Today’s Zaman, Turkey
May 9 2009

Majority of Turks against opening Armenian border

A majority of Turkish citizens are against the possible opening of the
Turkish-Armenian border, a study conducted in late April has
found. According to the survey, conducted by the Genar research
company on 2,044 individuals across the 17 largest Turkish cities
between the dates April 17 and April 26, 67.6 percent said they were
against a potential opening of the border with Armenia and the
normalization of diplomatic ties with that country, while 32.4 percent
said they would support such a move.

Genar’s latest opinion poll, the Turkey Society Politics research
survey, tried to solicit respondents’ answers to a number of questions
on a variety of political and diplomatic issues, from the
normalization of relations with Armenia to voter behavior in the
municipal elections of March 29.

The survey found that 79.6 percent of voters who voted for the Justice
and Development Party (AK Party) in the general elections of July 2007
again voted for that party’s candidates in the municipal elections of
March 29, while 5.7 percent voted for Nationalist Movement Party (MHP)
candidates, 5.2 percent for the Felicity Party (SP), 3 percent for the
Republican People’s Party (CHP), 1 percent for the Democrat Party (DP)
and 1 percent for the Democratic Society Party (DTP). Nearly 4 percent
of the AK Party’s vote from the previous elections went to various
other parties.

The survey also found that 89.3 percent of the CHP’s voters in 2007
voted again for that party’s candidates in the local elections, while
1.3 percent voted for the AK Party and 2.3 percent for the SP.

The MHP retained 80.7 percent of its July 2007 vote. However, 5.7
percent of MHP voters in the 2007 election voted for the AK Party in
this year’s elections, while 4.8 percent voted for the CHP, 3.9
percent for the SP and 1.8 percent for the DP. As for the DTP, 85.3
percent of those who voted for them in 2007 voted for that party again
in the municipal elections. Four percent voted for the AK Party while
2.7 percent voted for the CHP.

In the case of the SP, 87.2 percent voted for that party again. This
year, 6.4 percent voted for the AK Party, while 2.1 percent voted for
the MHP.

In another question about political parties, 48 percent of
respondents said the AK Party was the most successful political party
in the country, followed by the CHP (22.8 percent) and the MHP (13.7
percent). The survey also predicts that if there were elections in
Turkey today, the AK Party would get 41.8 percent of the vote,
followed by the CHP at 26.3 percent and the MHP with 16.5 percent.

Ergenekon investigation most important In response to the question
regarding what they thought the most important event in Turkey was in
the first three months of this year, 24.8 percent replied `the 12th
wave of arrests in the Ergenekon investigation,’ which started in 2007
with the discovery of an arms cache in ?Ä?°stanbul and which has
expanded to reveal a clandestine terrorist organization nested within
various state agencies charged with secretly plotting to overthrow the
AK Party government. Academics, professors and former rectors were
detained in the 12th wave of detentions in the probe last month.

In response to this same question, 18.8 percent said the most
important event of the first quarter of this year was the tragic death
of Grand Unity Party (BBP) leader Muhsin
Yaz?Ä?±c?Ä?±o?Ä?lu , who died in a helicopter crash while
touring various cities as a part of his election campaign.

In another poll, 12.1 percent of respondents said they trusted the
Zaman daily, which is in the same media group as Today’s Zaman,
followed by H?Ã?¼rriyet at 11.2 percent and Sabah at 9.8
percent. The survey also found that US President Barack Obama’s visit
to Turkey had a positive effect on the US’s image. The percentage of
those who said they had a positive attitude toward the US after the
visit was 52.7 percent, compared to 38 percent, a figure from a
separate survey conducted before the visit took place.

09 May 2009, Saturday
TODAY’S ZAMAN ?Ä?°STANBUL