’She came, and we were with her’
Güncelleme Tarihi:
Oluşturulma Tarihi: Mart 09, 2009 00:00
At this point, the best summary we could offer of the "Clinton Show" over the weekend would be to put the name of the TV program on which she appeared in the past tense: "Hey, she came and she was with us." Or, "Haydi, bizimle geldi, bizimle oldu." U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton put a new communications ball into play with the intimate, chatty hour or so she spent among four prominent feminists on NTV in front of a cheerful studio audience. Then she went on to pop the surprise that her visit would be followed by one from her boss, President Barack Obama, in a few weeks.
We expect no less a departure from the conventions of press conferences and staid interviews with well-known pundits when Obama arrives. The guessing game now begins on Obama’s choice of venue: Will it be the "Beyaz Show," the "Sabah Sabah Seda Sayın Show," "A’dan Z’ye Esra Ceyhan"? The race to line up what is no doubt Ğ at least in ratings terms Ğ the best guest in the world has surely already begun. We might have expected as much. After all, upon assuming office in the White House, Obama did not call the New York Times or an American television network for his very first interview. No, he invited Hisham Melhem, a distinguished Lebanese journalist in Washington and now the bureau chief for Dubai-based Al Arabiya television station.
This was Round Two of what we might call "asymmetrical communication." No filters, no canned questions. And, from Clinton’s perspective, no control. Our hats are off to a job well done. She spoke and communicated from her heart to the heartland of Turkey.
We will not embrace with great relish the request to send more Turkish troops to Afghanistan. We will want to read the fine print in any deal to help America extract itself from Iraq. What’s that sign you’ll find in any American curio shop? "You break it, you bought it." Turkey should help America and Obama glue back together the superpower’s fractured relationship with the rest of the world. But we will be looking for the "Made in America" stamp on the glue.
Those minor reservations aside, we thank Clinton for her refusal to retreat on the matter of human rights generally, and the right of press freedom specifically. Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan blustered all week before her arrival that he would clarify the "real" situation in Turkey. It was clear when the meetings were over that Clinton had clarified to the prime minister the "real" meaning of press freedom.
The fact Clinton timed her visit to coincide with International Women’s Day sent another powerful message that we both salute and we heed. We don’t want to get carried away. America’s interests and Turkey’s are no more one and the same today than they were when George W. Bush was trying to run the world. But we are impressed. And we are hopeful.
It is clear a new era has begun.
This was Round Two of what we might call "asymmetrical communication." No filters, no canned questions. And, from Clinton’s perspective, no control. Our hats are off to a job well done. She spoke and communicated from her heart to the heartland of Turkey.
We will not embrace with great relish the request to send more Turkish troops to Afghanistan. We will want to read the fine print in any deal to help America extract itself from Iraq. What’s that sign you’ll find in any American curio shop? "You break it, you bought it." Turkey should help America and Obama glue back together the superpower’s fractured relationship with the rest of the world. But we will be looking for the "Made in America" stamp on the glue.
Those minor reservations aside, we thank Clinton for her refusal to retreat on the matter of human rights generally, and the right of press freedom specifically. Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan blustered all week before her arrival that he would clarify the "real" situation in Turkey. It was clear when the meetings were over that Clinton had clarified to the prime minister the "real" meaning of press freedom.
The fact Clinton timed her visit to coincide with International Women’s Day sent another powerful message that we both salute and we heed. We don’t want to get carried away. America’s interests and Turkey’s are no more one and the same today than they were when George W. Bush was trying to run the world. But we are impressed. And we are hopeful.
It is clear a new era has begun.