Birth and age
Along with its counterparts in Egypt and Iran, Turkey is one of the most populous states in the Middle East region. In the 1950s, the country enjoyed population growth of about 3 per cent per year, as in most developing countries. This growth slowed somewhat over the next two decades, and 1985 marked a turning point: the urban population now exceeds the rural population. Today, more than 70 per cent of the country's population lives in cities such as Istanbul, Ankara and Izmir. The country is divided in two: in the west, there is an industrial Turkey, with the agglomerations of Istanbul, Bursa and Izmir, and in the east an agricultural Turkey.
Turkey is a very young country, full of vitality. Only 8.2% of the population is over 65 years old. With a current population growth rate of 0.67% per year, the country is expected to exceed 85 million inhabitants by 2025, according to demographers' estimates. The fertility rate is 2.14 children per woman, which is slightly higher than the averages in our countries (1.43 in Italy, 1.49 in Spain). Today's young people have very quickly adopted the patterns of the West, but the 20-30 year old generation is the baby boomer generation. This is the same phenomenon as in post-war Europe, with a slight time lag. So it is tomorrow that Turkey will have its say.
Education
At the time of the proclamation of the Republic of Turkey, the illiteracy rate was about 90%; today it is less than 6%. Schooling is compulsory from age 6 to 14. Children attend five years of elementary school and three years of middle school. They can then go on to secondary school, or lyceum, for three or four years. There are two types of secondary schools in Turkey: general high schools and vocational high schools. Education is free until the end of secondary school; schools are co-educational and uniforms are compulsory.
In 1993, 88 per cent of boys and 71 per cent of girls were enrolled in school, suggesting that some Turkish parents still prefer to educate their sons at school and their daughters at home. While religious instruction was once prohibited in Turkey, it is now permitted in elementary school. It is also common for religious instruction to be offered to children informally. The quality of education is often lower in rural areas, as teachers prefer to work in cities.
Student absenteeism is also higher in the countryside, as children are often required to help with farm work. In some regions, schools are even trying to combat absenteeism by introducing a flexible school calendar in which vacations are set according to the agricultural cycle.
In Turkey, all post-secondary institutions require an entrance exam. There are about 20 universities, some of which are private, and about 800 other post-secondary institutions. Among the best-known universities are those in Istanbul and Ankara, the Middle East Technical University, the Black Sea Technical University and the Universities of the Bosphorus and Galatasaray, which train the country's future elite. As a rule, courses are taught in English or French.
Family
In Turkey, as in all Muslim societies, the family plays a crucial role. In villages and cities alike, extended family members live in close proximity to each other (sometimes under the same roof, especially in villages) in order to be in daily contact, to provide financial or emotional support, to help the elderly and to care for each other's children.
In the hinterland, it is not uncommon for most people in a village to be related by blood or marriage. In traditional families, the roles of men and women are quite distinct, according to Islamic laws and traditions. The honor of a man and his family depends on the behavior of his wife and daughters, as well as on how they are perceived by other families.
This is why some regions of Turkey that have remained very traditional still experience behaviors such as honor killings, which are widely condemned by the society at large. Parents are therefore highly respected by their children, who must learn to obey them from an early age.
The place of women
The place of women in Turkish society is ambiguous. From the outside, society is clearly male-dominated. However, in large cities such as Istanbul, women have long since broken the traditional shackles to emancipate themselves like their European counterparts and hold many positions of responsibility. In the countryside, although women are subject to tradition, they are still the masters of their homes. It should not be forgotten that Turkey had a female Prime Minister in the person of Tansu Çiller, long before France had Édith Cresson. The number of Turkish women researchers in universities is one of the highest in the world. For example, fields such as public relations are almost entirely occupied by women, and they are also entrepreneurs or managers for small businesses, international companies or large Turkish groups. This situation has its roots in Kemalism. Indeed, Atatürk has always worked to make women equal to men. In order to bring Turkey fully into Europe and modernity, as soon as he came to power, he carried out a vast plan of bold reforms concerning the status of women's rights. Thus, the right to vote was granted to them as early as 1930 (when France granted it in 1944!) and the Civil Code was rectified, prohibiting polygamy, and establishing equality between spouses in matters of divorce and rights over children. The victory of a Turkish woman in the Miss World contest of 1932 was also hailed by Mustafa Kemal as a manifestation of this new status for women.
In the early 1980s, a feminist movement was born and quickly bore fruit. Several measures were taken: abortion was authorized in 1983; compulsory schooling for girls was extended to eight years (from five) in 1997, as it had been for boys; the requirement of a husband's consent to employment was abolished; and equal rights within marriage were recognized, as was community property in 2001. However, despite these advances, the situation of Turkish women remains worrying in certain respects, particularly in the case of forced marriages, domestic violence and "honour killings".
The AKP (Adalet ve Kalkınma Partisi, the Justice and Development Party), which has been in power since 2002 with a desire to re-Islamize society, has tried to change the status of women. On abortion, for example, the Turkish regime tried to introduce very restrictive legislation, but faced with protests, it had to back down. The majority of Turkish women are not ready to give up their rights, which were inherited from the Kemalist era and are almost a century old. In fact, however, it is almost impossible for a woman to have an abortion in a public hospital in Turkey today..
Military service
This is certainly linked to the fact that Atatürk, the father of the nation, was a career soldier: the army is a very important value for Turks. Military service is therefore an unavoidable event in the life of a young Turk, whether it is seen as a constraint or as a matter of honour. It is primarily a duty to the state, but also an opportunity to complete his education and to learn the school of life. Unless medically unfit, the young man must have satisfied his national duty before getting married. This is also one of the requirements for most job offers.
Any boy who has reached 20 years of age and is not pursuing a particular course of study must serve 12 months as a private. Those who have completed higher education will serve 6 months as a private or 12 months as a reserve officer. Depending on their skills, some boys may also be employed in civilian positions. Deferments may be requested up to the age of 38, with applications to be made 6 months before the date of call-up. Any man who fails to report for military service is considered a deserter and may be prosecuted and forbidden to leave the country.
45% of the Turkish population is under 25 years of age, so the number of boys drafted is very high. In order to relieve the barracks and/or to collect money quickly, there is a paid service formula which is available under certain conditions and at certain random times of the year. This service is announced a few weeks in advance and the amount varies from 15,000 to 30,000 TL depending on the conditions.
Street Trades
Many middle and working class Turks have two jobs, the second of which is on the street, either early in the morning, late in the evening, or on Saturdays and Sundays. All these street jobs allow many people to support themselves by considerably supplementing their income. Moreover, these "small jobs" facilitate the daily life of Turks by providing them with a multitude of services. Among the most common jobs are cab drivers, street vendors (simit bread, fruit, handkerchiefs, umbrellas), water carriers in the summer and salep (hot cinnamon drink) in the winter, parking lot attendants, telephone shell dealers, "Milli Piyango" (national lottery tickets) sellers, and many other unusual jobs such as weighing people in the street!
