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Conservatism on the rise in Turkey

22 July 2011 [11:31] - TODAY.AZ
Both conservative and democratic values are being more widely adopted by Turkish society, according to a recent poll conducted as part of the World Values Survey.

“I do not have any findings that support the idea that [Turkish] people have become more religious in recent years; however six out of 10 people believe that we should involve more religious facts in our lives instead of science,” said Yılmaz Esmer from Bahçeşehir University, who headed the team that conducted the survey.

In this year’s survey, 44 percent of respondents said restaurants should be closed during fasting periods in Ramadan, a belief held by 39 percent in the 2007 poll.

The survey also noted a high rate of people, 84 percent, saying they do not like the idea of having gay neighbors. According to the research, while ideological differences are not a big problem anymore, as they were in the early 1990s, race, religion and sexual orientation remain issues between neighbors.

According to Esmer, the survey also reflected little progress on women’s issues.

“Contrary to developed countries, the situation of women did not change in Turkey,” said Esmer, a member of the board of World Values Survey Association.

He said it was “humiliating” to present the data on women’s issues to conferences abroad, noting that support for the idea that men can marry more than one woman is accepted by 23 percent of the Turkish population, up from 10 percent in 1996.

According to the survey, not only men but also women support the idea of male dominance, which increases discrimination against women. Some 60 percent of survey participants, both male and female, said women should obey men, a rate that did not change in 15 years.

“The rate of people who say some women deserve to be beaten by their husbands was 19 percent in 1996, however that has increased by 14 percent,” Esmer said, adding that 70 percent of respondents said children may be damaged by their mothers working outside of the home.


/Hurriyet Daily News/
URL: http://www.today.az/news/regions/91102.html

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