More than 50 percent of Turkish citizens believe their country needs a strong leader willing to break the rules to fix it, a rate higher than the global average, according to the Ipsos Populism Report 2025.
The report surveyed over 23,000 adults across 31 countries, including Turkey, with its Global Advisor online platform between February 21 and March 7, 2025.
When asked whether they agree with the statement, “To fix the country, we need a strong leader willing to break the rules,” 52 percent of respondents in Turkey said they agreed, putting the country above the global average of 47 percent. An additional 23 percent of Turkish respondents neither agreed nor disagreed, while 21 percent said they disagreed.
While 75 percent of Turks believe the country’s economy is “rigged to advantage the rich and powerful,” 67 percent say a strong leader is needed “to take the country back from the rich and powerful,” slightly above the global average of 64 percent.
These sentiments come against the backdrop of a decade marked by high-profile corruption scandals and public distrust in institutions and widespread criticism of the administration of President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan.
Erdoğan, who has been governing Turkey for more than two decades, is accused by his critics of establishing a one-man rule, cracking down on his critics, silencing the free media and eroding the independence of the judiciary.
His government was shaken in December 2013 by bribery and corruption investigations that implicated, among others, Reza Zarrab, a Turkish-Iranian businessman who pleaded guilty in the US to evading sanctions on Iran, family members of several cabinet ministers and the close circle of then-prime minister Erdoğan.
Despite the scandal resulting in the resignation of the cabinet members, the investigation was dropped after prosecutors and police chiefs were removed from the case. A parliamentary commission was also stymied. Erdoğan, government officials and the pro-government media described the investigations as an attempt to overthrow the government.
The report also found that a majority of Turkish citizens also express deep dissatisfaction with the direction of their country. While 57 percent of respondents across 31 countries believe their country is in decline, that figure rises to 71 percent in Turkey. Similarly, 68 percent of Turkish respondents say their society is “broken,” compared to the global average of 56 percent.
The Ipsos report also reflects widespread distrust toward political and institutional elites in Turkey. Seventy-one percent of Turkish participants say “traditional parties and politicians don’t care about people like me,” while 72 percent agree that “experts in this country don’t understand the lives of people like me.” Similarly, 73 percent believe the mainstream media is “more interested in making money than telling the truth.” All three figures are significantly higher than global averages of around 60 percent, pointing to a broader erosion of trust not only in elected officials but also in expert institutions and information sources.
For the past several years, surveys and polls have increasingly reflected a growing erosion of public trust in Turkey’s core institutions under the rule of Erdoğan’s Justice and Development Party (AKP) government. From the political parties to the judiciary, religious directorate and mainstream media, large segments of the population express deep skepticism about the impartiality, effectiveness and independence of these bodies.
Turkey tops global rankings in anti-immigration sentiment
According to the Ipsos survey, Turkey has also emerged as the country with the highest level of anti-immigration sentiment among the 31 nations surveyed. Seventy-eight percent of Turkish respondents said the country “would be stronger if we stopped immigration,” far exceeding the global average of 44 percent.
Similarly, 73 percent believe immigrants are taking jobs away from Turkish citizens, compared to the international average of 42 percent. When asked if employers should prioritize hiring locals over immigrants during times of job scarcity, 77 percent of Turks agreed, one of the highest rates globally, along with Indonesia, Malaysia and Hungary.
Turkey has granted legal status to approximately 3.5 million Syrian nationals who fled the civil war in their homeland that began in 2011. Initially welcomed under a temporary protection policy, many Syrians settled in Turkish cities, sparking debates about integration, economic strain and cultural differences.
According to the International Organization for Migration’s (IOM) World Migration Report 2024, Turkey remained the world’s largest host of displaced people for the seventh consecutive year, primarily Syrians.
As of May Turkey was hosting some 2.7 million Syrians, according to data from the interior ministry.
Turkey’s vice president announced earlier this month that more than 273,000 Syrians have returned home from Turkey since the fall of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad in December.
The return figures came amid mounting political pressure in Turkey to reduce the number of refugees living in the country.