PRELIMINARY DATA FROM THE NEXT POPULATION CENSUS

The State Statistics Institute of Turkey continues to analyze the data obtained during the general population census conducted in the country in October 2000. The full official results of the fourteenth census in the history of the Republic of Turkey will be announced in April 2002. And while the data is being carefully processed by the institute's specialists, local newspapers and magazines do not stop telling about interesting details of the preparation and holding of this important event.

Population censuses were given great importance even in the Ottoman Empire. Beginning in the 14th century, periodic inventories (tahrir) of land and taxable population were conducted, which were used to compile tax registers.

The first, thorough and successfully completed population census was conducted in the sanjaks (counties) of Rumelia and Anatolia in 1831. Five years earlier, on the orders of Sultan Mahmud II (1808-1839), the famous janissary corps was destroyed. Then about 15 thousand janissaries were shot from cannons. The reorganization of the army thus undertaken by Mahmud II and the attempt to create a new regular army required new soldiers. The census was designed to identify all potential "conscripts"among the subjects of the empire. On the other hand, the state did not forget about taxes - tax registers were streamlined. The male population subject to the census was divided into age groups, and also classified according to external characteristics: with a mustache, without a mustache, with a black beard, with a gray beard, etc.In 1844, women were first included in Tahrir.

The first general population census in the history of the Republic of Turkey was held on October 27, 1927. When the results became known, headlines like "Women rule the country" appeared in humor magazines. Men turned out to be 500 thousand less than women.

Then the population of Turkey was 13 million 562 thousand people.

The current census-2000 was organized and very interesting. On the day of the census, from 7.00 to 19.00, all residents of Turkey were strictly forbidden to go outside. Against violators, local authorities have provided for rather strict measures: deprivation of all benefits, increasing utility bills, etc. Once on the street without a special permit, people risked even going to jail for up to six months. Despite the fact that some hospitals, police, airports and public transport were working, life in the country froze. Foreign tourists who arrived in Turkey on this day were waiting for a strange picture: the streets of cities where it is difficult to get through on ordinary days were unusually empty. On the city's highways, only occasionally cars sped by and children who did not listen to any prohibitions skated on roller skates.

Such "house arrest" caused a storm of indignation in some political and public circles, who believe that a country like Turkey is not suitable for locking up its citizens at home, even for one day, on the threshold of the new millennium. But the citizens themselves, as shown by opinion polls, reacted to the forced one-day imprisonment quite calmly.

The state spent 30 trillion Turkish liras - more than $ 40 million-to prepare and conduct the census. More than a million counters were used, each of which was copied by about 70 people. A group of every ten census takers was supervised by one special employee. The questionnaires were compiled in such a way that the results could determine not only the exact number of Turkish residents, but also the degree of their education, living conditions, the level and causes of unemployment, as well as identify the causes and scale of migration processes in the country.

If in 1927 Turkish citizens answered 13 questions, then in 2000 they had to master 43. Of course, the press did not fail to attend the census of famous people and politicians. So, the President of the Republic of Turkey Ahmet Necdet Sezer in the column "Your profession" wrote that he is a judge. It is noteworthy that A. N. Sezer's cousin Onal Efe turned out to be an ordinary seller of simits (bagels) in the president's homeland in Afyon. Pensions of 90 million Turkish liras (about $ 130) he and his family have a hard time getting enough, so he has to sell bagels. I have never applied to a well-known and influential relative for any help. "U don't-

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"Other concerns," says Onal Efe, " I haven't even seen him in over four years."

75-year-old Prime Minister Bulent Ejevit, responding to a question about the profession, wrote:: journalist. His wife, Rakhshan, runs the house, and she is an artist by profession and has even participated in many exhibitions. "But her vocation is politics," the Prime Minister remarked with a smile.

The ninth President of the Republic of Turkey, Suleyman Demirel, who is retired, but undoubtedly remains one of the most famous political figures in the country, assured journalists that he continues to be active and follows all events taking place at home and abroad. Therefore, Mr. Demirel did not want to answer the following question in the affirmative.: "Are you retired?"He explained that although he receives a pension, he does not consider himself a pensioner. S. Demirel feels like an energetic person, and he always has a lot of things to do. Indeed, the former president is constantly on business trips. He is a member of the international committee dealing with the Middle East settlement issues.

After a 25 - year hiatus, the name of Kurdistan Workers ' Party leader Abdullah Ocalan, who is now being held on the impregnable island of Imrali prison in the Sea of Marmara, has reappeared in the accounting books. The last time he participated in the census was in 1975, when he was a student at Ankara University. The census officer was allowed to visit Ocalan only after a thorough check for the absence of relatives or close friends among him, the officer, who died in clashes with Kurdish militants.

Foreign tourists who are in Turkey (according to the law, all foreigners who find themselves in the Republic of Turkey on this day are subject to the census, while Turkish citizens living abroad are not counted) answered the questions of the counters with surprise, and sometimes with undisguised irritation. Questions such as "can you read and write" or "do you have any physical or mental disabilities" caused tourists to smile and wonder, while questions such as "Why don't you work anywhere" or "Who did you come on vacation with" often went unanswered. Patiently, for which they earned the praise of local media, 36 Russian tourists who rested in the famous hot springs of Kangal answered all the questions. Some of them talked about themselves in the warm pool.

The census did not pass without downright comical cases. It took more than three hours for two employees to register the family of 53-year-old Mehmet Arslan in the village of Isiklar, near Diyarbakir. His four wives, more than fifty children, and forty grandchildren were able to get together on census day alone. The hapless head of the family could hardly remember the names of his children. "I always confuse them," Mehmet Arslan said.

And those who were born on the day of the census, happy parents gave the appropriate names: if a boy - Saim, if a girl-Saime ("saim" - in Turkish "census").

Data from the 2000 census already indicate a significant increase in migration processes in the country. In many northern and eastern vilayets (Sinop, Artvin, Ardahan, Tunceli), the population is declining. The most" populated " vilayets are Istanbul, Kocaeli, Antalya. Over the past decade, the population here has grown by an average of 35-40 percent.

According to preliminary results, which so far only independent sociologists are talking about, the population in 2000 was 65 million 800 thousand people, which is almost 10 million more than the same indicator in 1990. The Economist magazine published the results of a study, according to which Turkey ranked third after Bosnia and Nigeria in terms of population growth. In 1999, the population of Turkey increased by one and a half percent. It is noteworthy that according to this study, the population of Russia decreased in the same year by half a percent.

A. KORITSKY, the magazine's own correspondent in Turkey

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