Media refrains from harsh post-poll rhetoric
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Hurriyet Daily News
OluÅŸturulma Tarihi: Nisan 01, 2009 00:00
ANKARA - Adil Gür, whose A&G Survey company predicted AKP’s voting rate with great accuracy, had three reasons for the party’s downward trend, which he had voiced before the elections: the economic crisis, poor choice of local candidates - as in Adana and Şanlıurfa, where the AKP lost municipalities - and its tough rhetoric on the Kurdish issue.
Although they posed an impressive array of lessons to be learned from the ruling party’s relatively weak performance at the ballot box on Sunday, the Turkish media has largely avoided sharp comments about the local election results.Â
Daily Radikal offered no fewer than 25 lessons; first among them that the ruling Justice and Development Party, or AKP, which increased its votes in the 2004 local and 2007 general elections, is not invincible. A shift in election rhetoric from the fear of a military coup and concerns about secularism was effective in causing the AKP to lose votes, the paper said. Its headline read, "Electors Say ’One Minute’ to PM," referring to Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s request before he walked out of Davos.
Daily Hürriyet presented "13 realities" of Turkey, noting that voters urged the AKP to pay more attention to corruption scandals - like the Lighthouse e.V. donation fraud - the global economic crisis and political polarization. Still, the newspaper acknowledged that the "AKP is a Turkey-wide party," since despite the apparent decline, the party still has a substantial potential for votes in most of the country.
The pro-government daily Star said the election refreshed the AKP’s confidence, while daily Zaman said it is "study time" for the government.
Daily Milliyet said the Prime Minister underestimated the effects of the economic crisis, adding that his tough rhetoric on "one nation, one flag" in the heavily Kurdish populated Southeast combined with a quarrelsome attitude and hurt his party’s standing.
Measured tone
In speaking about the election results, the AKP government kept a measured tone, although it acknowledged the backward trend, to which the party is unaccustomed.
"All ministers evaluated election results in their own provinces. Our party center will scrutinize election results scientifically," government spokesman Cemil Çiçek said after a Cabinet meeting late Monday. In regard to the success of the pro-Kurdish Democratic Society Party, or DTP, in the Southeast, Çiçek said, "It is important to have a strategic and supra-political party look at the outcome."
The uncontested winner of the elections was Adil Gür, whose A&G Survey company predicted AKP’s voting rate with great accuracy. Gür had three reasons for the party’s downward trend, which he had voiced before the elections: the economic crisis, poor choice of local candidates - as in Adana and Şanlıurfa, where the party lost municipalities - and the AKP’s tough rhetoric on the Kurdish question.
Gür is convinced the downward trend is likely to continue if AKP does not take relevant measures. "Perception of victim-hood is replaced by a perception of incompetence," Gür told daily Milliyet. "The AKP’s decline rate will increasingly continue if the party does not renew itself."
Leader of the main opposition Republican People’s Party, or CHP, Deniz Baykal reciprocated the government’s moderate tone and conceded that other opposition parties, including the Nationalist Movement Party, or MHP, the Democratic Society Party, or DTP, and the Felicity Party, or SP, had substantially increased their votes, too.
As the AKP takes a closer look at the reasons behind the disappointing results, outlines of a possible Cabinet revision have appeared. Several ministers lost provincial municipalities that were seen as their responsibility. State Minister Mehmet Aydın and Defense Minister Vecdi Gönül were actively engaged in their party’s election campaign in İzmir, a city of "symbolic importance," along with Diyarbakır, for Erdoğan, but they failed to turn the tide in the coastal town known as a CHP power-house.
Justice Minister Mehmet Ali Şahin supported Menderes Türel, former mayor of Antalya, for a return term in the municipal elections. Şahin even suggested that municipalities "going with the government are more likely to succeed," but the AKP failed dismally against the CHP in Antalya, much to the disappointment of Erdoğan.
Education Minister Hüseyin Çelik worked extensively in the eastern province of Van, but lost it to the DTP. Losses in the Southeast struck an especially hard blow to the AKP, as the party had set a high benchmark for success there, especially in Diyarbakır, which overwhelmingly voted DTP.
