[Originally published in Hurriyet Daily News]
Is there a “neighborhood pressure” on people with secular lifestyles in Turkey’s conservative towns? Are they, for example, harassed for drinking alcohol or wearing shorts?
You bet. Most Anatolian cities have a pretty illiberal culture in which everybody is expected to subscribe to norms of “appropriate” dress code or behavior. That’s one reason why I rather live in Istanbul — which is not a beacon of liberty, too, but at least much more diverse.
Neighborhood Pressure
A recent survey on Being Different in Anatolia, supported by the prestigious BoÃÂaziçi University and the Open Society Institute, highlighted this problem. It was directed by political scientist Binnaz Toprak my university professor who led a team of three journalists which interviewed 401 people in 12 different cities of Anatolia such as Konya, Kayseri, Trabzon or Batman. All of the interviewed were specially chosen from groups with secular lifestyles: members of the Society for Kemalist Thought, CHP organizations, Alevis, student associations, feminist clubs, etc. And they told that they felt themselves under the pressure of the conservative and sometimes outright bigoted neighborhoods.
“We heard from retailers, businessmen and civil servants, notes Prof. Toprak, that most people have begun to attend Friday prayers or closed down their stores just to be seen as though they are going to mosque during the praying time Or, she adds, they hesitate to have drinks in public places and began to act as if they are fasting during Ramadan though they are not…”
Unfortunately, some conservative commentators, which have praised previous works by Prof. Toprak, now criticize her severely and argue that the neighborhood pressure is imaginary. They should have done better. Because pressure is a very personal thing: only you decide whether you face it or not. By this dismissive attitude, those conservatives only mirror the lack of empathy that the secularists show when it comes to the official pressure on veiled women.
That’s why we should take Dr. Toprak findings seriously. But we should also not exaggerate them. First of all, this is a targeted research, not a random survey. In other words, the interviewees went out to find out those specific groups that can be under neighborhood pressure. So, it does not give a full picture of the country.
It also doesnt tell us whether the neighborhood pressure is something new, or something newly discovered. I had joked about this to a friend of mine last year. She was telling me that thanks to a recent trip to Anatolia, she shockingly discovered that parts of it looked like Syria or Iraq. It is all because of the AKP, she nervously concluded. I responded, do you think that those places looked like Southern California before?
In fact, there are many signs showing that Anatolia is actually less conservative today than it used to be. It is more business-oriented, its women are more integrated into society, and it is more open to the world. But perhaps it is this very dynamic which creates a tension. Maybe the clash between the secular establishment and the AKP boils down in society to the tension between the mosque community and beer hall crowd. Maybe, because of their political ascendancy, the conservatives are now more self-confident and triumphant.
These are all speculations, since Dr. Toprak’s research does not tells us much about the conservative side of the picture. We would be misleading ourselves by ignoring the complexities there.
We would also be misleading ourselves by thinking that the conservatism in question comes all from religion. The survey tells us that among the inappropriate behaviors in Anatolia, there is not just consuming alcohol or eating during Ramadan, but also speaking Kurdish. Kurdish youth who are called on their cell phones in a bus by their relatives who don’t speak Turkish, the research says, decide not to take the call. And allergy to Kurdish is not an Islamic reaction — it is a nationalist one.
The problem, then, is actually a lack of tolerance to anything that is different.
And, alas, that is the problem of whole Turkey! Not just the religious conservatives but also the secularists are very, very, intolerant. That’s why neighborhood pressure exists everywhere, from conservative and parochial towns to secular and chic plazas. In the former, the headscarf is the demanded norm. In the latter, it is the expelled heresy.
Two Illiberal Camps
So, you may ask, if it is such a nation of illiberals, is Turkey simply hopeless?
Not really. I think we are still making progress. In the past, one illiberal camp — the secular Kemalists — had dominated the whole society. Now we have two illiberal camps clashing with other. That is better, because it paves the road to pluralism. The optimistic scenario is that these two warring camps will wear themselves out, and, over time, come to a live-and-let-live consensus.
And the pessimistic scenario? Well, it is that we will be trapped in this cultural civil war, for ever and ever.
The study that you are talking about is worse than dubious. It’s a total sham. It’s hardly if at all scientific.
