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ANKARA: `Elite' Turks unwilling to share power, prosperity w/`others

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  • ANKARA: `Elite' Turks unwilling to share power, prosperity w/`others

    Today's Zaman, Turkey
    June 6 2009


    `Elite' Turks unwilling to share power, prosperity with `others'


    A recently released survey on the attitudes and opinions of Turkey's
    `elites' has shown that they deem themselves the `real owners of the
    country' and are unwilling to share their power and prosperity with
    other groups.

    The survey, titled `Elites and Social Divisions,' was conducted by two
    academics at Ä°stanbul Bilgi University among 40 well-educated
    individuals in high-level professional positions. The survey aimed at
    understanding the views of such individuals, seen as `elites' in
    Turkey, regarding other people in Turkish society, including
    conservatives, minorities and non-Muslims.
    Professor Füsun Ã`stel and Associate Professor Birol Caymaz
    discussed a wide range of topics with the 40 participants. Among these
    topics was the popularity of the ruling Justice and Development Party
    (AK Party), the murder of Turkish-Armenian journalist Hrant Dink,
    minority groups in Turkey, steps taken to solve the Kurdish question
    and a closure case against the pro-Kurdish Democratic Society Party
    (DTP).

    According to the survey, the elites divide society into two camps:
    `us' and `others.' They see others as threats to their own existence.

    The elites see themselves as the carriers and protectors of the
    republic and its values. The survey revealed that the participants
    considered AK Party deputies `occupiers' who did not deserve to be
    represented in Parliament.

    One of the respondents said she abhorred seeing a woman wearing the
    headscarf in the Ã?ankaya presidential palace, referring to the
    wife of President Abdullah Gül. Almost all of the participants
    in the survey said they objected to the election of Gül as
    president.

    One respondent said she does not like to see so many covered women
    around: `I try to act as if there were no women wearing the headscarf
    around me. But there are too many.' Another respondent said she avoids
    any contact with covered women. `I don't have any business with
    them. I don't meet them. I don't support the idea of allowing covered
    students to attend universities. I detest that idea,' she emphasized.

    Many participants supported last year's closure case against the AK
    Party, saying that although they don't like the closure of political
    parties in democracies, they would find closure justifiable for the AK
    Party.

    A closure case was filed against the AK Party last year on the grounds
    that it had become a focal point of anti-secularist acts. The
    Constitutional Court, however, refused to shut the party down.

    Elites point to economic reasons as cause of Kurdish question

    The survey also asked participants for their views on the causes
    behind the long-standing Kurdish problem.

    Respondents pointed to economic problems as the main factor in the
    Kurdish issue. They said they were disturbed by the representation of
    the DTP in Parliament. Others said the Kurdish question arose with the
    foundation of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) in 1984.

    `The reason I don't like Kurds is that they lead a tribal life,' said
    one of the respondents. Another participant said he was afraid of
    educated Kurds more than uneducated ones. `I know some Kurds who are
    university graduates. I think educated Kurds are more dangerous than
    uneducated ones. They become more dangerous based on their capacity
    for thinking,' he explained.

    Another individual surveyed said the DTP had become more popular after
    it was promoted and supported by the AK Party. `The DTP is an
    artificial formation. It is backed by the AK Party. If the AK Party
    hadn't backed them, the DTP would not have existed and there would not
    be any gap of authority in northern Iraq,' he argued.

    Another question directed at respondents was how they feel about
    non-Muslims and minority groups in the country.

    Almost all the respondents said they have non-Muslim friends and
    friends who belong to minority groups. `But we prefer not to talk
    about the problems of minority groups. We are afraid our relations may
    get tense if we do so,' many of the respondents said.

    Those surveyed also said they would not support broader rights for
    those groups. `They may have been subjected to injustice in the past,
    but the situation is very different now. They are buying and selling
    the country. They don't pay taxes, either,' one participant said.

    06 June 2009, Saturday
    TODAY'S ZAMAN WITH WIRES Ä°STANBUL
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