Interior Minister Soylu's popularity on decline among nationalist voters

Turkish Interior Minister Süleyman Soylu has lost considerable support among MHP voters in recent months, especially after May when mafia leader Sedat Peker started to make bombshell allegations of corruption against the minister.

Duvar English

A new poll has shown that Interior Minister Süleyman Soylu's popularity is on the decline among voters of the Nationalist Movement Party (MHP).

Özer Sencar, the founder of Metropoll polling company, shared the results of the survey on his Twitter account.

Asking participants if they “approve of” Soylu, the survey categorized the results based on the party each participant voted for.

The least support that Soylu received from MHP voters was in June with 55.6 percent, just one month after mafia leader Sedat Peker started to make bombshell allegations of corruption against the minister.

The support by MHP voters for the minister, on the other hand, was standing at 86.6 percent in November 2020.

The survey also exposed the decline of support among ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) voters, with the minister's popularity standing at 68.7 percent in June 2021, compared to 83 percent in September 2020.

In May, Peker, a friend-turned-foe of the AKP who is currently in the United Arab Emirates, started to release videos on YouTube filled with serious allegations against current and former politicians, with the most high-ranking one being Soylu.

In response to the allegations, MHP leader Devlet Bahçeli Bahçeli, a staunch all of the government, threw his support behind Soylu, saying that no one can put a leash on the minister.

Bahçeli, a close friend of Peker's foe and mafia leader Alaattin Çakıcı, was the first high-level politician to voice full support to the minister, who denies that the government left him alone.