Six-in-10 Turkish Muslims say Muslim-Western relations poor

This spring, the Pew Research Center's poll under the Pew Global Attitudes Project asked Westerners in Spain, Russia, Germany, Britain, the United States and France, and Muslims in Jordan, Indonesia, Lebanon, Egypt, Pakistan, Turkey and the Palestinian territories how they view relations between Muslims and Christians.

In response, 62 percent of Turkey and Lebanon's Muslims responded saying that the relations are poor, following the 72 percent of Muslims in the Palestinian territories who feel the same way. They are followed by 60 percent of Egyptians, 58 percent of Jordanians, 45 percent of Pakistanis and 41 percent of Indonesians.

Christians in the West were asked the same question and France topped the list, as 62 percent of its respondents said that relations are poor, followed by 61 percent of Germans, 58 percent of Spaniards, 52 percent of Brits, 48 percent of Americans and 38 percent of Russians.

The research noted, however, that Westerners are less likely to believe that relations are worse today than they were five years ago.

“Negative assessments have become less common in Russia, Britain, Germany, the US and France since 2006. Overall, there is no improvement; however, in predominantly Muslim nations, assessments are at least as negative as they were five years ago,” the survey report stated, adding that the only exception is Indonesia, where fewer people now say relations between Westerners and Muslims are bad.

In addition, the survey found that Westerners and Muslims generally disagree over who to blame for bad relations. Many Westerners think Muslims are at fault, although a substantial number believe that Westerners themselves share at least some of the blame. Meanwhile, the vast majority of Muslims blame Westerners, especially in the non-Arab nations surveyed. Thus, 75 percent of Turks, 74 percent of Indonesians and 72 percent of Pakistanis think that the West is at fault. In the four Arab nations polled, significant minorities say Jews are primarily to blame, including 35 percent of Lebanese Muslims.

Asked about the lack of prosperity in Muslim nations, 50 percent of Turkish, 40 percent of Pakistani and 39 percent of Egyptian Muslims say a lack of education is responsible for the economic problems of Muslim nations. Less than 20 percent of Muslims in all of the countries surveyed think Islamic fundamentalism is one of the primary causes. Only 13 percent of Turkish Muslims say Islamic fundamentalism is one of the reasons for economic hardship. Additionally, 53 percent of Turkish respondents blame US and Western policies for the lack of prosperity in Muslim nations.

Meanwhile, the percentage of Westerners who blame Islamic fundamentalism for the economic hardship in Muslim nations has declined in most countries over the last five years, as the percentage of Germans who hold this opinion dropped by 20 points, while the Russians and French who believe Islamic fundamentalism is the cause of economic hardship dropped by 13 and 11 percentage points, respectively. Drops have been more modest in the US and Spain, where the opinion is respectively 5 and 4 percent less popular than it was in 2005.

When it comes to how Muslims perceive Western hostility, Muslims continue to believe there is widespread hostility toward them in the West, as more than seven out of 10 think that most or many Americans are hostile toward Muslims in the Palestinian territories. Turkey, Pakistan and solid majorities in Egypt and Jordan also feel this way.

How Muslims and Westerners see each other is another area that the survey looked into. While many in the West see Muslims as fanatical and violent, few say Muslims are tolerant or respectful of women. On the other hand, Muslims in the Middle East and Asia generally see Westerners as selfish, immoral and greedy -- as well as violent and fanatical. In that regard, while views are overwhelmingly unfavorable in Turkey and Pakistan, Muslims in Lebanon, Jordan and Indonesia have positive opinions of Christians, while attitudes toward Jews are uniformly negative across the Muslim world. In Turkey, 6 percent of Muslims have favorable and 82 percent have negative opinions of Christians.

The survey also notes that the ratings of Jews are dismal in the seven predominantly Muslim nations surveyed. About 9 percent of Muslims in Indonesia, 4 percent in Turkey, 4 percent in the Palestinian territories, 3 percent in Lebanon, 2 percent in Jordan, 2 percent in Egypt and 2 percent in Pakistan express favorable opinions of Jews. Israeli Muslims, however, are divided, as 48 percent have favorable and 49 percent negative opinions of Jews.

Another result that stands out about Turkish Muslims' perceptions is that “outside of the Arab world, more than half of the Muslims in Indonesia and Pakistan who say some religions are more violent also cite Judaism as the most violent (56 percent and 54 percent, respectively).” In Turkey, however, 45 percent of the respondents think that Christianity is more violent and 41 percent said that Judaism is more violent. When the question was last asked in 2005, 46 percent of Turkish Muslims named Christianity as the most violent religion, while 20 percent named Judaism.

Asked what they consider themselves, 49 percent of Muslims in Turkey, 46 percent in Egypt and 40 percent in Indonesia first consider themselves Muslims, while 21, 31 and 35 percent, respectively, self-identify with their nationality.

In addition, Turkish and Pakistani Muslims who are concerned about Islamic extremism tend to be most worried about the threat of violence, as roughly 43 percent of concerned Muslims in Turkey point to violence as their main worry. In Pakistan, 40 percent of those worried about extremism share this view.

When asked about the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, only 9 percent of Turkish respondents believe that Arab groups carried out the acts, followed by 12 percent of the Pakistani respondents.