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In reply to the discussion: No Muslim family should engage in birth control: Turkey's Erdogan [View all]Yupster
(14,308 posts)Turkey has traditionally been two groups of people.
There were the western coastal Turks in Istanbul nd its environs, going down the coast toward Syria. There were the Turks of the inner plateaus of Anatolia.
The coastal Turks were much more western, more secular, much more educated and wealthy. Many had family relationships with Europe, mostly Greece and Italy but also Bulgaria. They held political power.
The Anatolian Turks were more traditional. They were muich more religious and their religion was more fundamentalist. They were less educated, and less wealthy. They had traditionally been pretty much shut out of power.
Then came demographics. Birthrates came down among the coastal and Istanbul Turks, as they have in Europe. Birthrates remained high in Anatolia and deathrates came way down in Anatolia, especially child mortality.
The result is the Erdogen has been the first President of Turkey elected by the Anatolian Turks. They have the political power now and demographics seems to be speeding up as many coastal Turks have been moving to Europe where they have relatives.
Expect Turkey to become more and more fuundamentalist as time goes on.
It's hard to fight demographics. Sweden and Holland and France are finding out the same thing.