Study: More than half of people in Turkey believe coronavirus was produced by China or US

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A new study has revealed widespread belief in conspiracy theories about the coronavirus pandemic.

İstanbul Bilgi University made face to face interviews with 1,629 people from 29 provinces, a sample representing the country, as part of a project for tackling "infodemic." 

The findings of the survey were announced at an online meeting yesterday (December 29).

Accordingly, 56 percent of the respondents believe that the virus has been produced by a greater power such as the US or China.

Also, 50 percent said they believed the virus was produced in China and spread to other countries as a result of an accident.

While 44 percent said the virus was produced to get rid of older people, 40 percent said treatment for the virus existed but was being concealed.

"The results show that the proportion of those who believe in conspiracy theories is high in Turkey," said Prof. Emre Erdoğan. "According to the multivariate analysis we have done, those who completed secondary education, retirees and the unemployed believe in conspiracy theories more than others."

Among the other widespread conspiracy theories are those about Covid vaccines as 28 percent of the respondents believe governments want to vaccinate everyone, taking advantage of the coronavirus.

Also, 20 percent think that people having too many vaccinations contribute to the spread of the virus.

When asked about whether they would have the vaccines produced in different countries, 39 percent said they would have the vaccine produced by Germany, 31 percent said they would have the US's vaccine. The rates of those who said they would have the vaccines of China and Russia was 29 percent each.

Also, 20 percent of the participants said governments were exaggerating the lethality of the virus and 28 percent said the virus has been spread by the governments that want to keep people at home.

Trust in official information

According to the survey, 52 percent of the people don't find official figures announced by governments reliable.

"Among those who were interviewed, 77 percent believe that very important things that people don't know anything about are happening in the world, 63 percent believe politicians don't reveal the real intentions behind their decisions," said Cankut Kuzlukluoğlu, a researcher.

Fifty-one percent of the people believe there are secret organizations that influence political decisions and 45 percent believe that governments spy on all of their citizens, he added.

Kuzlukoğlu also noted that 348 of the 7,436 web addresses they reviewed contained false or misleading information about Covid-19. (DŞ/VK)