Culture vs. EU: How Turkey is More Than Just a Political Problem

This means that Islam provides many more secular guidelines than many other religions. When this fact is taken into context with the prolific religiousness of many Turkish Muslim citizens could possibly mean that conflict between a declaredly atheist polity such as the European Union and Turkish citizens flowing into Europe could easily occur.

Another social topic that is important to ensure that a cultural mismatch does not occur between the European Union member states and Turkey is the issue of societal emphasis on and definition of family.

The primary facet of family life is the relationship between men and women, especially in the workplace and in the economy, which is the only are where the EU regulates these interactions (Gerhards). The proposed constitution of the European Union stated that European Union would attempt to guarantee equality between genders and would not prevent measure adopted to promote the participation of any under-represented sex in the workplace. Equality is put in the terms of the business world, meaning work and pay. The importance of this issue and the European Union’s role as its primary enforcer is illustrated by the occasion during which the Germany Army was forced to employ a woman and the precedent was set that women would be guaranteed equal employment opportunities. The German Parliament was forced to change its constitution in order to accommodate the European Union’s stance on the matter.

The European Values Study asked respondents in member states of the European Union and respondents in Turkey to evaluate the following question: “When jobs are scarce, men have more right to a job than women.” In the original EU-15, support for this statement was very low, implying a high value for equality between men and women. However, in Turkey, 61.9% of respondents showed approval for the sentiment that men are more deserving of employment in times of scarcity; this shows low concern and perhaps even opposition to the concept of institutionalized gender equality (Gerhards).

Turkish participants in the European Value Study also responded to questions pertaining to single parenthood, the necessity of children in a woman’s life to create fulfillment, the importance of university education to boys over girls, and the strength of men as political leaders over women. The Turkish respondents disapproved of single motherhood without a stable male relationship in the woman’s life, agreed that children are necessary to create fulfillment in a woman’s life, valued a university education as more important for boys, and were more likely to value men as stronger leaders over women (Gerhards). These findings indicate an inherent incompatibility with member states of the European Union on the issue of gender equality. It would be unlikely for the Turkish parliament to amend its constitution to promote and require gender equality in the armed forces; it is likely there would be a backlash against such events.