The voice of numbers

Opinion polls are like thermometers that take the temperature of the people. The MetroPOLL Strategic and Social Research Center released a new poll concerning the reasons behind the publics response to the government intervention in the Gezi Park protests. The findings are sobering and should be valuable for a public administration that can make sense of numbers. The opposition that has surfaced because of the Gezi Park demonstrations has revealed the existing schisms in society. There is considerable opposition against government practices at different levels. When asked Do you approve of the protests that have spread across the country and started as a reaction to government intervention in the Gezi Park protest? 44.4 percent responded yes and 45.5 percent said no. One of the main culprits of this divide is perceived to be the media. Only 21 percent of people believe that media reporting of the events has been accurate and balanced. Sixty-two percent of respondents believe that the media has done a bad job. When asked whether recent events have increased or decreased public confidence in the media, 60 percent of respondents said decreased and only 15 percent said increased. Twenty-five percent of respondents did not have an opinion or answer. It seems our media has not passed the test of professionalism and fair play. Well, this is not that surprising if 53.3 percent of people believe that the press is not free. Those who believe that the media is free consist of 41.2 percent of respondents. Public opinion concerning other institutional bodies involved in the events are as follows: Forty-eight percent of people believe that police practices were unnecessarily harsh and brutal. Forty percent believe that police intervention was proportionate and fair. As regards the performance of the government concerning the Gezi Park incidents, 50 percent of people believe that the government has become more authoritarian in handling issues. Thirty-six percent of the people do not believe that. However, when asked Do you believe that government intervention into personal lives and individual choices has increased? 54.4 percent of the general public and 33 percent of governing Justice and Development Party (AKP) supporters sai d yes. Eighty-eight percent of Republican Peoples Party (CHP) supporters, 65 percent of Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) supports and 58.4 percent of Peace and Democracy Party (BDP) supporters complain about increasing government intervention into lifestyles and individual choices/freedoms. This concern is further reinforced with answers to the question Are people worried about freely expressing their political opinions? Fifty percent of respondents revealed that they have concerns. Those who are not worried make up 47 percent of the respondents. These answers are meaningful. If the government does not interpret the protests as a plot against its very existence and legitimacy to rule, then what is going on may be seen as public opposition to the ways executive powers are being used. Two facts are more comprehensible now: 1) Turkish democracy has to be upgraded. 2) The Gezi Park incidents and intervention have unearthed a wide-scale opposition that was heretofore only existent in patches and had not fully manifested itself. For example, 54 percent of the people do not approve of the governments Syria policy (only 27.4 percent approve of it). Those who believe that the government was at least somewhat responsible for the Reyhanl bombings consist of 46 percent of the polls respondents, while 38.5 percent believe the government is not culpable. We are faced with a split society and a considerable opposition, although even that is dissociated and disunited for the time being. The government has the time and opportunity to make changes by reading the obvious clues that call for change and reform. The psychological backup system is there: When asked, Given all the things you have experienced, how satisfied are you with your life? 55 percent of people responded, I am satisfied, 33 percent marked unsatisfied and 12 percent neither satisfied nor dissatisfied. So there is no room for despair. There is much to do, provided that decisions are made through

consensus and are more considerate of social and cultural diversity.