A Country Under Siege: Reflection of Identity Crisis on the Formation of Public Opinion in Turkey

Abstract

To date academic attention in social sciences remains inadequate with regard to research and analysis of public opinion in Turkey. Most of the existing research has assessed the public opinion during political election periods. Therefore it is of great interest to find out what the public thinks about current issues in the country and how to interpret the results to be able to reveal whether they may have any reflections on social political and cultural structure of the country. The current study aims to fill this gap. The research on political and social trends in Turkish public opinion has been conducted since 2010 by Kadir Has University Turkey Research Center. The survey's objective is to reveal public opinion on the most important current issues in the country the economy terror the Kurdish Issue domestic and foreign policies the judicial system democracy and the media and social relations/life in Turkey. The data was collected via face to face interviews. The sample included 1000 respondents representative of the country's population aged 18 and above residing in the city centers of 26 cities in Turkey.