Eastern Mediterranean University Cyprus Policy Center (EMU CPC) and EMU Faculty of Business and Economics, Department of Political Science and International Relations organized a seminar on “Religious Tendencies, Media Use Security and Happiness Feelings of European Youth". The opening speech of the seminar was delivered by EMU Political Science and International Relations Department and EMU CPC President Prof. Dr. Ahmet Sözen, who introduced the speaker of the seminar, EMU Business and Economics Faculty, Business Administration Department academic staff member Assoc. Prof. Dr. Burak Erkut.
Assoc. Prof. Dr. Burak Erkut started his speech by explaining how the Syrian refugee crisis in Dresden, Germany, and the political movement Pegida, which pioneered this crisis, influenced him in conducting this research. Stating that Pegida stands for "Patriotic Europeans Against the Islamization of the West", Assoc. Prof. Dr. Burak Erkut also mentioned that the roots of the Alternative for Germany Party, which is a political party, are connected with Hitler's party and that this party is Islamophobic. Assoc. Prof. Dr. Burak Erkut analyzed the data of the European Social Survey to capture the socio-political and socio-economic trends of the population based on a representative sample from 2020. Firstly, based on these data, Assoc. Prof. Dr. Burak Erkut explained that while conducting his research, he examined the studies of Mesut Yılmaz and İbrahim Kalın on the West. Talking about the difficulties of comparing Islam, which is a religion, with the West, which is a heterogeneous culture, Assoc. Prof. Dr. Burak Erkut noted that he has conducted his research through evaluating the views of religious European youth and non-religious European youth on security and trust, current issues and media use, and happiness.
Assoc. Prof. Dr. Burak Erkut continued his speech by mentioning the results of his work. Concluding that religious youth attach more importance to security and a strong government, Assoc. Prof. Dr. Burak Erkut stated that when compared to non-religious youth, religious youth support the European Parliament and scientists more. As for current issues, Assoc. Prof. Dr. Burak Erkut said that religious youth support immigrants and the enlargement of the EU more when compared to non-religious youth. Lastly, Assoc. Prof. Dr. Burak Erkut stated that religious youth follow the news more often than non-religious youth and they are happier with their lives on media use and happiness.
Upon the questions that followed after his speech, in which the participants demonstrated great interest, Assoc. Prof. Dr. Burak Erkut added that under the moderation of Prof. Dr. Ahmet Sözen, he would also examine regions outside Europe in order to further develop this research and generalize his findings.
