Turkey Silent and Still Under Census Curfew
October 23, 2000 - 0:0
ISTANBUL Turks waited at home on Sunday for a knock at the door from one of a million counters carrying out a census expected to reveal deep financial differences between parts of the country bidding for EU membership.
A strict daytime curfew kept the nation immobilized. The normally bustling streets of the biggest city, Istanbul, were empty but for dogs, cats, census-takers, policemen and journalists with special permission to roam.
Only in the ancient heart of the city was there activity, where foreign tourists pottered around the remains of Byzantine and Ottoman empires. Children played soccer on the boulevards of the capital city Ankara.
"Normally we can't even cross this street, but now we can play.
We're just sorry for the grown-ups because they're stuck inside," said 10-year-old Baris Baran.
The last national survey in 1997 showed 62.6 million people living within Turkey's borders, which stretch from Greece in the Balkans to Iran, Iraq and Syria in the east.
Officials expect this census -- which asks wider questions including about household plumbing, income and education -- to show slightly more people and reveal major differences between the wealthy west and poorer central and eastern Anatolian provinces.
"All of the details of social, economic and basic dynamics will be published," Sefik Yildizeli, chairman of the State Statistics Institute, told Reuters, promising provisional results within a week and full details within 18 months.
"There are provinces the state has prioritized. For instance the state planning organization will invest in east Anatolia.
So some results will be needed faster. That's how we will work." Turkey has seen great upheavals While much of western Turkey is comparable with European Union states, many key development indicators such as education, income and healthy birth rates are significantly lower in the east.
In three years since the last count, Turkey has seen great upheavals, most notably the 1999 earthquakes that killed at least 17,000 and left hundreds of thousands homeless in the northwest.
Census-takers touring prefabricated homes in the region drew tears from many of those asked about their old homes and members of their family who died in the quakes, Anatolian news agency said.
In Diyarbakir, regional capital of the mainly-Kurdish southeast, the 1997 census was accused of undercounting thousands of shanty-homes housing rural migrants from conflict between Turkish troops and Kurdish rebels.
With municipal funding tied to population, authorities want a full count and are keen to add tourists to the records.
The counters swept through wealthy districts of Ankara where small families live in orderly flats, but progress was slower through shanty-areas housing migrants from the southeast.
"Every place I go there are at least 10 people. It really makes things harder," said census-taker Mehmet Tekin.
There were no questions on religion or mother tongue, both sensitive issues in Turkey. Questions concentrated on the economic position of the "head of household", most often a man.
In the shanty-area of Yenidogan, counters found the 33-strong extended Seker family sharing nine rooms.
"The curfew is dreadful for us," said Birgul Seker, one of the family's women. "The men are all at home and that just means more work for us all." (Reuter)
A strict daytime curfew kept the nation immobilized. The normally bustling streets of the biggest city, Istanbul, were empty but for dogs, cats, census-takers, policemen and journalists with special permission to roam.
Only in the ancient heart of the city was there activity, where foreign tourists pottered around the remains of Byzantine and Ottoman empires. Children played soccer on the boulevards of the capital city Ankara.
"Normally we can't even cross this street, but now we can play.
We're just sorry for the grown-ups because they're stuck inside," said 10-year-old Baris Baran.
The last national survey in 1997 showed 62.6 million people living within Turkey's borders, which stretch from Greece in the Balkans to Iran, Iraq and Syria in the east.
Officials expect this census -- which asks wider questions including about household plumbing, income and education -- to show slightly more people and reveal major differences between the wealthy west and poorer central and eastern Anatolian provinces.
"All of the details of social, economic and basic dynamics will be published," Sefik Yildizeli, chairman of the State Statistics Institute, told Reuters, promising provisional results within a week and full details within 18 months.
"There are provinces the state has prioritized. For instance the state planning organization will invest in east Anatolia.
So some results will be needed faster. That's how we will work." Turkey has seen great upheavals While much of western Turkey is comparable with European Union states, many key development indicators such as education, income and healthy birth rates are significantly lower in the east.
In three years since the last count, Turkey has seen great upheavals, most notably the 1999 earthquakes that killed at least 17,000 and left hundreds of thousands homeless in the northwest.
Census-takers touring prefabricated homes in the region drew tears from many of those asked about their old homes and members of their family who died in the quakes, Anatolian news agency said.
In Diyarbakir, regional capital of the mainly-Kurdish southeast, the 1997 census was accused of undercounting thousands of shanty-homes housing rural migrants from conflict between Turkish troops and Kurdish rebels.
With municipal funding tied to population, authorities want a full count and are keen to add tourists to the records.
The counters swept through wealthy districts of Ankara where small families live in orderly flats, but progress was slower through shanty-areas housing migrants from the southeast.
"Every place I go there are at least 10 people. It really makes things harder," said census-taker Mehmet Tekin.
There were no questions on religion or mother tongue, both sensitive issues in Turkey. Questions concentrated on the economic position of the "head of household", most often a man.
In the shanty-area of Yenidogan, counters found the 33-strong extended Seker family sharing nine rooms.
"The curfew is dreadful for us," said Birgul Seker, one of the family's women. "The men are all at home and that just means more work for us all." (Reuter)