Majority of Turks oppose sending troops to Iraq

Discussions on sending troops to Iraq come at a time of intensified anti-U.S. feelings in the Turkish public, fed by detention of 11 Turkish soldiers by American forces in northern Iraq on July 4.

Some 62.2 percent of Turks are against sending troops to Iraq, revealed an opinion poll, recently concluded by the respected pollster Verso.

Only 17.4 percent of those surveyed think Turkey should contribute to U.S. mission to stabilize Iraq by troops and 20.4 percent was revealed to be undecided.

Some analysts have said responding positively to the U.S. request for troops would be a golden opportunity to put relations with the United States back on track. Relations have been tense since Turkish Parliament rejected in a March 1 vote a U.S. request to deploy troops to open a northern front on Iraq from Turkish soil.

The rejection came after months long negotiations between Turkish and U.S. officials on terms of deployment.

Some 58.6 of those surveyed by Verso agreed that the government’s attitude had resulted in deterioration of ties with the United States, while 37.7 percent disagreed.

But the rate of those who think the government’s Iraq policy is positive was still high: 42.5 percent said the government policy on Iraq was positive, while 49.7 percent disagreed and 7.8 percent declined to comment.

The poll also revealed that the shocking detention of Turkish soldiers in the northern Iraqi city of Sulaymaniyah on July 4 has upset the relations. Some 57.3 percent of the 8,811 people surveyed said the relations had been harmed "a lot" by the Sulaymaniyah incident and 36.3 percent said the ties had been harmed, though "in part."

Only two percent of those surveyed were optimistic that the incident did not damage the relations and 4.5 percent declined to comment.