Harun Kolçak a well known singer and perhaps Turkey’s most famous vegetarian gave up eating meat eleven years ago when he looked down at a huge steak he was cooking and thought to himself ‘This was alive once’. For over a decade no flesh passed his lips until this week when he made the headlines for publicly announcing that he had renounced his animal friendly position and reverted to being a carnivore. He explained to the Turkish media; ‘Recently my body has become weaker and finally I went to a fishmonger I know very well and said bring me your best fish, I’m going to eat it’ The shop keeper was shocked but that day marked the end of my stubborn determination to be a vegetarian.’  

Ironically he has chosen the time of year that is perhaps the most difficult for Turkish vegetarians. Each day of Ramazan that passes brings millions of sheep and hundreds of thousands of cows closer to a mass slaughter on the first day of Kurban Bayram (Festival of Sacrifice). It is very hard to estimate the number of vegetarians in Turkey, the European Vegetarian Union provides no figures but the International Vegetarian Union’s Congress held in Arizona, USA in 1975 has a report that records the Turkish representatives as saying;  "Most Turkish people eat a vegetarian diet, without even having a concept of vegetarianism . . . very little meat is found in homes or restaurants . . .but there is no veggie movement . . . none is necessary." In average homes the concept is a foreign one and those who do choose the vegetarian way of life are confronted with bemusement. Despite making their proclivities known they are often urged to eat mince or fish dishes because ‘mince/ fish is not meat.’ 

Can Başkent in his online blog ‘Le resistance pour l’existence’ believes there may be; ‘no more than 2000 vegetarians in Turkey ..........In my opinion, the number of vegans does not exceed 200-300.’ The low incidence of vegetarianism may well be linked to the muslim religion. Almost 95% of Turkey is muslim and İslam is a religion that ritualistically encourages the sacrifice of animals. Thus, eating animals is regarded as a good or God given right and for those who can afford it slaughtering a sheep or cow is a must.  

Islamic scholar Mawil Izzi Dien, in his book The Environmental Dimensions of Islam, asserts that vegeterianism is actually un-Islamic; ‘According to Islamic law there are no grounds upon which one can argue that animals should not be killed for food. The Islamic legal opinion on this issue is based on clear Qur'anic verses. Muslims are not only prohibited from eating certain food, but also may not choose to prohibit themselves food that is allowed by Islam. Accordingly vegetarianism is not permitted unless on grounds such as unavailability or medical necessity. Vegetarianism is not allowed under the pretext of giving priority to the interest of animals because such decisions are God's prerogative.’

Despite these type of strictures many followers of Sufi Islam are vegetarian believing that the abstinence makes their existence purer. An early female Sufi, Zaynab, is said to have been persecuted for her refusal to eat meat. Scattered across Turkey are several villages and an old Istanbul neighbourhood called Etyemez (‘Doesn’t eat meat’) whose names are thought to derive from the vegetarian practices of a Sufi sects that lived in them and the same word is a (somewhat uncommon) surname.

PETA (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals) have set up a page on their website aimed at persuading muslims to give up meat in which they state that the prophet Mohammed was a lacto-vegetarian (eating vegetables and dairy products). While he was known have great compassion for animals and to be partial to dishes like youghurt with butter and cucumbers with dates and despite having said; ‘Where there is an abundance of vegetables, a host of angels will descend on that place’ there doesn’t appear to be any solid proof of his vegetarianism.

There are vegetarian organisations in Turkey and the most popular herbivore website is www.vejeteryan.net , although even this contains an article supporting the idea that children should eat meat till at least age twelve in order to promote healthy growth. Most children, especially male children are encouraged to eat grilled sheep testicles as a delicacy which will also help them grow strong.

Victor Ananias, the producer and publisher of Buğday eco-life magazine  (www.bugday.org), is a second generation vegan and runs a vegetarian restaurant in Bodrum but finds life as a meatless businessman in Turkey difficult; ‘I like my work, it is my life. Still it is very hard sometimes because of the low level of awareness that looks as if it is going to change more slowly these days in this country. Specially I suffer on the financial side.’ Istanbul, Turkey’s largest and most diverse city, is capable of supporting vegetarian businesses and there around ten restaurants in the city centre including Core, Tünelart and Zencefil.

Most Turkish vegetarians are not vegetarian through choice but because of economic necessity. Those that do choose vegetarianism may be exhibiting better ethics than their omnivorous country men but are also likely to display less psychologically stable personality traits. A study carried out in 2005 at Başkent University in Ankara compared and contrasted the association between eating attitudes and eating disorders amongst vegetarian and nonvegetarian students. Authors of the study Murat Baş, Efsun Karbudak and Gül Kızıltan used the respected and standardised Eating Attitudes Test (EAT-26) to try and identify symptoms and chacteristics of eating disorders amongst 1025 students.

Scores over 20 on EAT are cause for concern and individuals with such high results are recommended to seek professional help. Of the female vegetarians tested the average EAT score was 22.04 whereas for nonvegetarian females it was 11.38 and male vegetarians scored an average of  17.25 as opposed to male nonvegetarians scores of 9.38. More male and female vegetarians were dieting than meat eaters and had lower Body Mass Indexes. The authors were forced to conclude that the 45.2% of vegetarians sampled had ‘disturbed eating behaviour’ that indicated abnormal eating attitudes, low self-esteem, high social physique anxiety and high trait anxiety. It seems that in Turkey being vegetarian is unpopular, hard, potentially unhealthy and psychologically demanding too.