Religion

The results of a survey released by Konda research have made it clear Turkey is going towards a more secular future. This is surprising as the present government pursues political Islam. The poll has compared views touching on multiple lifestyle aspects among present-day Turks with those polled in 2008. About 55 percent described themselves as pious in the earlier survey. In contrast, only 51 percent responded the same in 2018. The same decade witnessed the rise in the number of individuals “without belief” or atheists from two percent to five percent. The findings by Konda suggests that a rising number of Turks, although religious and conservative, feel much less restricted by Islamic rules. They are also more aware when it comes to the rights of women. They are also much more tolerant of multiple religious viewpoints.

A significant drop has been found in the number of respondents identifying themselves as “religious conservative.” It slid down to 25 percent from the previous 32 percent. The number of Turks who claim to fast during Ramadan, the Muslim holy month, have suffered a sharp decline from 77 percent to 65 percent. The winds of liberal thought are blowing through other aspects of life as well. As per the poll, the number of respondents holding the view that a woman and man must do a religious marriage for cohabitation have dropped by five percentage points to settle at 74 percent finally.