September 12, 2012 - 19:44 AMT
Majority of Turks oppose to intervention into Syria

A clear majority of Turks are against a military intervention to put a halt to the violence in Syria, according to a recent poll by the German Marshall Fund, Hurriyet Daily News reported.

Some 57 per cent of Turkish respondents in the Transatlantic Trends survey categorically rejected a Turkish invasion after being asked: “Recently, there has been discussion of the desirability of intervening in Syria, where the government has been using military force to suppress an opposition movement which is fighting the Syrian government. In this situation, what do you think [Turkey] should do?”

The number of respondents opposed to a Turkish intervention would jump to 63 per cent if Russia and China used their position as permanent members of the UN Security Council to veto an intervention.

At the same time, 32 per cent of Turks said the country should intervene.

The findings mirrored numbers elsewhere in the world, where 55 per cent of U.S. respondents opposed an intervention, as did 59 of their EU counterparts.

The poll also revealed that Turks concerned about Iran’s potential acquisition of nuclear weapons outnumber those without such worries for the first time.

After Russia, Turkish respondents were the most dismissive of the notion that intervening in Iraq, Afghanistan and Libya was the correct course of action, exhibiting rates of just 23 per cent on Iraq, 19 per cent on Afghanistan and 20 per cent on Libya. In the EU, the average was 38 per cent for Iraq, 42 per cent for Afghanistan and 48 per cent for Libya.

Only 22 per cent of Turks favored a complete withdrawal from Afghanistan, making it the lowest in Europe, 53 per cent of whose respondents favor a total pullout.

Turks and Americans were also diametrically opposed on a potential Israeli strike against Iran, with 72 per cent of Turks opposing the move versus 16 per cent in favor. In contrast, 62 per cent of Americans would back a raid by Tel Aviv versus 31 per cent who would disapprove of such action.