Poll fails to confirm Erdogan’s words: US not well liked in Turkey
Hürriyetim
15.06.2005
The results from a poll taken in May of this year contrast sharply
with Prime Minister Erdogan’s characterization of anti-Americanism
in Turkey as belonging to “small, marginal groups.” The poll, taken
by the Sonar group, was carried out in Istanbul, Ankara and Izmir,
and involved 1,305 citizens from differing socio-economic and
socio-demographic groups in those cities.
Erdogan: Anti-American groups in Turkey ‘marginal and small’
On his recent trip to the US, Prime Minister compared anti-American
feelings in Turkey to anti-Turkish demonstrations in the US, saying “In
the US, small groups of 40-50 Armenians protest Turkey. When shown on
television, it looks as though every Armenian in the US is protesting
against Turkey. But actually, these are small, marginal groups. The
anti-American sentiment in Turkey is like this. There is no problem
between the people of Turkey and the people of America.” Results from
the recent Sonar poll however paint a completely different picture.
One questions posed to citizens in the Sonar poll was “Aside from
Turkey and Turkic republics, which country do you feel is closest
to you?”
Germany, Pakistan, and Japan the favorites in this poll
Germany came in first by far, with 20.15% of the respondents. Next
came Pakistan, with 6.21%. In third place was Japan, with 5.14%.
While 4.60% of the poll participants said that they felt closest
to an Arab country, only 3.84% of the respondents picked the US as
the country to which they felt the closest. Interestingly, following
the US came Greece, with 3.53%, then Iran with 2.2%, and then Italy,
with 2.07%.
Perhaps most important to note is that a full 25.98% of respondents
said that outside of Turkey, they didn’t feel close to any country
at all.
–Boundary_(ID_0a2plVjOXA82mB4od1E+7A)–