Turkish military campaigns in Syria supported by half of voters: Poll

Half of the participants in a recent opinion poll in Turkey said that the opposition parties do the right thing by supporting Turkey's military operations in Syria, while 38% said that they do not.

In response to whether or not Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan should engage in talks with Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, 59% said he should, while 29% said he should not.

Those who expressed the highest sympathy for the opposition's support for military operations in Syria are participants who voted for the nationalist opposition Good Party in the 2018 parliamentary election. 63.7% of Good Party's recent voters said the opposition parties do the right thing by supporting Turkish military's incursions into Northern Syria.

Good Party voters are followed by far right Nationalist Movement Party's (MHP) voters, 62.9% of whom expressed sympathy for the opposition's support, and the ruling Justice and Development Party'S (AKP) voters, 58.5% of whom expressed sympathy.

While 44.1% of the main opposition Republican People's Party's (CHP) voters said they think the opposition should support Turkey's military campaigns in Syria, 18.3% of the pro-Kurdish opposition Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP) expressed sympathy.

As for the dialogue between Erdogan and Assad - arch enemies throughout the entire Syrian civil war - 77.1% of the Nationalist Movement Party's (MHP) voters said Erdogan should engage in talks with Assad, while 73.2% of Good Party voters, 62.7% of AKP voters, 59.2% of HDP voters and 55.8% of CHP voters said he should engage in talks.

The poll was conducted by MetroPOLL in December in Turkey's 28 provinces with the participation of 2,077 people.