The study on “Otherness as a Common Identity in Turkey”, which was prepared by Prof. Dr. Yasin Aktay, Ahmet Kızılkaya, Emir Osmanoğlu, Kaan Dilek, and Serkan Yurdakul and was applied by Egitim-Bir-Sen Strategic Research Center (EBSAM), was introduced at the meeting. The participants had an opportunity to easily follow the presentations about the issue from the study published as a book.

The study can be summarized as follows:

The study consists of 2 stages. At the first stage, 78 interviews with the people from 14 cities and at the second stage the data from the face-to-face surveys with 2190 people from 16 cities were analyzed. The main objective of the study is to generally determine the perceptions of people in Turkey about cultural and political identity and otherness.

The research includes 9 different sections:

1- Perceptions about cultural identity in Turkey

2- Perceptions about political identity in Turkey

3- Attitudes toward neighborhood pressure, othering, and discrimination

4- Attitudes toward Alevism and Alevi initiative in general

5- Attitudes toward Kurdish problem and democratic initiative

6- Attitudes towards minority rights

7- Attitudes towards religious rights and freedoms

8- Attitudes towards right to education

9- Attitudes towards democratic rights and liberties

Perceptions about the Cultural Identity in Turkey

This section includes 3 stages which compose of examining and analyzing the answers to the questions in the survey. The question of “How could you define your cultural identity primarily (secondarily and thirdly)?” was asked and the options were Turk, Muslim, Kurd, Alevi, Sunni, Circassian, Laz, Georgian, Easterner, Westerner, European, Asian, Turkish (from Turkey), Arab, and other. In the survey –to whose questions 2188 people gave answers- 1149 people (52,6 %) defined themselves primarily as Turkish, 719 people (32,9 %) as Muslim, and 111 people (5,1 %) as Kurd.

Considering the answers given to the question in this part, the most important result is that especially Kurds primarily defined themselves as Muslims. On the other hand, Turks primarily indicated their ethnic identity and they firstly said Turk and then Muslim. And Sunnism was far behind.

Perceptions about the Political Identity in Turkey

This part again includes analyzing the answers given to the question which composes of 3 stages. “How could you define your political identity primarily (secondarily and thirdly)?” was asked to the participants and the answers were analyzed. The options were Democrat, Nationalist, Right-Wing, Left-Wing, Liberal, Secular, Kemalist, Socialist, İslamist, Extreme Nationalist, Atheist, and other. Out of 2117 people, 482 people saw themselves as Democrat, 479 people as Nationalist, 229 people as Right-Wing, 157 people as Left-Wing, 12 people as Liberal, 49 people as Secular, 367 people as Kemalist, 36 people as Socialist, 205 people as İslamist, 23 people as Extreme Nationalist, 3 people as Atheist, and 75 people as Other. And what catches the attention here is that the concept of Secularism, which is the subject of many debates, was far behind as a primary political identity.

Such kind of a detailed and comprehensive study has the capability to illuminate a number of problems which exist and are discussed in Turkey. It virtually serves as a map for the solution of questions such as how people define themselves, how people feel themselves, how they approach Alevism and Kurdism, when they feel themselves isolated, etc.