Most Turks See NATO Unfavorably and Russia Favorably

The majority of respondents to the survey, 67 percent, believe that Turkey does not need NATO to guarantee its national security.

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The survey was conducted in 12 major Turkish cities in early November. Sputnik News notes that this survey was conducted just two weeks before a top aide to President Recep Tayyip Erdogan asked the country’s parliament to reconsider NATO membership.

NATO allies have felt betrayed by Turkey’s turn towards Russia and Iran by participating in the Astana peace talks which is aimed at finding a solution to the conflict in Syria. The country has also made large military purchases from Russia, including S-400 air defense systems.

Likewise, Turkey has shown outrage over the U.S.-led coalition’s support for Kurdish forces in Syria and Iraq, which they view as a threat to their territorial integration as many Kurdish groups operate in Turkey, while the country has been brutally stamping Kurdish activists for decades.

Turkey recently stirred controversy when the country’s military pulled out 40 soldiers from a joint-NATO military exercise in Norway when it surfaced that pictures of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and modern Turkey's founding father Mustafa Ataturk were depicted on a "chart of enemies."

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The alliance issued an apology to Erdogan and reprimanded a Norwegian soldier who was found to be responsible for the chart, but Erdogan said that the country would not change its mind.

Erdogan also made headlines when he accused the U.S. of supporting the Islamic State group.

After a marked low in relations between Turkey and Russia in late 2015, when Turkey shot down a Russian fighter jet near its border in Syria, now over 70 percent of Turks believe in a stronger relationship with Russia in the fields of politics, economics, and security, showing a lack of faith in U.S. and NATO superiority.