GENERAL - Transatlantic survey shows Turks choosing to cooperate with Mideast

According to the 2010 Transatlantic Trends public opinion survey released yesterday by the German Marshall Fund of the United States (GMF), the percentage of Turks who said Turkey should act in closest cooperation with countries in the Middle East on international matters has doubled to 20 percent from 2009 figures. Furthermore, the majority of Turks were not concerned about Iran acquiring nuclear weapons, in sharp contrast with the European Union and the United States respondents, who were concerned.

Forty-eight percent of Turks were not concerned about Iran acquiring nuclear weapons while 79 percent of Europeans and 86 percent of Americans were concerned. 

When it comes to the question, “With whom should Turkey act in closest cooperation?” 13 percent of Turkish respondents said “the countries of the EU,” in comparison to 22 percent in the 2009 survey.

Only 10 percent of the Turkish respondents said in 2009 that Turkey should act in closest cooperation with the countries of the Middle East, compared to 20 percent in 2010.

Additionally, 34 percent of Turks said Turkey should act unilaterally in international matters while only 6 percent of respondents preferred to work closely with the United States.

Özgür Ünlühisarcıklı, the Ankara director of the GMF, told Today’s Zaman that Turkey is not very popular in the eyes of the United States or the European Union but that the United States and the European Union are also not popular in the eyes of the Turkish public.

“When we look at the Turkish views on NATO and the EU, we see that the Turkish public’s trust is eroding,” he said, referring to the declining levels of support from the Turkish public for Turkey joining the EU -- from 73 percent in 2004 to 38 percent in 2010. Only 30 percent of Turks believe NATO is still essential in 2010, compared to 53 percent in 2004.

The annual survey, conducted during June in 11 European Union countries, Turkey and the United States, also indicates that majorities in every EU country surveyed think that Turkey does not share enough common values to be part of the West.

Only 30 percent of Turks felt they shared common values with the West, and only 33 percent of the 11 EU respondents think that Turkey shares enough common values to be part of the West while 38 percent of the American respondents think the same way.

The survey also points to a “continuing divide on transatlantic security” as there is waning optimism on major security issues such as Afghanistan and Iran, though NATO remains a popular alliance.


The GMF press release indicated: “All surveyed countries had troops stationed in Afghanistan at the time of the fieldwork and, as in previous years, the United States was the only country where a slight majority of respondents, 51 percent, felt optimistic about stabilizing the situation in Afghanistan. Only 23 percent of EU respondents were optimistic. However, this year’s survey shows that majorities or pluralities in all countries surveyed, including 62 percent in the EU and 77 percent in the United States, still support NATO being prepared to act outside of Europe to defend members from threats to their security.”

Ünlühisarcıklı said that when the question is “Should NATO act outside of Europe?” 48 percent of Turkish respondents said Turkey should act outside of Europe while 17 percent said Turkey should stay within Europe. On Iran acquiring nuclear weapons, most of the American (86 percent) and European (79 percent) respondents were concerned about it while only 40 percent of the Turkish respondents expressed concern.
When it comes to the question of how to prevent Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons, 25 percent of Turkish respondents said a nuclear Iran is acceptable, in contrast to 4 percent of the Americans and 6 percent of the Europeans surveyed.

While 40 percent of the American respondents supported economic sanctions against Iran, this percentage was 28 percent for respondents from the 11 EU nations and 24 percent for Turks. A military action against Iran was not favorable for any of those states, as only 9 percent of Americans, 6 percent of Europeans and 3 percent of Turks favored it.

‘The Obama puzzle’

US President Barack Obama remains popular in Europe but doubts have emerged about some of his foreign policies, with 78 percent of Europeans approving of his leadership, down from 83 percent in 2009. Fewer than half of the Europeans responded positively when asked specifically about his handling of Afghanistan and Iran.

The Turkish public showed the lowest level of support for Obama’s international policies at 28 percent. The Turkish public’s support for Obama was 50 percent in the 2009 survey.

Ünlühisarcıklı said Obama had delivered warm messages when he was elected at the end of 2008, raising expectations held by the whole world and Turks. “Obama was not able to concentrate on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict because of his domestic concerns and this led to disappointment in the Islamic world. So this is partly the reason for the decline of support for Obama,” he said.

Özgür Ünlühisarcıklı

However, the specific event that probably caused the decline in Turkey was the Mavi Marmara incident as the survey was conducted 10 days after the incident in which ships, part of an international aid flotilla attempting break Israel’s illegal blockade of Gaza, were raided by Israeli commandos on May 31, killing eight Turks and one Turkish-American.

Unlike the Europeans, the Americans have similar or higher approval rates for many of Obama’s specific policies. The majority of Americans approved of his policies toward Russia (61 percent), climate change (56 percent), Afghanistan (54 percent) and Iran (52 percent).

When survey participants were asked if Europe’s common currency, the euro, has been a good or bad thing for their country’s economy, almost everyone in the eurozone sample responded negatively. However, more than half of the EU respondents (57 percent) felt that the economic difficulties in Europe should lead to greater commitment to build a stronger European Union.

Source : http://todayszaman.com/tz-web/news-221784-transatlantic-survey-shows-turks-choosing-to-cooperate-with-mideast.html - Sept 16, 2010