Most Turks approve of Gül's performance as president

The Ankara-based MetroPOLL Strategic and Social Research Center, owned and run by Professor Özer Sencar, conducted a survey on the image of the leaders and level of confidence in institutions in the country.

The survey was conducted on Dec. 1-4 in 30 provinces with the participation of 2,606 respondents.

When asked whether they approve of the way President Gül performs his job, 81.1 percent responded in the affirmative, while 17 percent voiced their disapproval, and 1.9 percent said they have no idea; 85.3 percent said they find Gül an honest and trustable leader.

In addition, 69.1 percent of the respondents said Gül had achieved his goal of becoming the president of all the people in the country.

Ever since he was elected to the presidency in 2007, Gül, a former prime minister and foreign minister, has been trying hard to reach out to all segments of society and open the doors of the Çankaya presidential palace to the public. Being a mild and soft-spoken leader, Gül also assumes a mediating role among political parties when they try to reach consensus on a national issue in which they are in disagreement.

Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan received the approval of 71.1 percent of the respondents regarding his performance as the prime minister, while 26.9 percent said they disapprove of the way Erdoğan does his job.

While 95.8 percent of Justice and Development Party (AK Party) supporters approve of Erdoğan's performance as prime minister, 65.5 percent of Republican People's Party (CHP) voters disapprove. The approval rate of Erdoğan among CHP voters is 30.4 percent, while it is 52.6 percent among Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) voters and 54 percent among pro-Kurdish Peace and Democracy Party (BDP) voters.

Erdoğan received an average of 7.3 points over 10 points for his performance as prime minister.

It is important to note that this survey was carried out before Parliament increased pensions for deputies and approved shorter prison sentences for match-fixing suspects -- both moves the public disliked -- and before a botched Turkish Armed Forces (TSK) airstrike in Turkey's Southeast, which claimed the lives of 35 civilians on Dec. 28.

CHP leader Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu had a meager 23.1 percent approval rating, while an overwhelming majority of the respondents said they approve of Kılıçdaroğlu's performance as the main opposition party leader.

For CHP voters, 41.6 percent do not approve of Kılıçdaroğlu's performance as the main opposition party leader, while the approval rating of the CHP leader is 55.8 percent among CHP voters.

Kılıçdaroğlu received an average of 3.8 points over 10 points for his performance as the main opposition party leader.

Kılıçdaroğlu, who was elected to the party's leadership in 2010 after the party's long-standing leader, Deniz Baykal, resigned in the wake of a video scandal, failed to promote democracy and freedoms within the ranks of the party. Despite hopes that he could break the party's traditional alliance with the status quo, Kılıçdaroğlu's CHP continued to be the voice of the status quo and failed to push the government to expand freedoms and democracy. Since becoming party leader, the CHP has been dealing with intra-party fights. Kılıçdaroğlu also failed to significantly increase the party's vote in the general elections last June 12. The CHP's share of the vote rose to 26 percent in the 2011 elections from 21 percent in 2007, when Baykal was at the helm of the party.

When asked whether they approved of the performance of MHP leader Devlet Bahçeli as an opposition leader, 63 percent of the respondents answered in the negative, while 33 percent said they approve of Bahçeli as an opposition leader; 41.6 percent of MHP voters do not approve of Bahçeli's performance as an opposition leader, while 56.2 percent of the MHP voters approve of him.

Bahçeli received an average of four points over 10 points for his performance as an opposition party leader.

BDP Co-chairman Selahattin Demirtaş's approval rating was just 8.3 percent, while 85.5 percent of respondents said they do not approve of the way Demirtaş carries on his job as an opposition party leader.

Demirtaş received an average of 1.9 points over 10 points for his performance as an opposition party leader.

The low support for Demirtaş mainly results from the party's links with the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), which has been waging a bloody war in Turkey's Southeast since 1984.

The BDP refuses to deny its links with the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) and is accused of being the terrorist organization's extension in politics.

The party also received severe criticism for its failure to produce any policies without the permission of the PKK leaders.

Participants in the MetroPOLL survey were also asked about the level of confidence they have for the institutions in the country. The president's office came out as the most trustable institution, receiving an average of eight points over 10 points, followed by the military with 7.7 points. This is the first time the president's office has come in before the military on a scale of trustability. The military was enjoying 9.1 points of trustability in a survey conducted in December 2007 while the president's office had 8.2 points of trustability in the same survey.

In the 2011 survey, the military is followed by the police with 7.6 points, the Prime Ministry with 7.4 points and Parliament with 7.1 points. The CHP and the MHP were the least trustable institutions, receiving only 3.8 points.

Gül again ranked at the top of the list among the most trustable leaders by receiving 8 points over 10. He was followed by Erdoğan with 7.4 points and then Chief of General Staff Gen. Necdet Özel with 6.7 points.

Gen. Özel has been receiving praise for his working in harmony with the civilian authority ever since he was appointed to his post last summer and carrying out an effective fight against the PKK. Unlike his predecessors, Özel does not meddle in politics, instead concentrating on military affairs.