70 % Against Headscarf Ban in Turkey

Published: 10-2-2005

70 % Against Headscarf Ban in Turkey

70 % Against Headscarf Ban in Turkey
By Political News Services
Published: Thursday 10, 2005
zaman.com


An overwhelming majority of people in Turkey find the headscarf ban unfair as it obstructs the educational rights of students who wear headscarves. A survey by Pollmark conducted on January 31st and February 1st revealed striking figures on the issue. Seventy percent of the respondents in the survey are against the headscarf ban in universities. According to the survey which also questioned political tendencies, the Justice and Development Party (AKP) is leading with a large margin.

According to the survey, the Turkish people also show a libertarian attitude to female civil servants. Sixty-three percent of the people interviewed indicated that female state officers should be free to choose to wear headscarves if they wanted.

Conducted in Istanbul, Tekirdag, Izmir, Bursa, Adana, Kayseri, Samsun, Trabzon, Erzurum, Malatya, and Gaziantep, the survey was prepared based on interviews with 3,062 people. According to the resulting figures, no serious changes have occurred in political preferences of people since the November 3rd 2002 general elections. Vote percentage of the AKP is still 37 percent while it is 14 percent for the Republican People's Party (CHP) and six percent for the True Path Party (DYP) and the Nationalist Movement Party (MHP). When adjusted for floating voters and abstentions, the AKP's share of the vote reaches 50 percent, the CHP, 19 percent, the DYP, 8.3 percent, and the MHP, 8.5 percent.

The survey results also show that there is a strong support for the current economic policies. 62 percent find the government successful, which include 87 percent of the AKP supporters and 42 percent of the CHP supporters.

Istanbul

Source: Zaman Daily Newspaper