Turkey popular but less so in Mideast: Survey in Hurriyet news

[tyrant]

Turkey popular but less so in Mideast: Survey

The majority of people in the Middle East have a positive view of Turkey, yet those who consider the country a model are on the decline, according to the results of a survey made public yesterday.

“The perception of Turkey in the Middle East” survey, conducted by the Turkish Economic and Social Studies Foundation (TESEV) and Friedrich Ebert Stiftung, showed that 69 percent of participants think positively about Turkey, down from 78 percent in the 2011 edition of the survey.

The survey conducted between Aug. 3 and Aug. 28 in 16 countries interviewed 2,800 people.

Overall, 66 percent of the participants think Turkey has made a positive contribution to peace in the Middle East and that Turkey should play a bigger role in the region. However, the number fell to 39 percent in Syria.

“Most of the participants think Turkey is the strongest political power in the region, they consider Saudi Arabia the strongest economic power and Iran the strongest military power,” the chairman of the TESEV Foreign Policy Program, Mensur Akgün, said yesterday during a press conference in Istanbul. “Forty-two percent of the participants think Turkey had a positive impact on the Arab Spring, however this percentage was 56 percent in 2011.”

Some 28 percent of the participants think Turkey is running a policy based on sectarianism. The number increases to 62 percent in Iraq, 55 percent in Iran, 53 percent in Syria and 37 percent in Saudi Arabia.

Hopes fall for the Arab Spring

According to survey results, there has also been a decrease in hope for the future and positive opinion on the impact of the Arab Spring in local regions.

While 60 percent of the people thought the impact of the Arab Spring in their region was positive in 2011, this number fell to 47 percent in this year’s survey.

“Fifty-two percent of the participants said they are hopeful for the future of the region, however this number was 62 percent last year,” Akgün said.

Only 28 percent of the participants think Syrian leader Bashar al-Assad will be toppled, and 32 percent expect stability in the future of Syria.

According to Akgün, “Forty-six percent of the participants think the biggest threat for the Middle East comes from Israel, 21 percent think it is from the U.S., and 11 percent think Iran is the biggest threat for the region.”

November/02/2012

MIDEAST - Turkey popular but less so in Mideast: Survey

 

[atatwolf]

“Most of the participants think Turkey is the strongest political power in the region, they consider Saudi Arabia the strongest economic power and Iran the strongest military power,”

Really? Does Saudis have healthy economy? Is Iran military stronger than Turkish military? Any way interesting to see the results. But we can't be friends with everyone. If you try to be friends with everybody, you loose them all.

 

[Abii]

Really? Does Saudis have healthy economy? Is Iran military stronger than Turkish military? Any way interesting to see the results. But we can't be friends with everyone. If you try to be friends with everybody, you loose them all.

well, here's the thing. Iran doesn't have a better military, but we have better deterrents in my opinion. UAE alone has a better airforce than Iran, but they wouldn't get anything done because we would flatten every square inch of UAE with missiles (they take all their water from the Persian Gulf and if we target their power plants and de-salination plants alone they would be done). We also have no relationship with the US so we can pretty much do whatever and keep whatever we want secret.

Regarding economy, the saudis don't have a strong growing economy, but they're the richest in the region. At 20K per capita GDP, they're the richest. In the long-term they will fall behind (and that's with their oil so if their oil income falls than things will go south even faster), but for now they're on top.

For me the most telling part of this survey is this:

Overall, 66 percent of the participants think Turkey has made a positive contribution to peace in the Middle East and that Turkey should play a bigger role in the region. However, the number fell to 39 percent in Syria.

That proves that the majority of Syrians are not with Al Quida and the terrorists causing mayhem. This surve wasn't done by the Syrian govt. In fact, it was done by a Turkish foundation.

 

[tyrant]

Really? Does Saudis have healthy economy? Is Iran military stronger than Turkish military? Any way interesting to see the results. But we can't be friends with everyone. If you try to be friends with everybody, you loose them all.

This is a Turkish newspaper. The numbers are what most people believe in. I think you expected to be the best in everything.

Regarding Saudi-Turkish economy: Most economic numbers are in favor of Saudi Arabia.
Turkish economy is HEALTHIER if: Turkey maintains the 8% (or more than 6%) growth rate for several years. The growth rate is now down to 3%. Saudi Growth rate is now above 6. Iranian growth is 2.8% (last time I checked). World average is moving 3.5-5%.

Regarding Iranian military: Large number of missiles will make up as an airforce. They are increasingly getting better in satellite launching, drones and submarines.
The most powerful point of Iran is: Your are not talking about just Iran. They have made a 150 million Shiite empire from china to Mediterranean sea.

 

[Kompromat]

“Most of the participants think Turkey is the strongest political power in the region, they consider Saudi Arabia the strongest economic power and Iran the strongest military power,”

Speaks volumes about the knowledge of those surveyed.

 

[RazPaK]

^

Why did you delete that last post Abii?

