"Charlie Hebdo" Whodunit? Turkish style.

"Charlie Hebdo" Whodunit? Turkish style. (AlMonitor).

Titled “Religion, Violence and Freedom,” the survey first focuses on Turkish perceptions of the attack on Charlie Hebdo.

Only 16% of respondents defined the incident solely as “an attack on freedom of speech,” arguably the dominant view in the West.

A much larger portion, 56%, emphasized that it was wrong for Charlie Hebdo to insult the Prophet Muhammad, but that it was also wrong to murder its journalists. The most worrying response was agreed to by some 20% of participants, who believe the satirists of the prophet “got the response that they deserved.” Among voters of the governing Justice and Development Party (AKP), this percentage rose to 26%. Also among AKP voters, however, 61% agreed that “they insulted the prophet, but it was wrong to kill them.”

A second question about the attack on Charlie Hebdo was “Who really did it?”

Only 31% of participants thought “radical Islamists” were responsible. Among AKP voters, the number was even lower, at 18%. The most popular answer was “foreign intelligence services,” which typically implies the CIA, Mossad and the like. Of all participants, 44% opted for this conspiratory theory, which was even more popular among AKP voters, at 56%. This finding confirms the overwhelming acceptance of conspiracy theories in Turkey.

On whether “those who insult religion should be punished,”

44% of participants approved punishment, whereas 49% opposed it. Among AKP voters, 61% approved of punishment, while 32% disapproved.

That the survey did not specify the punishment for either apostasy or blasphemy might be a shortcoming. It is likely that the traditional Sharia verdict in both cases, i.e., the death penalty, might find less approval than fines or prison sentences. Meanwhile, 37% of all participants agreed with the statement “Islam needs reform,” while 51% opposed the idea. Read The full story here.