Turks say Greeks their worst enemy
Greece is Turkey’s worst enemy and the most likely source of a potential attack, say more than one-third of Turks interviewed by Istanbul’s Bosphorus University in a study to determine Turkish public opinion on matters of foreign policy. The study, whose results were made public yesterday, focused on Greek-Turkish relations and was conducted on a cross-section of 3,086 people from 20 Turkish prefectures. Of these respondents, more than a third – 34 percent – reckoned Greece was their country’s worst enemy while the same proportion believed «Turkey has no friends,» and 37 percent opined Greece was more likely than any other nation to launch a military offensive against Turkey (although 47 percent believe there will be no attacks against Turkey in the near future). The most Turk-friendly nations were deemed to be Azerbaijan and Japan, with Greece and Armenia considered the most hostile. The USA was deemed by a minority – 27 percent – as «the most favorably disposed» toward Turkey, with 7 percent citing Muslim countries. After Greece, Turkey faces its greatest threats from Syria, said 5 percent of respondents, followed by Russia, Iran and Iraq. Over half – 51 percent – said the Cyprus problem was the biggest barrier to Greek-Turkish relations, although nearly as many – 49 percent – approved of diplomacy as the way to solve the two countries’ differences. Questioned on Turkish-EU relations, the majority – 74 percent – said they would vote for Turkey’s accession to the EU.
