A group of business women host political discussion
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Hürriyet Daily News
Oluşturulma Tarihi: Nisan 11, 2009 00:00
ISTANBUL - The future of Turkish politics dominated discussion Friday at a meeting organized by the Women Entrepreneurs’ Association of Turkey, or KAGİDER, about what is likely to happen in the country after the recent local elections.
Sedat Ergin, editor in chief of daily Milliyet, and Fuat Keyman, associate dean of Koç University’s international relations department, spoke to a group of women who have established their own businesses or run their own companies.
While Ergin said the Justice and Development Party, or AKP, was stuck in Anatolia and could not reach Turkey’s coastal areas, Keyman said the opposition Republican People's Party, or CHP, was not present in Anatolia’s developing cities.
’Turkey, an autocratic state’
"Turkey is still a developing country. It will learn how to control and balance. There was no power consolidation this time compared with the elections in 2007," Ergin said. The Western world now defines Turkey as an autocratic state, he said, adding that Turkey is losing its inner consensus, just like it lost its unity on education.
Describing Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan as a professional public-relations man, Ergin said he thinks Erdoğan and his AKP have strengthened themselves by communicating with the public, a policy that the CHP should adopt.
Ergin said that in the latest elections, the CHP saw that it could make a difference if it puts itself out there and sheds its elitist appearance. That’s how the CHP’s Istanbul mayoral candidate, Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu, ran his campaign, which was considered a success even though he lost.
Comeback year for politics
According to Keyman, this year will be full of competition in politics. He thinks the parties will all focus on the 2011 elections starting now. "2009 will be the year of comebacks for politics," he said, adding that when the parties are examined, it can be seen that they all had different positions in the local elections. "What we see in Turkey is unemployment, identity crises and poverty, so the party that will win the next elections will be the one that brings forward solutions to the nation’s problems, which also include economic development," he said.
Keyman added that though the AKP has the capacity to learn, when a comparison is made to 2006, it is obvious that their victory distracted them from learning new lessons.
According to Keyman, women make up 1.1 percent of Parliament, and the percentage of women elected as mayors was .03 percent over the last three elections.
While Ergin said the Justice and Development Party, or AKP, was stuck in Anatolia and could not reach Turkey’s coastal areas, Keyman said the opposition Republican People's Party, or CHP, was not present in Anatolia’s developing cities.
’Turkey, an autocratic state’
"Turkey is still a developing country. It will learn how to control and balance. There was no power consolidation this time compared with the elections in 2007," Ergin said. The Western world now defines Turkey as an autocratic state, he said, adding that Turkey is losing its inner consensus, just like it lost its unity on education.
Describing Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan as a professional public-relations man, Ergin said he thinks Erdoğan and his AKP have strengthened themselves by communicating with the public, a policy that the CHP should adopt.
Ergin said that in the latest elections, the CHP saw that it could make a difference if it puts itself out there and sheds its elitist appearance. That’s how the CHP’s Istanbul mayoral candidate, Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu, ran his campaign, which was considered a success even though he lost.
Comeback year for politics
According to Keyman, this year will be full of competition in politics. He thinks the parties will all focus on the 2011 elections starting now. "2009 will be the year of comebacks for politics," he said, adding that when the parties are examined, it can be seen that they all had different positions in the local elections. "What we see in Turkey is unemployment, identity crises and poverty, so the party that will win the next elections will be the one that brings forward solutions to the nation’s problems, which also include economic development," he said.
Keyman added that though the AKP has the capacity to learn, when a comparison is made to 2006, it is obvious that their victory distracted them from learning new lessons.
According to Keyman, women make up 1.1 percent of Parliament, and the percentage of women elected as mayors was .03 percent over the last three elections.