20 01 2009 - « I APOLOGIZE »: a sociological and geographical analysis of the signatories of the petition by Turkish intellectuals

Number of signatures as of January 15, 2009: 27.516
« My conscience does not accept the insensitivity showed to and the denial of the Great Catastrophe that the Armenians were subjected to in 1915. I reject this injustice and for my share, I empathize with the feelings and pain of my Armenian brothers and sisters. I apologize to them. »

Such is the text of a statement signed by 265 Turkish academics and intellectuals who initiated an Internet unprecedented campaign, published in the Middle East, on December 15, 2008. Among them are names of Baskin Oran, professor of Political Sciences, Cengiz Aktar, European matters specialist, and Ahmet Insel, economist.

REMARKS

During the month of December 2008, after several interruptions due to hackers' attacks, the petition was significantly amended. A notable number of signatories have registered themselves several times, modifying either the city of origin or the profession. Equally, wording mistakes, especially in the profession column, led some signers to double their registration, in addition to malicious or insulting registration. For these reasons, from December 31, 2008 to January 8, 2009, the webmaster of ozurdiliyoruz.com performed a cleaning of the list which seemed to stagnate and even to recede obviously.

THE SIGNATORIES

Analyzing the list, one can see that students are the most numerous signatories and are followed by their teachers. The homonyms, name plus first name, are legion. It is worth noting 154 Arslan. The 209 Aslan of the initial list were discarded.



MOSTLY REPRESENTED FUNCTIONS

Over 6.300: Students

Over 1.700: Professors

Over 1.200: Engineers, Free lance

Over 1.000: Workers, retired people

Less than 700: Attorneys, housewives

Less than 600: Journalists

Less than 500: Physicians

Less than 400: Craftsmen, Accountants, Authors-writers, Educators

Less than 300: unemployed persons

Less than 200: Architects, Researchers, Computer Scientists, Lawyers

Psychologists

Less than 150: Bankers, Foremen

From 130 to 10

Actors, Administrators, Anthropologists, Archeologists, Insurers, Barmen, Biologists, Coffee shop tenders, Cameramen, Caricaturists, Taxi drivers, Chemists, Shopkeepers, Financial advisors, Decorators, Designers, Dentists, Draftsmen, Academy Managers, Economists, Publishers, Electronics Engineers, Farmers, Financiers, Civil Servants and Government Officials, Geophysicists, Geologists, Graphic Designers, Guides, Historians, Print Workers, Film Industry, Textile Industries, Tourism Industries, Instructors, Interpreters, Jewelers, Booksellers, Traders, Mathematicians, Musicians, Educationalists, Photographers, Physiotherapists, Poets, Policemen, High school Principals, Film Producers, Advertising Executives, Restaurant Owners, Scriptwriters, Secretaries, Waiters, Sociologists, Statisticians, Tailors, Technicians, Salesmen, Veterinarians, etc. and three Diplomats…

GEOGRAPHY OF SIGNATORIES

The city of Istanbul takes the prize (9.937), followed by Ankara (2.129), Izmir (1.823) and Diyarbakir (1.423). Then follow: Mersin (482), Bursa (415), Adana (394), Antalya (382), Van (375) and Mardin (334).

For the other Turkish cities, figures vary from 283 to 1 single signatures from over 200 cities and towns.

FOREIGN COUNTRIES

3.793 signatures registered themselves from 63 countries. On top of the top five are Germany (1.729) followed by the USA (343), the United Kingdom (324), France (310), Switzerland (231). Then follow: Poland, Austria, Sweden, Canada, Belgium, Australia, Denmark and Holland. None from South America.

5 signatories are from Japan and Saudi Arabia, 4 from Azerbaijan (2 politicians & 2 journalists), 2 from UAE, 1 from Armenia, 1 from Karabagh, 1 from China, 1 Qatar, 1 Colombia, 1 Greenland, 1 Kosovo, 1 Equator, 1 Kenya and 1 from Singapore. Two dozens of cities or countries were not able for identification.

JEAN ECKIAN SURVEY