Who are we?

I will summarize some findings today:

51.5 percent of the adult population is male and 48.2 percent is female. The 15 to 34 age group makes up 45 percent! We have a very young population, 8.5 percent of whom are university graduates, 41 percent are primary school graduates, 61 percent are illiterate and 3.6 percent have no diploma. 50.3 percent of the population have primary school or below education. The number of people with a monthly salary over 3,000 Turkish Liras stands at 3.5 percent and 68.4 percent earn 1,000 liras or less. 27.4 percent earn 500 Turkish Liras or below.

86.1 percent of the adult population describes themselves as Turkish, 10 percent as Kurdish or Zaza, 91 percent as Sunni Muslim, and 4.9 percent as Alevi Muslim. 92.3 percent of Turks and 86.7 percent of Kurds or Zazas are Sunni Muslims. 0.4 percent of Turks and 0.9 percent of Kurds or Zazas are Alevi Muslims.

54.2 percent of the participants call themselves pious. 30.3 percent have a religious faith, 12.4 percent are religious fanatics, 1.4 percent of participants are non-believers and 0.7 percent are atheists.

56.9 percent of women wear a traditional headscarf, 13.4 percent wear hijab, 0.9 percent wear a black-chador and 28.8 percent do not wear a headscarf. 71.2 percent of females over 15 wear some sort of headscarf.

The percentage of people who said, "Girls in primary and secondary school should cover their heads," was 32.3 percent. 22.3 percent said, "The legal system should be determined according to religious rules." And 52.9 percent who believed, "Female civil servants should be allowed to wear headscarf."

On the other hand, 58.1 percent of the participants said: "State and religious affairs should be separated." 77.7 percent thought: "The state should support people (Sunni, Alevi, Christian etc.) to practice their religious obligations," And 63.6 percent agreed with the statement, "Turkey should become an EU member."

75.8 percent of participants were concerned about a split in Turkey, compared to 24.2 percent who were not concerned. People who are afraid that a Sharia regime may rule the country someday measure 59 percent. 79.5 percent are afraid of losing traditional values and 82.6 percent are worried about the economic down-turn.

65.8 percent believed: "The Kurdish issue stems from Kurds wanting to have a separate state." 34.2 percent don’t agree with that. 33.6 percent believed that: "The Kurdish issue originates from discrimination against Kurds" and 79.3 percent believed: "The Kurdish issue is being instigated by foreign centers."

According to 79.4 percent of participants, newspapers should be able to criticize the government. 73.6 percent said that newspapers were misinforming people for personal benefits.

The study is full of surprising findings for not only academics, intellectuals, journalists and politicians but also for industrialists, bankers, trade unions and merchants.

I suggest top-level managers of private sector companies discuss the results among themselves. I extend my heart-felt appreciation to Erdem and his team.