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I don't really take any issues with your comments about the outlook of the political situation in Turkey in relation to the EU, but the hypothesis that this is

by gajomi 12y ago

I don't really take any issues with your comments about the outlook of the political situation in Turkey in relation to the EU, but the hypothesis that this is related the influence of rural populations can't be right. The percentage of the population living in urban centers is roughly 70%, on par with Germany, Austria, Czech Republic et al. [1]. Furthermore about 1/3 of Turkish people live in cities with over 1 million people [2], which in a sense makes Turkey even more urban than most of the big European countries. To reiterate, I don't think this means your points are wrong, only that the reason that they are right must lie somewhere else. [1] http://www.geohive.com/earth/pop_urban.aspx http://www.geohive.com/earth/pop_urban.aspx [2] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Turkey#Demographics http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Turkey#Demographics

dogma1138 12y ago
Well "rural" wasn't the best choice, i didn't want to use "backward" or "traditional" because it really doesn't reflect the exact situation either and i didn't want it to come out too negative or condescending. Turkey has the lowest educational attainment in the OECD, only 32% of adults have high school education, and amongst the younger generation it's still bad as less than 40% of it's male populations and less than 30% of it's female population completes a high school equivalent education, and only a fraction of that get higher secondary education. Much of it's population is really on opposites sides of current western values and the government crackdown on free press, opposition parties, taking control over the courts and legal system, dismantling the (for once in a life time remarkably positive) influence of the military, and just the complete mockery of all attempts at democracy just put it on a completely different course than it used to be only 2 decades ago.

by gajomi 12y ago

dogma1138 12y ago

Well "rural" wasn't the best choice, i didn't want to use "backward" or "traditional" because it really doesn't reflect the exact situation either and i didn't want it to come out too negative or condescending. Turkey has the lowest educational attainment in the OECD, only 32% of adults have high school education, and amongst the younger generation it's still bad as less than 40% of it's male populations and less than 30% of it's female population completes a high school equivalent education, and only a fraction of that get higher secondary education. Much of it's population is really on opposites sides of current western values and the government crackdown on free press, opposition parties, taking control over the courts and legal system, dismantling the (for once in a life time remarkably positive) influence of the military, and just the complete mockery of all attempts at democracy just put it on a completely different course than it used to be only 2 decades ago.