Why the government’s effort to create a more devout society has failed
TURKEY’S PRESIDENT, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, makes no secret of his desire to raise what he calls a “pious generation”. Since his Justice and Development party became Turkey’s dominant force in 2002, elevating Islam’s public role in this constitutionally secular republic has been more than a slogan; it has found expression in many government policies.
According to a study by KONDA, a local polling company, between 2008 and 2018 the share of Turks who define themselves as religious dipped from 55% to 51%. The number of women who wear the Islamic headscarf barely budged, from 52% a decade ago to 53%, and the share of those who fast regularly decreased from 77% to 65%. Meanwhile, the number of atheists has risen from 1% to 3%.
Arguably the biggest brake on political Islam’s attempts to reshape Turkish society has been demography, says Bekir Agirdir, the head of KONDA. The pace of migration from the countryside to the city in Turkey has been relentless. To some extent, that has made Turkey’s urban spaces more religious and conservative in atmosphere; but over time many of the new city-dwellers tend to develop a more à la carte approach to religion.
Many young people born into religious families are searching for an Islam compatible with modern urban life and middle-class status, he says. To make ends meet, wives and daughters who would have been confined to the home in villages and small towns go out in pursuit of work. Unmarried conservative couples attend pop concerts and embrace in public.
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