Survey on Trust in Public Institutions: 'Courts Don’t Make Fair Judgments in Political Trials'

Photo: AA

Click to read the article in Turkish

Avrasya Research Center has announced the results of the survey it conducted on confidence in public institutions.

According, confidence in the Turkish Statistical Institute (TurkStat) and the judiciary has considerably decreased. The survey was conducted with 2,060 participants throughout the country.

'Unemployment is higher than announced'

The participants were asked, "Do you think the data announced by the TurkStat reflect the truth?" 79.1 percent of the participants said they think the inflation rate is higher than announced. While 7.7 percent said, "the announced figures reflect the truth," 13.2 said they don't have an idea.

Another question was, "Does the unemployment rate announced by the TurkStat reflect the truth?" 81.3 percent of the participants said they think the unemployment rate is higher than announced. 8.1 percent said they think the figures reflect the truth while 4.4 percent said, "There is no unemployment but those who don't appreciate jobs."

'Confidence decreased in judiciary's decisions"

When asked, "Do you think courts make fair judgments in ordinary cases?" 33.1 percent said, "No, they never make fair judgments," 32.4 percent said, "They often make unfair judgments," 15.4 percent said, "They sometimes make fair judgments," 10.2 percent said, "They often make fair judgments," and 8.9 percent said, "They always make fair judgments."

Another question was about the courts' "judgments in political cases." among the participants, 57.7 percent think the courts never make fair judgments in political cases and 25 percent said they often make unfair judgments. Only 5.6 percent said they believe court make fair judgments in political cases.

Özkiraz: What people experience they what they are told are different

Speaking to bianet on the results of the survey, Avrasya Research Center Chairperson Kemal Özkiraz said that there are "many reasons why people don't trust the TurkStat figures: "The most important reason is that the Turkey people live in and the Turkey that the TurkStat, the media and the government tell about are not the same country."

The second most important reason is that people compare their situation with what they are being told, Özkiraz said, adding that they don't make "complicated calculations": "For example, the government says the inflation rate is 9 percent. But inflation rate for every individual is different."

'Calculation of inflation between the city and the countryside is different'

"The inflation basket claims to find an average, whereas the calculation of inflation between the city and the countryside is very different. The expenditures of the people living in the city and the people living in the village and the price change in these expenditures are very different. For example, there is no need to go to work every day. Therefore, inflation in transportation does not concern them. Or the money they spend on clothing is not the same as working urban people. What I've written so far is for technical reasons."

'People don't trust the state'

"There is also a more important reason than all of them: People don't trust the state, they don't trust the government that governs the state. They are looking for a job, they are told, 'Join the party,' they want social aid, they are told, 'Join the party.' They can't find justice. Media pumps in lies every day and people don't believe that. When the media reports on 15-20 percent increase in electricity, water, natural gas and food, and says one day later that the inflation rate is 1 percent, the people don't believe the media that has turned into the boy who cried wolf and the government.

"The citizen who sees decay at every level of the state neither believes in what happens at the lower level and nor what is said at the upper level. As a result of all of these, there would be a social explosion in other countries, but not here, this is not in our genetics. We are a patient but realistic people, if the money runs out and if there will be no faith in the future, they will be called to account on election day. The general decline in the AKP and the atmosphere of panic already show the results that come and will come from the polls." (RT/VK)