Resilience in Turkey

Source:CEPA Date:24Apr2020

An article based on solid survey research inspring hope for Turkey’s future by Soner Cagaptay and Deniz Yüksel.

His Jacobin top-down social conservatism has proved remarkably counterproductive in an important demographic group: millennials. Surveys show an overwhelming commitment to liberal democratic values — a first for any demographic cohort in Turkey. They are also far less religious than previous generations, twice more likely to be atheist than the national average. Only a quarter pray regularly, compared to nearly half of the population. Another poll found that just 47 percent of women aged 18-32 cover their hair, compared to 62 percent of all women in the country, a key sign of abandonment of Islamic practices. This is an unprecedented development. With the majority of young women not wearing the headscarf — a first for any demographic cohort in the country, Turkey’s secularist founder Mustafa Kemal Atatürk’s dream has, ironically, come true under the rule of Erdoğan’s political Islamist rule.