The fading of conservatism and the acceleration of social changes in Istanbul

According to the international group Tasnim news agency , continuous observation and follow-up of intellectual, value and social developments is one of the regular programs of research institutes and field survey centers in Turkey. One of these institutes has recently conducted a research that indicates the acceleration of some important intellectual-religious and social developments in Istanbul. According to this research, the metropolis of Istanbul, which houses 18% of the total population of Turkey, has gone through important value and social changes in the last few years.

Konda Study Research Center (KONDA) for regular review And Zamanmand has a program called “Mortar” or “Thermometer”, which monitors social developments in the past 15 years, and the latest report of this program examines the issue of how the citizens of Istanbul view religious, traditional and modernist approaches and which of these styles do they belong to. They know what to think.

Istanbul, receptive to rapid changes

Sultan Mohammad Osmani conquered Constantinople, the most important city of the Byzantine Empire, in 1453, and because of this victory, he was nicknamed Sultan Mohammad Fatih. Constantinople itself was named Istanbul and became the most important center of political decisions of the Ottoman Empire. Since that date, Istanbul has always been the most important city in Turkey, and now 18% of the total 85 million people of Turkey live in this city, and of course, it is not clear how many hundreds of thousands of smuggled and illegal immigrants and asylum seekers live in the outskirts of the city. have bitten

Istanbul, as the most important business center of Turkey, has experienced rapid changes in social, cultural and political fields. And Konda Institute has discussed with people about beliefs and lifestyle in a face-to-face field research in different neighborhoods and areas of this city.

The results of this research are as follows: A) Modernism instead of conservatism:

Now Istanbul can no longer be described as one of the most important centers of Turkish conservatives. The results of field research have shown that in this city, conservatism is gradually giving way to modernity in the metropolis.

In Konda’s research, people were asked which group they consider themselves to belong to among the three options of traditional conservative, religious conservative, and modern or modern. The answers are as follows:

I consider my lifestyle conservative, religious and religious: 25 percent.

I belong to the traditional conservative group: 37 percent.

I consider myself a citizen who believes in modernism and modernization: 38 percent.

Konda Institute, in addition to Istanbul, also researched in other provinces of Turkey and the results showed that the average of the above three groups In other areas, it is:

Modern and modern style 34 percent.

Traditional Conservative 42%.

Religious conservative rate is 24 percent.

Another noteworthy dimension of Konda report results , is that in the last 10 years, the number of people who have openly declared that they do not believe in God has increased from 5% in 2018 in Istanbul to 6% in 2023, while the average percentage of people in other provinces of Turkey is is at the level of 2 percent.

The final analysis of the report of the Konda Institute in Turkey shows that the most important group of Turkish society that Its internal developments are simmering, it is a traditional conservative group.

From this social group in Turkey, we have two types of overflow: a group of them generally said goodbye to conservatism and They enter the modern group. The second group also entered the Jirga of religious conservatives with religious discipline and entered religious conservatives.

In the report of 150 barometers, the trend towards modernization prevails in Turkey. In 2023, the modern rate across Turkey was set at 34 percent, the traditional conservative rate at 42 percent, and the religiously conservative rate at 24 percent. Looking at these data, we can see that while the rate of religious conservatism in Istanbul remains at the same level as the Turkish average, modernity has begun to replace traditional conservatism.

b) Population and speed of migration

According to KONDA report, the speed of migration in Istanbul is an important and noteworthy issue. So that in 2022, Istanbul received 385 thousand 294 immigrants and at the same time 419 thousand people emigrated from this city.

c) Istanbul, Turkey’s huge treasury

The evidence shows that Istanbul is still The locomotive is Turkey’s economy. Because half of the total exports of Turkey and at the same time, more than half of the total imports are done in the port of this city.

Tower construction and mass construction in Istanbul in 2023 has also accelerated and housing inflation in Istanbul has been more than 20% compared to other provinces.

In the end, it should be said that Istanbul, as one of the most beautiful cities in Turkey and the region, welcomed many tourists from different countries in 2023. But this city is facing big problems such as traffic, air pollution, lack of parking, high prices and big problems in the housing and education sector, and life in this city is becoming more difficult for both Turkish citizens and foreigners.

end of message/