the unit of analysis, this study used secondary data and cross-sectional research in order to examine the relationship between inequality, poverty, and terrorism.
Abstract
The study’s most important finding was that inequalities between geographical regions increased terrorism in certain Turkish Provinces. The unequal distribution of infrastructure, the unequal distribution of government investment among regions of the country, and the unequal distribution of health services were related to the number of terrorist incidents in a Province. Urbanization as a measure was related to the location of terrorist incidents. This may be related to uncontrolled growth and uncontrolled migration. Terrorist incidents were also related to the percentage of youth in the population and the unequal distribution of asphalt roads, drinking water, and some economic contributors. The study found no statistical relationship between the number of people living under the poverty line and the number of terrorist incidents. Neither did measures of education show a significant relationship with the number of terrorist incidents. Employment rates were also unrelated to the number of terrorist incidents. Secondary data for the study were obtained from the Turkish National Police database of terrorist incidents. These data include the number of terrorist incidents recorded as determined by Turkish penal law. Data on economic and demographic variables were obtained from Turkey’s National Statistics Department’s database and Turkey’s Government Planning Office’s database. The number of terrorist incidents was the dependent variable. Independent variables addressed poverty indicators and inequality indicators. 1 table and 42 references