Now we all agree there is “neighborhood pressure”??? We indeed are making progress…
I agree with Mr Akyol that the researchers target those who are potentially under the pressure. But that is indeed the purpose of the research, which is to determine the extent to which the “opposing camp” feel whether they are under any kind of conservative pressure. It sounds like a good research for its scope at least in theory (I do not know much about its methodology, data collection and etc.) Mehmet Mustafa must know the details of this study since he is certain that it is a “sham.” I would also love to hear about his thoughts on “science” as he describes it. It would also be very interesting to see a study on the conservative side.
I also agree with Mr. Akyol that neighborhood pressure is not a new phenomenon. We happen to care more now for a variety of reasons.
I will definitely get a copy of this study.
Therefore, to live (or have to live) somewhere apart from Ä°stanbul or Ankara in Turkey is a tough thing. How happy to those people who live in Ä°stanbul.
@ Kubilay
Not just them two. I also know of Izmir and Antalya that are liberal. Many other Turkish cities are as well.
We are a patchwork country. Similar to America with their North/South divide we in Turkey have a somewhat West/East divide.
Mustafa,
The last time I visited your blog was after the Russian-Georgian war. I remember you referring to the confict as “Russian onslaught of Georgia”.
I hope you have researched the subject: it was the Georgian army attacking a tiny ethicity of Osethians. Georgians murdered about 2000 civilians by the time Russia stopped the massacre. The tragedy was very similar to Kosovo, Bosnia or even the North Cyprus cases.
My current visit was to check if you have written anything on the ongoing Israeli butchery of the Palestinians.
Give me Russian army in Israel! Give me nuclear Iran!
Shame on coward Arab regimes!
Wake up Turkiye!
I don’t get it. Don’t you mean these Kurds just don’t want to speak Kurdish. Is this nationalism? Or just practical, since they don’t know Kurdish very well.
“The problem, then, is actually a lack of tolerance to anything that is different.”
I disagree. Approaching the two problem as if they share a common underlying reason is misleading.
The pressure the veiled women experience is usually based on suspicion. The bad news is that the suspicion is usually unwarranted, however, the good news is that the suspicion and the pressure is usually temporary. Once it is clear that the veiled woman does not want to bring sharia the pressure is gone.
On the other hand, the pressure secular people experience is based on dogmatic bias. Unless one confirms to every single rule (every single of them) the religious society cherishes, one should expect social pressure from those people. In practical terms, that pressure is permanent.
Similarly, people who moved from one of Southern states to one of the liberal cities on the coast In the US are welcomed once they make it clear that they are not ‘racists bigots’ (as the stereotype unjustly suggests). However, it is much more difficult for an African American to move into a ‘White’ neighborhood in one of the Southern states. The liberal city pressure is based on suspicion, while, the Southern White pressure is based on dogma.
Besides most ‘different things’ are welcomed by secular people. Almost all ‘different things’ choose to prefer in secular neighborhoods. Where do most Armenian decent Christians, Jews or Buddhists hang out in Turkey? In secular neighborhoods. Where do most European or American expatriates choose to live in Turkey? In secular neighborhoods. Where does any person who choose not to conform to every religious rule (even if (s)he is a devout muslim) live in Turkey? In secular neighborhoods. And most importantly where do most single women live? In secular neighborhoods.
This study is definitely a sham. According to this study an Alevi says “I couldn’t name my children Ali, Hasan or Hüseyin, our three imams, for fear of Sunni neighbourhood pressure”. A so-called study that presents such a farcical comment is indeed worse than a sham. Nearly half of the men in my Sunni village are named either Hasan or Hüseyin or Ali.
While Sunnis name their own children Ali, Hasan and Hüseyin and revere these three people as the greatest Islamic personalities, it indeed entails a certain level of ignoramousness about both Alevi and Sunni versions of Islam. The study is full of examples like this. And the conductor of the so-called research herself stated that before conducting this research she didn’t know that Alevi women, like Sunnis, traditionally wore the headscarf. So much for this sham.
Nyoped, you should have said “westernized neighbourhoods” rather than “secular”. Then it becomes more apparent why westernized people coming from western countries find those neighbourhoods much more convenient to live in.
Sure, lets replace “secular” with “westernized neighborhoods”… it does not change the fact that Islamic community is not as tolerant as it claims to be (at least in Turkey) unless its members reside in another country. Based on my experience, I noticed that Islamic community appears to be significantly liberal in their teachings, practices and thoughts (in other words tolerant) when they reside in another country (and when they do not live in isolation). The very same population tend to appear a lot more conservative in their home country, which I think is another dimension of “neighborhood pressure”. In other words, neighborhood pressure is not experienced by non-believers per se. I think it is a problem for believers as well.