I was going to shed some light on your thinking.

 

[Quasar]

some of our friends think we are expecting to be the best in everything. all I can say is we are not in need of expecting anything... instead of comparing yourself with us please work hard!


The World Bank updated its GDP list


Gross domestic product 2011, PPP
(millions of
Ranking Economy international dollars)
1 United States 15,094,000
2 China 11,379,182
3 India 4,533,919
4 Japan 4,383,325
5 Germany 3,204,596
6 Russian Federation 3,015,670
7 Brazil 2,304,646
8 France 2,289,849
9 United Kingdom 2,223,368
10 Italy 2,001,007
11 Mexico 1,752,883
12 Korea, Rep. 1,506,004
13 Spain 1,499,111
14 Canada 1,394,490
15 Turkey 1,288,638
16 Indonesia 1,131,166
17 Australia 892,115
18 Iran, Islamic Rep. 839,572
19 Poland 814,380
20 Argentina 720,488
21 Netherlands 715,154
22 Saudi Arabia 686,176
23 Thailand 605,019
24 South Africa 558,216
25 Egypt, Arab Rep. 521,964

http://databank.worldbank.org/databank/download/GDP_PPP.pdf

 

[Surenas]

Speaks volumes about the knowledge of those surveyed.

That's a bit unfair. Do you really think the common man in the Middle East knows how many F-16's and F-15's Turkey and KSA have? All they continuously here is Iran firing missiles, launching submarines and threatening Israel and the US. Or here Israeli, American and western officials talk about the Iranian threat, and their support for military organizations in the region. In their eyes, Iran has showed a greater deterrence and firepower the last decades. They may not think that Iran can defeat all the other countries in the Middle East, but they probably feel that Iran shows a greater force of power.

 

[RazPaK]

That's a bit unfair. Do you really think the common man in the Middle East knows how many F-16's and F-15's Turkey and KSA have? All they continuously here is Iran firing missiles, launching submarines and threatening Israel and the US. Or here Israeli, American and western officials talk about the Iranian threat, and their support for military organizations in the region. In their eyes, Iran has showed a greater deterrence and firepower the last decades. They may not think that Iran can defeat all the other countries in the Middle East, but they probably think that Iran has showed a greater force of power.

Although Iran possess old inventory, the recent drone downing was very impressive.


Iran is the wild card in our region.


Nobody knows exactly what they are capable of.

 

[Surenas]

Although Iran possess old inventory, the recent drone downing was very impressive.


Iran is the wild card in our region.


Nobody knows exactly what they are capable of.

And that's probably the reason why the US, and even many Israeli officials, are against an attack on Iran. Nobody knows what the consequences would be of such attack.

 

[tyrant]

some of our friends think we are expecting to be the best in everything. all I can say is we are not in need of expecting anything... instead of comparing yourself with us please work hard!


The World Bank updated its GDP list


Gross domestic product 2011, PPP
(millions of
Ranking Economy international dollars)
1 United States 15,094,000
2 China 11,379,182
3 India 4,533,919
4 Japan 4,383,325
5 Germany 3,204,596
6 Russian Federation 3,015,670
7 Brazil 2,304,646
8 France 2,289,849
9 United Kingdom 2,223,368
10 Italy 2,001,007
11 Mexico 1,752,883
12 Korea, Rep. 1,506,004
13 Spain 1,499,111
14 Canada 1,394,490
15 Turkey 1,288,638
16 Indonesia 1,131,166
17 Australia 892,115
18 Iran, Islamic Rep. 839,572
19 Poland 814,380
20 Argentina 720,488
21 Netherlands 715,154
22 Saudi Arabia 686,176
23 Thailand 605,019
24 South Africa 558,216
25 Egypt, Arab Rep. 521,964

http://databank.worldbank.org/databank/download/GDP_PPP.pdf

You should also consider the GDP per capita, money and gold reserves, foreign investing, and a lot more.

 

[Quasar]

my advise to you is instead of me please go complain to The World Bank for the lists...

 

[Wickerman]

I would say the strongest politically is Israel.

The strongest militarily would be Turkey.

The strongest economically would again be Turkey.

Although when you compare standards of living, political power, access to technology etc, then Israel would be far ahead of both Saudi and Turkey.

 

[RazPaK]

I would say the strongest politically is Israel.

The strongest militarily would be Turkey.

The strongest economically would again be Turkey.

Although when you compare standards of living, political power, access to technology etc, then Israel would be far ahead of both Saudi and Turkey.

KSA far exceeds Israel in terms access to technology. Their stupid sheikhs might have kept them indulged in novelty, but KSA is one the fastest developing countries in this aspect. I don't need a survey to tell me this. They are coming out of jahiliyya, and today they have students all across the US exceeding in their fields.

 

[Surenas]

I would say the strongest politically is Israel.

How could Israel possibly be the strongest political force in the Middle East? They have no political influence in the region what so ever. Outside the Middle East is of course a different question.