‘Householders Unwilling to Rent Out Their Houses to LGBTIs and Migrants’

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The Association for Monitoring Equal Rights (AMER) has released its "Report on Perception of Discrimination in Turkey/Its Types-Perpetrators-Dimensions." Researchers Seçil Doğuç and Cem Özatalay prepared the report based on their interviews with 1,064 people from 26 cities.

Here are some of the highlights from the report:

• Regarding the prevalence of discrimination, 23.1 percent of the participants think that discrimination is prevalent in Turkey while 30.3 percent of them are of the opinion that there is no or almost no discrimination in the country.
• The report also shows that the perception of discrimination changes depending on the income level or educational background. While the discrimination perception of high income groups is weaker than expected, that of lower income groups exceeds the expectations.

"No religious discrimination" say 51.97 percent

• According to the report, 38.4 percent of the ones who think that discrimination is prevalent in Turkey speaks another language than Turkish in their homes. 42.4 percent of those speaking Turkish at home are of the opinion that discrimination is not really prevalent.
• Conservative-nationalist male participants of the report say that women are subjected to discrimination in Turkey because they wear headscarves, adding that Muslims are discriminated around the world because of their religious beliefs.
• As for the dissident individuals, they are of the opinion that they are politically discriminated. However, the report also manifests that when it comes to the Syrian refugees, Kurds and LGBTIs, both sides could find a middle ground regarding the perception of discrimination.

Majority think that refugees are discriminated

• While 25.28 percent of the participants think that there is discrimination based on ethnicity in Turkey, 49.14 percent of them are of the opinion that no one or almost no one is discriminated in Turkey due to their ethnic background.
• When discrimination based on religion is considered, 26.95 percent of the participants say that individuals are frequently subjected to discrimination due to their religious beliefs. The ones who think that people are not discriminated in Turkey in relation with their religious beliefs account for 51.97 percent of the participants.

41.46 percent say "Women are never discriminated"

• When it comes to the discrimination against refugees and migrants, while 36.28 percent of the participants think that refugees and migrants are frequently discriminated, 35.52 percent of them are of the opinion that there is no discrimination against refugees and migrants.
• The report also shows that the rate of the ones who say that women are never discriminated is considerably high: 41.64 percent of over 1,000 participants think that women are never subjected to discrimination in Turkey.

Unwillingness to rent out houses to LGBTIs, migrants

• As for the perception of discrimination against LGBTIs, the report shows that while 45.86 percent of the participants think that LGBTIs are never or almost never subjected to discrimination, 36.28 percent of them think that they are frequently discriminated.
• To the question "Whom wouldn't you rent out your house?", the answer of LGBTI individuals and migrants come to the fore with similar percentages. As a reason for their unwillingness, some participants answered, "They would damage the house", "We wouldn't know who enters or leaves the neighborhood" and "immorality would prevail". (EA/EMK/SD)