Turkish public's positive impression of U.S. stalled: survey

PanARMENIAN.Net - A sneak preview of a survey from the German Marshall Fund of the United States has revealed that although Turkey's opinion of the U.S. warmed up dramatically after President Barack Obama took office in 2009, the Turkish public's positive impression of the U.S. has stalled after a phase of disillusionment in 2010.

A preview of the Transatlantic Trends 2011 survey indicated that public opinion in Turkey toward the West has drifted further toward the negative, but the dramatic declines seen in the 2010 results were absent from the 2011 report.

Among the countries represented in the poll (including 12 EU member countries, the U.S. and Turkey), Turkey had the least desire to see the U.S. to exert its leadership on a global scale, with 17 percent affirming the sentiment. Thirty percent of Turks, however, said they have a favorable opinion of the U.S. Turkish public support for the policies of Barack Obama in fighting international terrorism also ranked the lowest among countries participating in the survey, with 23 percent, which proved consistent with the decline in the Turkish view of the U.S. President in general.

According to the same survey's findings from 2009, a striking 50 percent of Turks had a favorable opinion of Obama, reaching a level of sympathy for an American leader never seen in Turkey before. During the term of the previous US president, George W. Bush, Turkish approval of the American leader fell as low as 3 percent.

Although Turkish approval of Obama dropped to 28 percent in 2010, U.S. support for Turkey's entry into the EU seems to stay strong. 41 percent of Americans said they supported Turkey's admittance into the European bloc, while 23 percent of Europeans shared the same opinion, Today’s Zaman reported.