The other side of the coin: the growing opposition in turkey against to the european union accession

Table - 5: Referendum Tendencies of Individuals in Turkey

on European Union Membership by Level of Education (%)

Level of education and their proportion in population (%)		For membership	Against membership	No idea
Illiterate	(6,5%)	25,5	9,1	65,4
Literate without diploma	(5,8%)	42,2	16,2	41,6
Primary school	(35 2%)	44,7	26,1	29,2
Junior high school and equivalent	(14,5%)	48,3	31,0	20,6
High school and equivalent	(20,5%)	47,8	40,0	12,1
Higher education	(17,6%)	55,5	36,2	8,3

Source: Turkish Statistical Institute. “Life Satisfaction Survey, 2011” and “Formal education completed and sex ratio”
As the last table on referendum tendencies of individuals in Turkey on EU membership, the data were prepared in accordance with their level of education. The stream level of the people who do not know whether against or not, was stated in grapgh-1 as 27,1% that mostly based on the people with primary education or less. The support to the EU accession goes up in parallel with the level of education. Essentially, the same sentence can be also used for the people who are against to the membership. In general, however, educational level of people in Turkey consists of primary and high school graduates.⁸³ Considering this fact, primary and high school graduates people are shaping the general trend of the referendum on the EU membership. Therefore, need to focus on these groups, especially when the Turkish support to the EU accession is dramatically declining.
Otherwise, it is important to indicate the factors that shape the public opinion in Turkey. The sources of information on the EU that are used by Turkish people presented in the national report of Turkey 2011.⁸⁴ In accordance with result of the report, the media has the greatest impact on public opinion, especially television. The primary source of information on European matters was determined as television with 78%. The second effective element was the press with 38% and then internet with 19%. Considering the effective use of the media by Turkish government, a decline on public support to the EU accession in Turkey can be expected as a result of the recent statements from the members of government which are going to be presented in the next chapter.