Showman injects issues into election campaign
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by Sevim Songün
Oluşturulma Tarihi: Mart 25, 2009 00:00
ISTANBUL - With the opposition attacking the prime minister while ignoring issues important to ordinary Turks, a game show host rises to the challenge to inject a sense of value in the local election campaign. Erbil does not want to be a topic of politics but his complaints have changed it already
The lack of political satire in Turkey, coupled with the lack of viable opposition, has resulted in artists, entertainers and even a game show host joining in the political debates burgeoning on the eve of local elections.
Mehmet Ali Erbil, a television celebrity who hosts a game show, was furious when the ship he was traveling on was delayed 20 minutes because it had to wait for the prime minister’s bus to arrive. He was on his way back to Istanbul from a ski holiday and was doubly furious when he was refused his request to change the channel on one of the ship’s televisions. He had to watch Kanal 24, widely seen as a mouthpiece of the ruling Justice and Development Party, or AKP, throughout the journey.
On his return, he started talking about the incident on his show, asking whether Turkey was becoming a one-party state.
Many started to talk about what happened to Erbil, who suddenly was listened to as a political commentator, with even some politicians citing Erbil as proof that things were not right under the AKP. This in turn spurred some to ask how a person seen as apolitical could become the voice of opposition on the eve of the local elections, which will take place this Sunday, in some instances taking up more news space than opposition leaders on the campaign trail.
Nilüfer Narlı, the head of the sociology department at Bahçeşehir University, said: "The opposition in Turkey isn’t very strong. As a result of this, people who are not directly interested in politics started to have a critical attitude in politics."
Erbil’s comments about how the AKP’s dominance was changing the lives of ordinary people struck a chord, said Metin Heper, an academic from Bilkent University, arguing that the main opposition party did not talk about the country’s and district’s problems ahead of the local elections, but just attacked the prime minister personally. "The border between the political and the entertainment spheres has been blurred for the past two decades," said Aslı Tunç, associate professor and vice dean of the School of Communications at Bilgi University.
Bringing politics into entertainment may be meaningful for ordinary people who pay close attention to television programs, Tunç said.
"Turkish people who literally spend their lives in front of TV sets are looking up to those celebrities, and their political positions mean a lot to them. On the other hand, ordinary citizens or unknown journalists who voice similar issues still pay a big price but this situation is swept under the rug," Tunç told the Hürriyet Daily News & Economic Review.
Tunç, who supports blurring the line between politics and entertainment, said artists should use their celebrity status to challenge the status quo, and artists and intellectuals should be independent from any type of affiliation with the political establishment.
"In a true democracy, politicians can Ğ and should Ğ be satirized and criticized by the figures of popular culture, but since those figures are harshly silenced or threatened by politicians in Turkish society, they find themselves fulfilling a political mission rather than artistic ones," she said.
But some experts believe that politics should be criticized in the right spheres.
Vincent Bouvard, a lecturer in the communications department at Bilgi University, said he does not believe there is significant pressure on satirists, but that there were not enough programs satirizing political figures in Turkey. "Some entertainment programs like Okan Bayülgen’s shows or the puppet show satirizing political figures may be the right places to talk about politics in a humorous way. But Erbil’s program is not the right place for that. That will negatively affect both the opposition and their program," said Bouvard. According to Bouvard, the government is criticized on many television programs but what is absent is humor. He said this might be the television channels’ choice. Erbil, on the other hand said he was not comfortable being on politicians’ agendas.
Mehmet Ali Erbil, a television celebrity who hosts a game show, was furious when the ship he was traveling on was delayed 20 minutes because it had to wait for the prime minister’s bus to arrive. He was on his way back to Istanbul from a ski holiday and was doubly furious when he was refused his request to change the channel on one of the ship’s televisions. He had to watch Kanal 24, widely seen as a mouthpiece of the ruling Justice and Development Party, or AKP, throughout the journey.
On his return, he started talking about the incident on his show, asking whether Turkey was becoming a one-party state.
Many started to talk about what happened to Erbil, who suddenly was listened to as a political commentator, with even some politicians citing Erbil as proof that things were not right under the AKP. This in turn spurred some to ask how a person seen as apolitical could become the voice of opposition on the eve of the local elections, which will take place this Sunday, in some instances taking up more news space than opposition leaders on the campaign trail.
Nilüfer Narlı, the head of the sociology department at Bahçeşehir University, said: "The opposition in Turkey isn’t very strong. As a result of this, people who are not directly interested in politics started to have a critical attitude in politics."
Erbil’s comments about how the AKP’s dominance was changing the lives of ordinary people struck a chord, said Metin Heper, an academic from Bilkent University, arguing that the main opposition party did not talk about the country’s and district’s problems ahead of the local elections, but just attacked the prime minister personally. "The border between the political and the entertainment spheres has been blurred for the past two decades," said Aslı Tunç, associate professor and vice dean of the School of Communications at Bilgi University.
Bringing politics into entertainment may be meaningful for ordinary people who pay close attention to television programs, Tunç said.
"Turkish people who literally spend their lives in front of TV sets are looking up to those celebrities, and their political positions mean a lot to them. On the other hand, ordinary citizens or unknown journalists who voice similar issues still pay a big price but this situation is swept under the rug," Tunç told the Hürriyet Daily News & Economic Review.
Tunç, who supports blurring the line between politics and entertainment, said artists should use their celebrity status to challenge the status quo, and artists and intellectuals should be independent from any type of affiliation with the political establishment.
"In a true democracy, politicians can Ğ and should Ğ be satirized and criticized by the figures of popular culture, but since those figures are harshly silenced or threatened by politicians in Turkish society, they find themselves fulfilling a political mission rather than artistic ones," she said.
But some experts believe that politics should be criticized in the right spheres.
Vincent Bouvard, a lecturer in the communications department at Bilgi University, said he does not believe there is significant pressure on satirists, but that there were not enough programs satirizing political figures in Turkey. "Some entertainment programs like Okan Bayülgen’s shows or the puppet show satirizing political figures may be the right places to talk about politics in a humorous way. But Erbil’s program is not the right place for that. That will negatively affect both the opposition and their program," said Bouvard. According to Bouvard, the government is criticized on many television programs but what is absent is humor. He said this might be the television channels’ choice. Erbil, on the other hand said he was not comfortable being on politicians’ agendas.