Introduction
Turkish Studies Group (Türkiye Çalışmaları Grubu) from Istanbul
based Kadir Has University conducted a new scientific research about Turkish
people’s perceptions of the coronavirus disease.[1] The
findings of the research were published as a report on May 6, 2020. Due to its
political implications, this research deserves to be analyzed carefully.
Researchers
and Methodology
The coordinator of the
project is Professor Mustafa Aydın, a well-known Turkish scholar of
International Relations. The other members of the project are Kadir Has
University staff including Professor Mitat Çelikpala, Professor Sinem Akgül Açıkmeşe, Associate Professor Aslı Çarkoğlu, famous journalist Soli Özel, and
Sabri Deniz Tığlı. The aim of the research was to understand and interpret
Turkish people’s perceptions about the coronavirus disease. The field research for
the study was conducted between April 3 and April 17, 2020 in 26 different
Turkish cities. According to the methodology adopted by the researchers, 1,000
people over 18 years were interviewed face-to-face or through computer. Error
margin of the study was declared as 3 %.
Findings
The first and one of
the most important political findings of the research is that 41.3 % of Turkish
people interpret coronavirus disease as the consequence of Chinese people’s
food and nutrition habit. Whether this claim is scientifically correct or not,
it shows that prejudices against Chinese people continue to exist in Turkish
society despite developing economic relations in recent years and Turkish
people are strongly affected from
U.S. President Donald Trump’s accusations towards China as well as recent political
problems between Uyghur Turks (Uyghurs) and
the Chinese State. 18.4 % of Turkish people on the other hand view the
coronavirus disease as a biological attack. In addition, 10.1 % of Turkish
people think that the coronavirus is the natural consequence of the
disappearance between human life and wild life.
The second important
finding of the research reveal that most of the Turkish people are either
anxious (40.9 %) or very anxious (32.4 %) about the coronavirus disease, which
shows that the government’s performance in handling the issue might be a strong
political factor in the next Presidential and parliamentary election. Interestingly,
Turkish women seem more anxious compared to Turkish men according to study.
The third interesting finding
is that 47.6 % of Turkish people think that they have fifty-fifty chance to get
sick due to contagion. Another 20.6 % people think there are high risks to get
sick whereas 9.7 % people claim that there are very high risks. This shows that
return to ordinary economic and social life will not be easy; it will be
gradual and it will take a long time to reach full-capacity production and
social interaction.
The fourth finding is
about personal precautions to fight against the coronavirus. The findings show that
Turkish people take the coronavirus very seriously and almost all of them obey
to the advices of the Coronavirus Scientific Advisory Board (Koronavirüs Bilim Kurulu). Hand-washing
with soap (96 %), staying at home maximum as possible (95.4 %), not shaking
hands (93.1 %), keeping the social distance (92.9 %), using mask (92 %), using
cologne (91.8 %), and using disinfectant (90.5 %) are most popular measures
adopted by Turkish people. Using gloves on the other hand is not a very popular
precautionary mechanism with only 19.2 % people doing it.
The fifth and maybe the
most important political finding of the research is about Turkish government’s
success in handling the issue. 30.3 % of Turkish people find Turkish government
successful in terms of dealing with the disease in addition to another 9.6 % people
who consider the government as “very successful”. This shows that the AK Parti government
keeps its 40 % strong electoral base but this might not be enough for winning
the next Presidential election. 29.5 % of Turkish people consider Turkish
government “neither successful, nor unsuccessful” whereas 18.4 % of people find
it “unsuccessful” and 12.2 % of people think “very unsuccessful”.
Interestingly, Turkish women’s support to government is higher compared to men.
The sixth finding is
about a complementary question on whether the governmental precautions are
enough or not. 29.6 % of people think that measures taken by the government are
enough in addition to 10.5 % of people who think it’s highly proficient. This
proves the earlier question's findings and shows that the government has 40 % solid
support at the moment.
The seventh question is
about the type of precautions taken by the government and whether people support them
or not. According to research’s findings, suspending schools and universities
temporarily is the most popular measure taken by the government with 89.5 %
support. The other popular precautions are: banning over 65 age people to go
out in the street (88.5 %), suspending sports matches (88.4 %), putting people coming
from other countries into quarantine (88.1 %), closing down restaurants, cafes,
and other stores temporarily (88 %), suspending public prayers in mosques (87.6
%), implementing quarantine measures in some parts of cities or some cities
(87.5 %), closing down all stores except pharmacies and markets (85.7 %), and
nation-wide ban on going out into the street (84.6 %).
Conclusion
The findings of this
research prove that Turkish people are not religious fanatics (support given to
suspending public prayers is a proof for this) and they do take health issues
very seriously. In addition, China’s image in Turkey is not very good due to
cultural differences and nationalist arguments (situation of Uyghurs). In
addition, Turkish government still has considerable support and President Recep
Tayyip Erdoğan has high chance to get reelected if he could manage this crisis
successfully and fix economic problems until the next election. Since
perceptions do matter in democracies as well as non-democracies, all political
parties should take this study very seriously.
Assoc. Prof. Dr.
Ozan ÖRMECİ
[1] The research can be read from
here; http://www.mustafaaydin.gen.tr/source/Covid19%20KamuoyuAlg%C4%B1lar%C4%B1_6May202011.pdf.
Hiç yorum yok:
Yorum Gönder