May 2003: Asked by Pew pollsters, 7 percent of Turks say they have “a lot” of confidence in Osama bin Laden, 8 percent say “some confidence”, and 74 percent say they have “not too much” or “no” confidence in him.

March 2005: Jim goes to Turkey.

March 2007: Jim returns from Turkey.

July 2007: Asked by Pew pollsters, 1 percent of Turks say they have “a lot” of confidence in Osama bin Laden, 4 percent “some” confidence in him… and 74 percent say they have “not too much” or “no” confidence in him.

That’s the good news. Unfortunately, my one-man diplomatic spearhead wasn’t a complete success. The number of Turks who believed suicide bombing is “often” justified dropped from 6 percent in spring 2004 to 3 percent this spring; but the number who thought it was “sometimes” justified increased from 9 percent to 13 percent. The “never justified” dropped from 67 percent to 56 percent, and the “I don’t know” jumped from 9 to 19 percent.

The number of Turks who were “very worried” about the U.S. being a military threat to their country increased from 29 percent in May 2005 to 41 percent this spring. Apparently my incredulous response to rumors of a U.S. invasion for oil — “What, we’re going after Turkey’s strategic reserve of olive oil?” – was taken seriously.