Social democrats go on Ankara charm offensive
Güncelleme Tarihi:
by İzgi Güngör
Oluşturulma Tarihi: Mart 13, 2009 00:00
ANKARA - Accompanied by a media horde and the party’s top cadre, Baykal and Karayalçın tour Ankara’s busy city centers: Sakarya Street and Ulus; as well as Ankara’s outskirts, Altındağ and Mamak, where they receive a warm welcome
No election event can be more enlightening and challenging than experiencing a campaign city tour as a journalist on a campaign bus.
Generally, a city tour is meant to provide an opportunity for politicians to meet "the man on the street," but more often they meet the television cameraman whose intent is only capturing the most alluring picture or moment. What happened Wednesday was not so different, when the main opposition Republican People’s Party, or CHP, leader, Deniz Baykal, and the party’s mayoral candidate for Ankara, Murat Karayalçın, ventured on a grand tour in Ankara to lure votes ahead of the local election.
Accompanied by more than enough media members and the party’s top cadre, Baykal and Karayalçın toured Ankara’s busy city centers: Sakarya Street and Ulus; as well as Ankara’s outskirts, Altındağ and Mamak, where they received a fairly warm and enthusiastic welcome. Once they managed to overcome the media barrier, they listened to the "man on street" and to shop owners’ problems, and made at answering their questions.
It was the first time since the declaration of Karayalçın’s mayoral candidacy that Baykal and high-level party members appeared in Karayalçın’s election campaign, scattering the rumors that Karayalçın was left alone in his campaign by his party.
In their first stop, Kızılay’s Sakarya Street, Baykal and Karayalçın were welcomed by a thunderous ovation. They tasted the dessert offered by locals but made bitter comments about the Ankara Metropolitan Municipality and the ruling Justice and Development Party, or AKP’s, performance.
"Ankara needs spring cleaning. The capital has been ruled by the same municipal mentality for 15 years and the smell has begun to disturb people. It is time for a fresh start," said Baykal. "Instead of paying its attention to my diabetes, the government should handle the rising tension of the public."
The declining in spending and economic conditions triggered by the government’s clumsy management of the global financial crisis’s effects on Turkey was the most common complaint from the local business community. Some hailed the newcomers with the slogans, "We need change" and, AKP’s symbol, "the fake light bulb will fade and Karayalçın will come." Some, however, weren’t that generous in their comments.
"A change is also a must within the CHP itself. Like an emperor, Baykal has been occupying the chair for years and erased the party from Turkey’s political life. Instead of coming to the city center, he should promote his party in Ankara’s shanty areas," a local woman told Hürriyet Daily News & Economic Review.
Small children, who stood next to their covered mothers, giving an enthusiastic wave to the seemingly rival party boss also remained among the most repeated snapshots of the day.
Poor economic conditions
The major complaints in the next stops, Ulus, Mamak and Altındağ’s Siteler, where the duo was greeted passionately, were again about depressive sales and economic conditions.
Ulus had lost its charm as a shopping center because of huge malls and the lack of parking lots and public security. The Gökçek-run urban transformation projects in Mamak and Ulus victimized many by condemning homes and forcing the people to pay higher prices for newly-build houses. The AKP-run municipalities did not serve for the regions affiliated with the CHP, according to locals. In Siteler, one of Turkey’s largest furniture manufacturing areas, small and medium-sized enterprises received their share of damages from the declining economy. They complained about the lack of customers because of the lack of municipal investments and the crisis.
"In former elections most of Siteler’s votes went to Gökçek. But it will not be the same in the upcoming elections. The pavements were just built right ahead of the elections. We need parking lots and living spaces to attract more customers. Gökçek hasn’t kept his promises for Siteler," furnisher Engin Sarı told the Daily News. "If the AKP loses votes in Ankara, it should sit and think that what they did wrong," he said.
Generally, a city tour is meant to provide an opportunity for politicians to meet "the man on the street," but more often they meet the television cameraman whose intent is only capturing the most alluring picture or moment. What happened Wednesday was not so different, when the main opposition Republican People’s Party, or CHP, leader, Deniz Baykal, and the party’s mayoral candidate for Ankara, Murat Karayalçın, ventured on a grand tour in Ankara to lure votes ahead of the local election.
Accompanied by more than enough media members and the party’s top cadre, Baykal and Karayalçın toured Ankara’s busy city centers: Sakarya Street and Ulus; as well as Ankara’s outskirts, Altındağ and Mamak, where they received a fairly warm and enthusiastic welcome. Once they managed to overcome the media barrier, they listened to the "man on street" and to shop owners’ problems, and made at answering their questions.
It was the first time since the declaration of Karayalçın’s mayoral candidacy that Baykal and high-level party members appeared in Karayalçın’s election campaign, scattering the rumors that Karayalçın was left alone in his campaign by his party.
In their first stop, Kızılay’s Sakarya Street, Baykal and Karayalçın were welcomed by a thunderous ovation. They tasted the dessert offered by locals but made bitter comments about the Ankara Metropolitan Municipality and the ruling Justice and Development Party, or AKP’s, performance.
"Ankara needs spring cleaning. The capital has been ruled by the same municipal mentality for 15 years and the smell has begun to disturb people. It is time for a fresh start," said Baykal. "Instead of paying its attention to my diabetes, the government should handle the rising tension of the public."
The declining in spending and economic conditions triggered by the government’s clumsy management of the global financial crisis’s effects on Turkey was the most common complaint from the local business community. Some hailed the newcomers with the slogans, "We need change" and, AKP’s symbol, "the fake light bulb will fade and Karayalçın will come." Some, however, weren’t that generous in their comments.
"A change is also a must within the CHP itself. Like an emperor, Baykal has been occupying the chair for years and erased the party from Turkey’s political life. Instead of coming to the city center, he should promote his party in Ankara’s shanty areas," a local woman told Hürriyet Daily News & Economic Review.
Small children, who stood next to their covered mothers, giving an enthusiastic wave to the seemingly rival party boss also remained among the most repeated snapshots of the day.
Poor economic conditions
The major complaints in the next stops, Ulus, Mamak and Altındağ’s Siteler, where the duo was greeted passionately, were again about depressive sales and economic conditions.
Ulus had lost its charm as a shopping center because of huge malls and the lack of parking lots and public security. The Gökçek-run urban transformation projects in Mamak and Ulus victimized many by condemning homes and forcing the people to pay higher prices for newly-build houses. The AKP-run municipalities did not serve for the regions affiliated with the CHP, according to locals. In Siteler, one of Turkey’s largest furniture manufacturing areas, small and medium-sized enterprises received their share of damages from the declining economy. They complained about the lack of customers because of the lack of municipal investments and the crisis.
"In former elections most of Siteler’s votes went to Gökçek. But it will not be the same in the upcoming elections. The pavements were just built right ahead of the elections. We need parking lots and living spaces to attract more customers. Gökçek hasn’t kept his promises for Siteler," furnisher Engin Sarı told the Daily News. "If the AKP loses votes in Ankara, it should sit and think that what they did wrong," he said.