The Turkish public is split over a democratic initiative to end the 25-year conflict with Kurdish rebels in the country's southeastern area, according to a poll published on Wednesday, Xinhua reported.
Some 45.6 percent of Turks polled supported the government in its attempts regarding the democratic initiative, while 48.4 percent of the participants said they did not support the initiative, according to the poll conducted by A&G Research Company in several Turkish cities.
In July, the Turkish government said it was working on a Kurdish initiative to win over its Kurdish citizens and erode support for the outlawed Kurdish Workers' Party (PKK), which is listed as a terrorist group.
The government said there will be a change of course in its Kurdish policy and that a new package based on extending democratic rights and improving freedoms of Kurds will come out.
The poll, published on local daily Today's Zaman website, indicates that a great majority believe that a consensus should be established between opposition parties and the Turkish government.
The company launched the poll in cities including Adana, Ankara, Bursa, Diyarbakir, Icel, Istanbul, Kayseri, Izmir, Malatya, Manisa and Trabzon.
Among the respondents, 60.9 percent said the government should take measures to reach a compromise with parties opposing the initiative, and with politicians from the Justice and Development Party (AK Party), the Republican People's Party (CHP) and the Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) criticizing the plan.
Meanwhile, the poll found that recent fruitless debate among politicians concerning the democratic initiative has apparently decreased the support of the public for the initiative.
In a poll conducted in early June, a much higher 69.3 percent of the respondents backed the Kurdish initiative.
The poll also showed that 86.7 percent of Kurds participants in the mainly Kurdish southeastern city of Diyarbakir expressed support for the government's initiative, while 49.4 percent of primary school graduates supported the plan compared to 51.8 percent of university graduates opposing it.
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