Turks reveal xenophobic, conservative attitudes in poll

Robert Tait in Istanbul

The Guardian, Monday 23 February 2009

Turks are xenophobic, socially conservative people who rarely read books, relegate women to second-class status and harbour ambivalent views about democracy, contentious new research has revealed.

The unflattering picture has emerged from a survey by one of Turkey’s most respected polling organisations, Konda, which interviewed 6,482 people.

Some 73% opposed allowing foreigners to own Turkish land or property, while nine out of 10 said they had never taken a holiday abroad. Just under 70% said they never read books, and 72% said they never or rarely bought new hi-tech products as soon they appeared on the market. Many also expressed fears that Turkey’s neighbours planned to carve up the country.

Nearly 70% said wives needed their husband’s permission to work while 57% believed that a female should never leave home wearing a sleeveless top. More than half – 53% – favoured allowing women judges, prosecutors, teachers and other public servants to wear the Islamic headscarf on duty, something Turkey’s secular constitution forbids.

While 88% agreed that Turkey should be governed by democracy “under each and every condition”, this was undermined by the significant proportion – 48% – who said the military should intervene “when necessary”. The powerful armed forces have toppled four elected governments in coups in the past 50 years.

The survey, entitled Who Are We?, was conducted on behalf of Hurriyet, one of Turkey’s biggest selling newspapers, renowned for its secularist outlook.

Tarhan Erdem, senior analyst with Konda, said the research was aimed at understanding ongoing social transformation and seeing whether Turkey was the country many of its people thought they knew. The high support for military intervention showed Turks had reservations about democracy, he said, while attitudes towards women exposed a lack of gender equality. “The data shows that women aren’t free in their private lives,” Erdem said.

Ahmet Insel, a columnist with Radikal newspaper, said opposition to foreign travel and property ownership stemmed from a preoccupation with the 1919-1923 war of independence that established modern Turkey.

“We think the war of independence is still under way, so it’s no surprise we are xenophobic. We’re still fighting foreigners,” he said.

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