You are using an outdated browser.
Please upgrade your browser
and improve your visit to our site.

Chalk This One up to Obama's Brilliant Foreign Policy As Well

The Hurriyet Daily News and Economic Review is Turkey's major English language newspaper. Its web site this morning reported that, according to a survey of 1503 Turks done by MetroPoll, the United States is considered by 43% of the population as the major threat to Turkey. This means that the U.S. heads the list of enemies of the Turkish state.

Israel follows but by only slightly more than half of the respondents.

As for Turkey's traditional enemies -Iran, Greece, Iraq, Russia, Armenia- very few respondents see them as antagonists at all. In fact, in descending order the numbers are 3%, 2..3%, 2.1%, 1.7%, 1%.

Now, Obama had actually made Turkey his prime object of tangible friendship with a four day visit early in his first year as president and . But it seems that presidential attention, at least by Obama, does not carry much sway among the Turks -nor, apparently, among other Muslims and Muslim states on which the president has lavished such enormous efforts.

I don't know what a comparison with Bush would have revealed. I can't imagine it would have been flattering to Obama.