Finance Minister and AKP Eskişehir deputy Kemal Unakıtan’s efforts were likewise not enough to beat Professor Yılmaz Büyükerşen, the former rector of Eskişehir University and candidate for the Democratic Left Party, or DSP.
In his first post-election speech, ErdoÄŸan hinted that the election results might be cause for a Cabinet reshuffle, saying, "No one is going to sit there forever."
Daily Radikal offered no fewer than 25 lessons; first among them that the ruling Justice and Development Party, or AKP, which increased its votes in the 2004 local and 2007 general elections, is not invincible. A shift in election rhetoric from the fear of a military coup and concerns about secularism was effective in causing the AKP to lose votes, the paper said. Its headline read, "Electors Say ’One Minute’ to PM," referring to Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s request before he walked out of Davos.
Daily Hürriyet presented "13 realities" of Turkey, noting that voters urged the AKP to pay more attention to corruption scandals - like the Lighthouse e.V. donation fraud - the global economic crisis and political polarization. Still, the newspaper acknowledged that the "AKP is a Turkey-wide party," since despite the apparent decline, the party still has a substantial potential for votes in most of the country.
The pro-government daily Star said the election refreshed the AKP’s confidence, while daily Zaman said it is "study time" for the government.
Daily Milliyet said the Prime Minister underestimated the effects of the economic crisis, adding that his tough rhetoric on "one nation, one flag" in the heavily Kurdish populated Southeast combined with a quarrelsome attitude and hurt his party’s standing.
Measured tone
In speaking about the election results, the AKP government kept a measured tone, although it acknowledged the backward trend, to which the party is unaccustomed.
"All ministers evaluated election results in their own provinces. Our party center will scrutinize election results scientifically," government spokesman Cemil Çiçek said after a Cabinet meeting late Monday. In regard to the success of the pro-Kurdish Democratic Society Party, or DTP, in the Southeast, Çiçek said, "It is important to have a strategic and supra-political party look at the outcome."
The uncontested winner of the elections was Adil Gür, whose A&G Survey company predicted AKP’s voting rate with great accuracy. Gür had three reasons for the party’s downward trend, which he had voiced before the elections: the economic crisis, poor choice of local candidates - as in Adana and Şanlıurfa, where the party lost municipalities - and the AKP’s tough rhetoric on the Kurdish question.
Gür is convinced the downward trend is likely to continue if AKP does not take relevant measures. "Perception of victim-hood is replaced by a perception of incompetence," Gür told daily Milliyet. "The AKP’s decline rate will increasingly continue if the party does not renew itself."
Leader of the main opposition Republican People’s Party, or CHP, Deniz Baykal reciprocated the government’s moderate tone and conceded that other opposition parties, including the Nationalist Movement Party, or MHP, the Democratic Society Party, or DTP, and the Felicity Party, or SP, had substantially increased their votes, too.
As the AKP takes a closer look at the reasons behind the disappointing results, outlines of a possible Cabinet revision have appeared. Several ministers lost provincial municipalities that were seen as their responsibility. State Minister Mehmet Aydın and Defense Minister Vecdi Gönül were actively engaged in their party’s election campaign in İzmir, a city of "symbolic importance," along with Diyarbakır, for Erdoğan, but they failed to turn the tide in the coastal town known as a CHP power-house.
Justice Minister Mehmet Ali Şahin supported Menderes Türel, former mayor of Antalya, for a return term in the municipal elections. Şahin even suggested that municipalities "going with the government are more likely to succeed," but the AKP failed dismally against the CHP in Antalya, much to the disappointment of Erdoğan.
Education Minister Hüseyin Çelik worked extensively in the eastern province of Van, but lost it to the DTP. Losses in the Southeast struck an especially hard blow to the AKP, as the party had set a high benchmark for success there, especially in Diyarbakır, which overwhelmingly voted DTP.
Finance Minister and AKP Eskişehir deputy Kemal Unakıtan’s efforts were likewise not enough to beat Professor Yılmaz Büyükerşen, the former rector of Eskişehir University and candidate for the Democratic Left Party, or DSP.
In his first post-election speech, ErdoÄŸan hinted that the election results might be cause for a Cabinet reshuffle, saying, "No one is going to sit there forever."