Religious Tolerance Prevails in Turkey, Poll Shows

March 14, 2008

Author: Staff Writer

Source: Today's Zaman

http://www.todayszaman.com/tz-web/detaylar.do?load=detay&link=136373&bolum=101

Turkey's political scene might give the appearance that the country is profoundly divided over religion and secularism, but a recent poll suggests that the opposite of this is true for Turkish society.

A poll studying how the Turkish society at large perceives the tricky issues of religion, secularism and tolerance for others, including homosexuals, shows that society in Turkey can be described as anything but polarized. The survey, conducted by independent polling company Veritas on 4,500 individuals across 33 cities for the Star daily, found that only 4.8 percent of the more religious say they cannot stand women not covering their heads, while only 5.2 of hard-line secularists express feelings of intolerance towards women covering their heads. In other words, about 95 percent of the society has no problem with a woman covering her head.