My Pal Jerry messaged me the other day asking if I had any comments about the NY Times article of November 28, 2006 entitled 'Allure of Islam Signals a Shift Within Turkey' by Sabrina Tavernise.

So I read Ms. Tavernise's article at the NY Times Website and (overlooking a few strong differences I had with what she wrote, such as her citation of the useless Pew Report from earlier this year -- as if it were in any way authoritative, I thought she made an informative addition to the dialogue on 'religious attitudes' in Turkey.

A pivotal point of Ms. Tavernise's article -- that 'Turks who identify themselves by their religion has increased to 45 percent this year, from 36 percent in 1999' -- was drawn from the findings of a new 'religious attitudes' survey prepared by The Turkish Economic and Social Studies Foundation (Türkiye Ekonomik ve Sosyal Etüdler Vakfı -- TESEV). The TESEV survey, entitled 'Religion, Society and Politics in the Changing Turkey' (Degisen Türkiye'de Din Toplum ve Siyaset) had been reported in Hürriyet Gazetesi six days before Ms. Taverline's dateline -- and it contained some other interesting and revealing discoveries...

51% of those polled this year believe that the wife of the next Turkish President should not wear a religiously-symbolic turban in public. (Since the most likely candidate for the Presidency in May 2007 is the current Prime Minister and AKP religious-right party-leader Recep Tayyip Erdogan [whose wife always wears a turban in public -- see photo via our page link below], that 51% majority is a little on the thin side for those who favor a secular state in Turkey...)

8% of those who currently shun religiously-symbolic headcoverings said, 'If everyone around me starts to wear a headcovering, I'll have to follow suit.'

In a similar TESEV poll taken in 1999, 36 percent said they were 'Religious (Muslim) first' compared to 21 percent who said they were 'Turkish first.' In this year's poll, those declaring themselves 'Religious (Muslim) first' have increased to 45 percent -- the percentage of those in the 'Turkish first' category has declined to just 19%.

This year's study tries to downplay the above-noted increase in religious identity among Turks -- saying that it doesn't indicate a desire for an Islamic State. According to the study, the desire for 'a Shariah-based (Islamic law) Religious State' has dropped significantly from 21 percent to 9 percent since 1999. Even among strong religious-right conservative AKP supporters, those who desire an Islamic State amount to less than 14% -- which is only about 4.2% of the total Turkish population.

To further support the pro-secular sentiment, let's not forget the recent poll (reported in Gözcü Gazetesi during November 2006) that indicates a drop in voter support for the religious-right AKP from 36% (when they won the national election in November 2002) to 25% as we enter the next national election year in 2007.

Dr. Can Paker, Director of TESEV, admits to the public perception that the number of headcovering (türbanli) females has increased since 1999, but he insists that the real number has actually decreased. Dr. Paker says that, 'As incomes have increased the number of türbanli headcoverers has decreased (from 16 to 11%). The incorrect public perception arises because headcoverers -- who used to stay at home -- are now coming out in public due to their increased affluence.'

The most worrisome aspect of the report from Dr. Paker's viewpoint is that a "them and us" attitude is developing within Turkish society -- which has mushroomed since the AKP religious-right government came to power in 2003. To support Dr. Paker's view, 71% of those polled in 2006 thought that too much friction exists between religionists and secularists. That's up from 50% in 1999.

Will this religion-rooted turmoil ever end in Turkey? It's not likely -- unless and until Turks can do a better job of separating religion and politics... assuming, of course, that they truly have the desire to do so. The jury is still (way) out on that one.

[Click following to access a fully illustrated HTML version of this Latest Religious Attitudes in Turkey page.]