<http://in.today.reuters.com/news/newsArticle.aspx?type=worldNews&storyID=2006-09-06T163424Z_01_NOOTR_RTRJONC_0_India-266238-1.xml&archived=False> Turks cooling to West, warming to Iran - poll Wed Sep 6, 2006 4:38 PM IST148
BRUSSELS (Reuters) - Turks are warming towards Iran and cooling towards the United States and Europe, according to an opinion poll published on Wednesday that showed a deepening estrangement from the West in the NATO member. The findings of the annual Transatlantic Trends survey appeared to reflect anger at U.S. policy in the Middle East and a growing sense that the European Union is not sincere about Turkey's membership bid. Asked about the warmth of their feelings towards a range of countries, Turks gave the European Union 45 degrees on a 100-point thermometer scale and the United States 20. Iran registered 43 degrees. The poll, conducted in mid-June, found that 54 percent of Turks still believe EU membership would be a good thing for their country, compared to 22 percent who said it would be bad and 18 percent who said neither bad nor good. But support for EU accession has declined steadily from 73 percent in 2004 and 63 percent last year, while outright opposition has more than doubled from nine percent in 2004. The finding mirrored a further drop in support for Turkey in nine EU countries polled, where 32 percent of respondents said Turkish membership would be a bad thing while only 21 percent said it would be good and 40 percent said neither good nor bad. Of all countries polled, Turkish respondents were most critical of U.S. President George W. Bush, with only seven percent approving of his foreign policy and 81 percent disapproving. Turkish feelings towards the United States underwent a major shift over the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq in 2003, but enthusiasm for the European Union hit a peak in 2004 when the bloc agreed to open long-promised membership talks with Ankara. Some 56 percent of Turks said U.S. global leadership was very undesirable. Turkish support for stronger EU leadership in world affairs also dropped to 35 from 50 percent last year. A significant minority of Turks said they believed that Iran should be allowed to acquire nuclear weapons. The poll also showed dwindling Turkish support for the NATO defence alliance, of which the country has been a member since the 1950s. Only 44 percent of Turks said NATO was still essential for their country, down from 52 percent last year. When broken down by age, the findings showed younger Turks have warmer feelings towards both the United States and the European Union than the national averages. -- Yoshie <http://montages.blogspot.com/> <http://mrzine.org> <http://monthlyreview.org/>
