Mehmet Y. Yilmaz: Erdogan's new "Sultan office"
Güncelleme Tarihi:
Oluşturulma Tarihi: Haziran 14, 2007 14:45
Alain De Botton, a popular thinker from the younger generations, once said "Every design reflects a certain spiritual state and moral understanding."
Comparing for example a simple Scandinavian designed coffee set, and a complicated Sevr porcelein set, you see that the first awakens feelings of "democracy, grace, and reason," while the other resonates "officialdom and the knowledge of the aristocratic class." I thought of these things while looking at a photograph of the work room prepared for the general leader of the AKP in the ruling party's new headquarters in Ankara.
The room is filled with purple armchairs, lots of colorful cushions, carved coffee tables, lamp bases that appear covered in gold, and heavy set crystal chandeliers. On the floor, as far as I could make out, are giant silk embroidered carpets. As a reporter for Vatan newspaper wrote, anyone who sees this room will think immediately of "the Sultan's office."
Botton writes "What designs and architectural structures tell us is about the life style that will go with the concepts they represent." Our homes and office spaces tell us what kind of person we are invited to be. In a sense, our furniture reflects our inner lives. And to tell the truth, I am frightened by the reflection of Prime Minister Erdogan's "inner life" that I see in this new room. If the room belonged to anyone else, I would shrug this off, but this is the room of a man who has been prime minister for four years, and is asking for five more!
The room is filled with purple armchairs, lots of colorful cushions, carved coffee tables, lamp bases that appear covered in gold, and heavy set crystal chandeliers. On the floor, as far as I could make out, are giant silk embroidered carpets. As a reporter for Vatan newspaper wrote, anyone who sees this room will think immediately of "the Sultan's office."
Botton writes "What designs and architectural structures tell us is about the life style that will go with the concepts they represent." Our homes and office spaces tell us what kind of person we are invited to be. In a sense, our furniture reflects our inner lives. And to tell the truth, I am frightened by the reflection of Prime Minister Erdogan's "inner life" that I see in this new room. If the room belonged to anyone else, I would shrug this off, but this is the room of a man who has been prime minister for four years, and is asking for five more!