70 per cent of Turks eye U.S. as enemy
U.S. officials had been hoping that Washington's recently-launched military cooperation with Turkey in the fight against the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party's, or PKK, terrorists in northern Iraq would help improve their country's terribly bad image in Turkey, but a survey proved that this was not the case.
Some 70 percent of Turks view the United States as an "enemy," while only 8 percent considers Turkey's closest Western ally a "partner," according to an annual global attitudes report released Thursday by the Pew Research Center, a think tank here that conducts worldwide polls and surveys. The percentage of Turks having a favorable opinion about the United States rose by three points from last year to reach only 12 percent this year. About 77 percent of Turks had unfavorable views of the United States, the report said. President George W. Bush was faring even worse in Turkey. Only 2 percent of Turks had a favorable view of him.
The Pew report covered 23 countries, and its data on Turkey was gathered through face-to-face interviews with 1,003 subjects from March 31 to April 21, the Turkish Daily News reports.
Some 70 percent of Turks view the United States as an "enemy," while only 8 percent considers Turkey's closest Western ally a "partner," according to an annual global attitudes report released Thursday by the Pew Research Center, a think tank here that conducts worldwide polls and surveys. The percentage of Turks having a favorable opinion about the United States rose by three points from last year to reach only 12 percent this year. About 77 percent of Turks had unfavorable views of the United States, the report said. President George W. Bush was faring even worse in Turkey. Only 2 percent of Turks had a favorable view of him.
The Pew report covered 23 countries, and its data on Turkey was gathered through face-to-face interviews with 1,003 subjects from March 31 to April 21, the Turkish Daily News reports.
