The politicians receiving the highest approval ratings from the Turkish public are President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, İstanbul Mayor Ekrem İmamoğlu and Selahattin Demirtaş, a jailed Kurdish politician, respectively, according to a poll conducted by a private survey company upon a request by Erdoğan’s ruling party, the Tarafsız news agency reported.
A source from the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) told the agency that Erdoğan is leading with a growing majority in the latest surveys.
The three politicians were followed by Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) leader Devlet Bahçeli and İYİ (Good) Party leader Meral Akşener. The main opposition party leader, Republican People’s Party’s (CHP) Chairman Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu, was ranked seventh, the source said, with no mention of the person in sixth place.
In addition to Erdoğan, two more politicians from the AKP, former Turkish Parliament Speaker Binali Yıldırım and incumbent Interior Minister Süleyman Soylu, gained high approval points.
The CHP’s İmamoğlu, who ended 25 years of right-wing and conservative rule in İstanbul, has attracted attention both in Turkey and abroad.
Demirtaş, a former co-chair of the Kurdish Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP), has been jailed since November 2016 on terrorism charges.
