A minority with a mindset that perceives secularism as intolerance toward anything religious has been trying to limit the most fundamental religious freedoms and place them under massive pressure. And it perceives any democratic effort to loosen these pressures and limitations as a threat to the regime. The voice of this peevish minority, which has positioned itself in the hearts of the bureaucracy, judiciary, media and higher education, is unfortunately far higher than the actual size of the segment it represents.Looking at this minority, who take Turkey into unnecessary and artificial atmospheres of tension and whose voice is megaphoned by the influential media, one would think that Turkish society was terribly fragmentized, divided and shuttered into pieces and that the country was almost in an atmosphere of civil war. However, the reality is far from it. A very comprehensive public survey conducted by VERITAS and published by the Star daily clearly shows that the situation in Turkey is in no way similar to that image portrayed by the media.
According to the survey, conducted between March 3-5 in 33 cities and with the participation of 4,524 people, the dominant feeling in society is neither of conflict nor division. Just the opposite, the survey indicates that the common denominator where members of Turkish society meet is “tolerance and conciliation,” despite the negative atmosphere created by all the artificial headscarf debates, republican rallies and politicians’ word duels. While including very significant results, the survey demonstrates that most of the political debates in Turkey are artificial.
Despite the opposing claims of the secularist minority, the survey results show that 91.7 percent of the population sees Islam is a religion that represents peace and tolerance. Asked whether there is religion-based polarization in Turkey, 75.8 percent of participants said “the society is becoming more and more tolerant and conciliatory.” The rate of those who believe religious violence is on the rise is only 14.8 percent.
While the rate of those who support the removal of the headscarf ban in universities is 75.2 percent, 71.8 percent of them support lifting of this ban in all public places. And the answer to the question of whether Turkey would ever become another Iran is very striking; 75.4 percent of the participants said “there is no such possibility.”
According to the VERITAS survey young people are more opposed to the headscarf ban than older participants. While one-third of Republican People’s Party (CHP) supporters and half of Democratic Left Party (DSP) supporters say they are against the ban, only 18.2 percent support the ban and findings showed that it is mostly older people who support the ban’s perpetuation. While the rate of ban supporters increases among those with higher levels of education and income, the highest rate of ban supporters in terms of vocational groups is found in public servants. The survey indicates that even 53.9 percent of the ban’s supporters oppose any sort of military intervention including a coup and only 3.5 percent of participants think that Islam is a religion of violence and bigotry.
According to the survey, conducted under the guidance of Gazi University Professor Mümtaz’er Türköne, Dr. Ferhat Kentel from Bilgi University and Dr. Ahmet Demirel from Marmara University, the rates of intolerance among those wearing the headscarf and those not wearing it are very close to each another and are very marginally low. While 5.2 percent of the headscarved are intolerant toward those who don’t wear it, 4.8 percent of the non-headscarved are intolerant. And all the tumult must have been stemming from the cries of these marginal intolerant ones. Reading the equation from the reverse tells us that 94.8 percent of the headscarved and 95.2 percent of the non-headscarved have no problems with one another.
According to the survey, only 7.2 percent have no ties to Islam whatsoever and do not fulfill any religious duties; this also shows that Turkish society is very religious. The survey further reveals that the rate of those seeking the establishment of a political order in accordance with religious beliefs is only 7.7 percent, a marginally low rate. The results indicate that inclination toward religiosity changes according to gender, age, education and income levels and vocational and party preferences. Women, for instance, are more religious than men. In line with the results of previous surveys, those with higher education and from higher income brackets are less inclined toward religion, poor people are more religious.
The survey clearly indicates the relationship between political parties and religious practices, while revealing strong religion-based polarization between them. However one of the most interesting results of the survey is that 18 percent of CHP voters perform their prescribed five daily prayers. This rate goes up to 65.9 percent in Justice and Development Party (AK Party) supporters, while 46.4 percent of Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) supporters are practicing Muslims.
This is the summary of the story. Let the ferocious minority continue sparking one crisis after another as if there was social chaos… The quiet majority doesn’t deviate from tolerance and conciliation or the ideal of democratic and secular republic.
