Friday, February 22, 2013

Poll: "View that Turkey’s Middle East policy a 'success', in decline"

"...Kadir Has University of Istanbul conducted a poll in 26 Turkish cities with 1,000 persons between Dec. 26, 2012 and Jan. 6, 2013. The most striking finding was that 43.5% of the respondents chose Turkey’s “remaining neutral, not interfering in any manner” as the most appropriate option in Syria’s internal strife.But today, the Turkish government is providing opposition forces in Syria with all kinds of support, short of declaring war on Damascus.
Only 11.4% of the respondents approved the option for Turkey to “support opposition forces” — in other words, exactly what it is doing now....
This table becomes more meaningful when considering replies to the question, “What are the conditions that would require Turkey to militarily intervene in Syria?’’
The majority of respondents, 79%, responded that only the “existence of a direct threat against Turkey” would justify military intervention in Syria....
Respondents were asked when would they approve of "intervention in Syria by international forces," and responded:
  • 17.5%  to change the Assad regime
  • 11.4%  to protect the Syrians from massacres by the Assad regime
  • 36.5%  there should be no international intervention
  • under any condition
Overall, the research determined that the number of people seeing Turkey’s Middle East policy as successful is declining.
In 2011, 37.7% of poll respondents found the Middle East policy successful. In 2012, this figure was down to 35.4%...."

1 comment:

Bandolero said...

I find it had to understand that anyone can not see Turkey's foreign policy in the mideast as success.

Abdullah Bozkurt just lines out proudly the successes of Turkey in the mideast in Today's Zaman:

Quote: "Ankara has also cultivated some ties with Hamas in recent years in an effort to drive a wedge between Hamas and Iran."

Source - Abdullah Bozkurt in Today's Zaman on 25 February 2013:

http://www.todayszaman.com/columnist-308084-why-is-jordan-special-for-turkey.html

So, when one sees now the development of reations between the muslim people of Iran and Hamas in recent years, who could seriously deny that Turkey's pollicies are successful in the mideast? I think, seriously no well informed person can.