Turkey Divided over Erdogan ahead of Elections

The Turkish people are deeply divided over Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan'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 August 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 U.S.-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.

In a crackdown following the accusations, his Islamic-leaning government has already sacked thousands of police and prosecutors, and tightened controls over the judiciary and the Internet.

A majority of Turks also said they supported street protests which were initially centered on Istanbul’s Gezi Park last year, and 55 percent disapproved of the way Erdogan moved to quash them.

Several people died as riot police moved in and thousands were injured.

Previous Turkish presidents, including Abdullah Gul, have performed largely ceremonial functions but Deputy Prime Minister Bulent Arinc indicated to AFP in a recent interview that Erdogan would be a different kind of head of state.

"If Mr Prime Minister becomes president... he will certainly be an active president. This is his nature," Arinc said.

The poll found that faith in Turkey's military has also sharply diminished, with only 55 percent of those surveyed saying they had a good opinion of the army. That was sharply down from 2007 when 85 percent saw the military as having a positive role.

On the international front, the poll found Turks are generally not fans of the United States, European Union and NATO.

Some 73 percent of Turks had negative views on the U.S., while 66 percent were against the EU, although a majority still favored entering the European Union. Seven in ten also had an unfavorable image of NATO.

The poll has a margin of error of plus or minus 4.5 percentage points.