About the Project
The research project on the “Dimensions of Polarization in Turkey” was conducted by Emre Erdoğan and Pınar Uyan Semerci from Istanbul Bilgi University Center for Migration Research with the support of the Black Sea Trust for Regional Cooperation – a project of German Marshall Fund. The research, run in November-December 2017, was based on a face-to-face survey with 2004 participants representing the 18+ population of Turkey and four focus group meetings with the participation of supporters of four different political parties.
This research is a follow up of the field study in November 2015 after the general elections, which observed that there was high social distance between different party alignments, party alignments and political identities were interwoven and party supporters were regarding themselves to be superior than the other party’s supporters. Political polarization was also seen in newspaper and television channel preferences because every party alignment preferred to take the news from their inner circle. The results showed that there was a need for the re-construction of common areas to maintain the interactive relation between individuals.
The research in 2017 aimed to study the effects reflected on polarization with the changes in social and political context for the last two years. The results showed that party alignments preserved their social distances; party supporters were regarding themselves to be morally superior than the other party’s supporters, and party supporters were inclined to restrict political freedom of the other party’s supporters. Individuals’ preferences for information channels on political issues were still highly related to their political party preferences. The research also showed that apart from all the differences among individuals on all these subjects, their perceptions about the relations with the West and their negative approach to Syrian refugees constituted their common ground.
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Related Publications
The research report is published in Turkish under the title of “Fanusta Diyaloglar: Türkiye’de Kutuplaşmanın Boyutları” (Dialogues in the Bell Jar: Dimensions of Polarization in Turkey) by Istanbul Bilgi University Publications.
News and Articles
Emre Erdoğan, (2 April 2020), “The Impact of the Coronavirus Pandemic on Polarization in Turkey” On Turkey, The German Marshall Fund of the United States.
Emre Erdoğan, (13 March 2018), “The Rise of Tribal Politics: A Key to Understanding Turkish Politics” On Turkey, The German Marshall Fund of the United States.
Emre Erdoğan, (20 February 2018), “Dimensions of Polarization in Turkey: Social Distance, Perceived Moral Superiority, and Political Intolerance” On Turkey, The German Marshall Fund of the United States.
Perspektif, (20 April 2020), “Our Political Topography and the Future of New Parties (available in Turkish)”
Daktilo 1984, (23 August 2019), “On the Notion of Tribalism with Emre Erdoğan (available in Turkish)”
Euronews, (15 March 2019), “Experts: The ‘political tribalism’ will be determinative in local elections (available in Turkish)”
Euronews, (17 April 2020), “Prof. Emre Erdoğan: Will Covid-19 outbreak cause to forget the differences in Turkey? (available in Turkish)”
Gazete Duvar, (9 February 2018), “Polarization makes it easier for all politicians (avaliable in Turkish)”
Evrensel, (9 February 2018), “‘Election is fertile for the politician who likes polarization (available in Turkish)’”
DW, (5 February 2018), “The Polarization Research: The Sevr Syndrome is on the Rise (available in Turkish)”
Birgün, (7 February 2018), “All of the party supporters in Turkey see themselves as morally superior to others (available in Turkish)”
Sivil Alan, (5 February 2018), “Dimensions of Polarization in Turkey! (available in Turkish)”
Son-An, (10 July 2018), “The Study that Shows the Polarization in Turkey (available in Turkish)”
Demokrat Haber, (5 February 2018), “Dimensions of Polarization in Turkey (available in Turkish)”
Bugün Kocaeli, (6 February 2018), “Dimensions of Polarization in Turkey (available in Turkish)“
