Poll: Erdogan's popularity at a low Israel today

Less than 30% of eligible voters in Turkey: We will support the Justice and Development Party • The coalition partners, the National Movement Party, are very far from the blocking percentage

• Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan

  Photo: 

  AFP

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan is the most powerful man in the country since 2003, but in recent years his status has been weakening.

And now, a new poll published in the New York Times points to another slump in its popularity: less than 30 percent of eligible voters said they would vote for the president's Justice and Development Party (AKP).

Rather, another cause for concern for the Turkish president is the large distance between his coalition partners and the blocking percentage of 10%.

According to the poll, the National Movement Party (MHP) receives only 6% of the vote.

The poll came after the Admirals' letter, in which 103 former senior officers came with harsh allegations against Erdogan and his government.

Ten initiators of the letter have been arrested, but the Justice and Development Party is unable to stop the negative electoral momentum. 

Photo: Reuters

Erdogan had hoped that the grandiose Kanal Istanbul Canal project, designed to connect the Black Sea to the Sea of ​​Marmara and reduce congestion in the Bosphorus, would return votes.

At the moment, however, he seems very far from the 301 MPs needed to form the coalition, with the next election expected to take place on June 25, 2023. This venture is apparently not beneficial to Erdogan at the electoral level following media reports identified with the opposition, Jumhourite (Cumhuriyet) and Sözcü, because the Turkish president is trying to harness Chinese and Qatari companies to build the canal.

At the same time, Turkey's isolation in the eastern Mediterranean, which became more pronounced with Egypt's decision to end talks to normalize relations with Ankara, puts Erdogan in a very problematic position at the international level.

The damage done to Erdogan illustrates two main points: 1. It seems that as the President of Turkey himself has stated - he will indeed refrain from leaving the Montreux Treaty, which deals with the status of the Egyptian Dendranels and Bosphorus as well as the division of military forces in the Black Sea.

2. In the foreseeable future, he will refrain from going to the Bezeq elections because, for the time being, he may lose.

Turkish Parliament / Photo: Reuters

"The Chinese have entered the picture in Istanbul, and through their ambition to dig the canal - they are striving to upset the delicate regional balance of power between Russia and the NATO alliance - and headed by the United States," Dr. Chai Eitan Cohen Inrojak told Israel Today , Researcher of Modern Turkey at the Jerusalem Institute for Strategy and Security and at the Moshe Dayan Center at Tel Aviv University.

Regarding Qatar, the senior researcher explains that "similar to the construction of the third bridge in Istanbul, Doha is interested in 'buying' the areas that the canal will pass through on the European side of the city. It is clear to everyone that setting up such a project will skyrocket the land value."

Regarding the damage to Erdogan's electoral status, Dr. Cohen Inrojak agrees that “he is interested in using the superpowers and rivalries between them for his personal needs - and benefiting from them.

The President of Turkey emphasizes his legacy.

Therefore, he wants to be remembered as a Turkish leader who set up memorable ventures - similar to various Ottoman sultans. "