A poll published on Wednesday indicates that most Turks don’t consider Greece an enemy nation and believe the recent crisis is sparked by the upcoming elections in both countries.
According to the survey, conducted by Metropoll between 13 and 17 August in 28 provinces among 1,717 citizens, the sentiment applied to all major parties, including Erdogan’s governing AKP and the nationalist MHP.
Only 26.2 per cent of respondents did not agree that rising tensions were “an attempt to create an agenda for the elections”, with over half (51.5 per cent) responding they did.
An even greater majority of 64 per cent stated there is no “enmity between the Turkish and Greek peoples.”
Erdogan’s nationalist rhetoric has escalated in recent weeks, with many analysts attributing the move to his decreasing popularity in opinion polls ahead of elections.
“They have islands in their possession, they have bases on these islands; if illegitimate threats against us continue based on them, our patience has a limit,” Erdogan said during a recent visit to Bosnia and Herzegovina threatening that if Greece would not “stop militarising” the islands Turkey could “come all of a sudden one night”.
Greece in turn accused Turkey of an “extremely aggressive rhetoric” that undermines the stability of the region.
The Turkish presidential election is scheduled to take place in June 2023, as part of the 2023 general election, while Greece is expected to hold its parliamentary elections also next year.
