EU Survey Reveals Growing Turkish Distrust Of Own Gov't

Turks have an increasingly negative view of the future and the Justice and Development Party (AK Party) government, a survey of Eurobarometer, a series of public opinion surveys conducted regularly on behalf of the European Commission, has revealed.

The “Public Opinion in the European Union” survey for autumn 2014 shows that the percentage of Turks who say they do not trust the Turkish government increased by 4 percent since the previous survey in the spring, reaching 48 percent. The percentage of those who say they trust the government decreased by 6 percentage points to 46 percent.

The Eurobarometer survey also reveals that the number of Turks who are pessimistic about the future of the country increased from 45 percent in the previous survey to 63 percent. The percentage of Turkish citizens who are optimistic about the future fell from 30 percent to 25 percent.

According to the survey, the number of Turks who have a negative outlook of the local economy also increased from 30 to 36 percent while those who believe that employment rates will worsen in the next year increased from 29 to 40 percent.

Mistrust in the Turkish judicial system also increased, the survey revealed, with the percentage of people who believe that the country has an unreliable judicial system increasing from 43 percent to 49 percent.

Distrust of EU among Turks deepened

The survey also shows that distrust of the EU among Turkish citizens deepened since a survey conducted by Eurobarometer in 2007.

The number of Turks who have a positive perception of the EU decreased from 38 percent to 28 percent, while the number of people who believe that joining the EU will not be beneficial to Turkey increased from 45 percent to 59 percent.

Shaky relations between the EU and Turkey strained even further after a government-backed police operation was conducted against senior media figures.

More than a dozen prominent journalists, including Zaman Editor-in-Chief Ekrem Dumanlı, were detained on Dec. 14 across Turkey on charges of forming and leading an armed terrorist organization.

The operation was met with harsh reactions in the EU and a number of EU officials called on the government to show commitment to the union's core values, including freedom of expression.

President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan lashed out at EU officials, accusing them of issuing statements composed of “lies” about the arrests last week.

Speaking at the opening ceremony of a high-speed train line in Konya on Dec. 17, Erdoğan said some EU officials have prejudged the operation, which he said is in line with the rule of law.

“Ladies and gentlemen, those days have passed. You may make statements [made up] of lies, but we determine our way by ourselves,” Erdoğan said.

Furthermore, Erdoğan called on the EU to come to Turkey to receive a lecture on real democracy. “They [EU officials] are disturbed by my remarks. Why are you troubled [by my statements]?” Erdoğan added.

Members of the European Parliament (EP) condemned all actions against media freedom during a plenary debate on Dec. 17.

“They agreed that the deterioration in the rule of law and fundamental rights in the country is an issue that needs to be tackled,” read a written statement released by the EP late on Wednesday.

The members agreed that Turkey is moving away from the core EU values, the statement read, also recalling the remarks of EP President Martin Schulz, who criticized the arrests on Dec. 15.

The parliament will vote on a resolution on freedom of expression in Turkey in January.

Kati Piri, the EP's new rapporteur to Turkey, has said the events of Dec. 14 have raised serious concern over Turkey's willingness to make progress in terms of democratic reforms.

Piri noted that Ankara will have to convince the EU of its commitment to the union's core values.

Speaking after a recent visit to Turkey, Piri said the EU sees Chapters 23 and 24, which concern freedom of the press and the rule of law, as the core of the EU accession process.

Piri stressed that the denial of accreditation to media outlets that are critical of government polices to attend government briefings contrasts with the efforts made by Turkey during the reform process for accession to the EU.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs has stopped sending Foreign Ministry statements and phone text messages to a number of media outlets known to be critical of the government, including the Today's Zaman and Zaman dailies as well as the private Cihan news agency.

The ministry excluded all the journalists affiliated with these media outlets from the statement distribution list as of Nov. 3.

(Cihan/Today's Zaman)