PUBLIC OPINION SURVEYS OF TURKISH FOREIGN POLICY 2012/1
CONDITIONAL SUPPORT FOR NUCLEAR ARMAMENT
http://edam.org.tr/document/Edam2012Survey1.pdf

In this public opinion survey carried out by TNS on behalf of EDAM, the
Turkish public opinion was polled on the question of “In reaction to a
possible threat from a nuclear armed Iran, should Turkey develop its
own nuclear weapons or rely on NATO’s protection?”

8.2% The NATO security umbrella is sufficient. Turkey shouldn't develop
nuclear weapons
53.9% The NATO security umbrella is not sufficient to counter the threat of
a nuclear Iran. Turkey should develop its own nuclear weapons.
34.8% Turkey should not develop nuclear weapons under any condition
3.0 No idea/no answer

The disaggregation of the results according to political party support
shows that AKP supporters demonstrate the highest level of trust in NATO’s
ability to protect Turkey with 10.2 %. Respective figures for confidence in
NATO’s role falls to 7.2 % among the electorate of the main opposition CHP
and to an almost insignificant level of 1,9 % among the supporters of the
pro-Kurdish BDP. Furthermore, 60,3 % of the pro-nationalist
MHP electorate and 55,8 % of the AKP electorate support
developing nuclear weapons against a possible threat from Iran. This
ratio falls to 46,2 % for CHP and 14,5 %
for BDP supporters.

Among the BDP electorate a slight majority of 51.4 % are against a possible
Turkish nuclear weapons program. The share of this anti-nuclear
weapons constituency falls to 44.2 % among the CHP electorate and to
31,6% among the AKP electorate. There are no markedly clear differences
according to age groups but the biggest support for nuclear armament comes
from the 18-24 age group with 56,4 %.

This public opinion survey was conducted between 03 February- 06 March 2012
in Turkey and was formed according to the answers of 1500 people who
represented urban and rural population who were above the age of 18. The
cities which were ranged in the survey: Adana, Ankara, Antalya, Bursa,
Diyarbakir, Manisa, Erzurum, Gaziantep, Istanbul, Izmir, Kayseri,
Kirklareli, Konya, Içel, Samsun, Zonguldak, Denizli, Malatya.