Wednesday, 1 February 2012Resolution of the terrorism problem seems to have shifted in favour of a military, rather than a political, solution among Turkish people over the past year. Experts say this is mostly due to intensified attacks by the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) and media reports that have supported a military solution.
"It is not surprising that [the belief in] a military solution prevails among Turkish people [now]. Right at the point when people started to believe in a political solution, the PKK restarted its attacks," Kenan Cayır, a sociologist at Istanbul Bilgi University who specialises in the Kurdish issue, told SES Türkiye.
Media reports have created an atmosphere that makes people believe politicians have taken control over the army and they can defeat the PKK militarily, according to Cayir.
"However, this is dangerous," he said, adding that it would be very difficult to make peace after a military solution.
More than 44% of Turkish people believe a military approach is the most effective way to solve the terror issue in Turkey, according to research on "Social and Political Trends in Turkey", published by Kadir Has University on January 17th.
In contrast, 29.5% believe in the political approach, 9.6% in cultural policies, 9.3% in economic measures and 6.8% in social policies.
The figures show that while the public still hopes for a political solution, they have started to doubt that political methods can work, Nilufer Narli, a professor of sociology and vice-rector of Bahçeşehir University, told SES Türkiye.
She also said public opinion was highly affected by press reports on the government's political stance and other reports on the pro-Kurdish Peace and Democracy Party (BDP).
About 63% of the 1,000 people that were polled in the survey said they thought Kurdish people living in Turkey wanted to establish a separate state. Of those who considered themselves Turks, about 66% shared this concern.
However, 62% of those polled that considered themselves Kurds said they did not think Kurds living in Turkey wanted to establish a separate state.
"I see worries about separatism and Kurdish people wanting to establish a separate state have strengthened. This might be a reason why people want the government to apply more severe policies regarding the Kurdish issue," Narli said.
About 28% of the interviewees believe that the government's policies and approach towards the Kurdish issue are "successful" or "absolutely successful", compared to only 18.8% the previous year. Meanwhile, 39.7% said such policies were "unsuccessful" or "absolutely unsuccessful", compared to 56.2% in December 2010.
"This result shows the society sees the Kurdish issue as a terror issue and the government's success regarding policies on the terror issue is reflected on the Kurdish issue in a parallel manner," Banu Baybars Hawks, an associate professor of public relations and media at Kadir Has University, who also led the research, told SES Türkiye.
More than 66% of those who participated in the survey replied "No" to a question on whether there should be education in another language besides Turkish, while 33.8% said "Yes".
"The results suggest Turkish people are not yet ready on this issue," Baybars Hawks said.
Cayir said this issue has always been misunderstood. "This does not mean Kurds will only receive education in Kurdish and Turks only in Turkish. People perceive [education in another language] with the fear of separatism, but it is rather about education in many languages."
The survey results also showed that the army is the most trusted institution, followed by police forces and the presidency. "This shows our people see trust [in institutions] directly related to security," Baybars Hawks said.
The survey was conducted for the third consecutive year in December 2011. Approximately 1,000 people over the age of 18 and living in urban areas were interviewed in 26 Turkish provinces. The survey results were conducted with a 95% confidence interval with a margin of error of +/- 3%.
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Wednesday, 1 February 2012
SETimes
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