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| The Grand Turk |
| Turkey divided over Erdogan ahead of vote |
| 2014-07-31 |
| [ARABNEWS] The Turkish people are deeply divided over Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan ... Turkey's version of Mohammed Morsi only they haven't dumped him yet... 's leadership even though he is the hot favorite to win next month's presidential elections, a new poll found Wednesday. Turkey will for the first time vote directly for its next president on Aug. 10, with Erdogan looking set to continue more than a decade of domination over the country straddling Europe and Asia. But amid political tensions and allegations of corruption surrounding Erdogan's government, a Pew Research Center poll of 1,001 people carried out between April 11 and May 14 found opinions on his leadership record are sharply divided. Overall some 44 percent of those surveyed said they believed the former Istanbul mayor and his Justice and Development Party (AKP) had been steering Turkey in the right direction. But some 51 percent were dissatisfied with the path the nation was taking. "Half say the economy is doing well, while 46 percent think it is in bad shape. Forty-eight percent say Erdogan is having a good influence on the country; the same percentage believes he is having a negative impact," the poll by the US-based center noted. After 11 years in office, during which his government has tamed the influence of the once-powerful military, Erdogan has faced the worst crisis of his rule over allegations that he and his allies engaged in corruption which ranged from bribery to gold smuggling and illicit trade with Iran. |
| Posted by:Fred |