“The Anatolian cities do not allow for much individualism. It seems that they harbor a kind of social structure that forces everyone, both women and men, to conform. The Sunnite majority is insensitive to the demands for rights by all the other groups. More importantly, a structure that would allow individuals to make equal use of the opportunities that the government presents in the areas of emplyement and service, without being discriminated because of their identities, does not exist.”
The above words are from the conclusion of the research lead by Prof. Dr. Binnaz Toprak of Boğaziçi University, which was titled “To be different in Turkey – Others of Religion and Conservatism”.
“Our finds show that overcoming the oppressive conservatism of the ruling power does not play a transforming role in making people more respectful to the rights and freedoms of the people who live in these places. On the contrary, when the process by the Justice and Development Party (AKP) to put its own people in the bureaucratic positions combines with the religious-community structuring and the activities in the Anatolian cities, we think the environment that exists now causes more worries when looked from these perspectives.”
“In order to make the “neighborhood pressure” argument more concrete”
The purpose of the research was to make the discussion of the “neighborhood pressure” started by the famous scholar Şerif Mardin more concrete and to understand, if they exist, the nature of these pressures and at whom they were directed.
The pressure on “those who especially identify themselves as Muslim” was excluded, since “this subject is being discussed by the public.”
Toprak and journalists İrfan Bozan, Tan Morgül and Nedim Şener met with 265 men and 136 women from Erzurum, Kayseri, Konya, Malatya, Sivas, Batman, Trabzon, Denizli, Aydın, Eskişehir, Adapazarı, Balıkesir and Sultanbeyli and Bağcılar districts of Istanbul.
According to the examples from the interviews, it is still very difficult to eat and drink at Ramadan, the feasting month. The landlords still ask the students who are looking for a place to rent if they do their daily worship. Kurdish speaking people hang up without saying anything, when their non-Turkish speaking relatives call them while riding the bus. The report also has sections about the Fethullah Gülen Muslim community and how the student grants or aids discriminate.
Reactions
The research was announced at a meeting held at Bahçeşehir University. There have been reactions about both the method and the conclusions of the research.
Criticizing the methodology of the research, Prof. Dr. Şevket Pamuk said that the face-to-face meetings could not be generalized. Nazlı Ilıcak, columnist for daily “Sabah”, said that the content of the research was learned, there was no need to go to Anatolia for this, there were similar incidents in Istanbul and that these were “city myths”.
Ruşan Çakır, a columnist from daily “Vatan”, said this research had to be taken seriously by everyone, although it had some shortcomings.
Ayşe Böhürler, a columnist for daily “Yeni Şafak” and a member of AKP’s central administrative committee, reacted to the research by talking about the pressures those who covered their heads faced. Writer Ece Temelkuran said, “Those who write about the incidents portrayed by the research have been caricaturized and excommunicated by the liberal intellectual circles.” Hüseyin Gülerce, a columnist for daily “Zaman” said they were going to investigate the allegations. (EZÖ/EÜ/TB)
