Turkish politicians should know better
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OluÅŸturulma Tarihi: Åžubat 10, 2009 00:00
Jesse Unruh, a famous politician in the American state of California, has gone down in political lore for a bit of advice he is said to have offered to group of newly elected lawmakers asking how to deal with the gifts and attention of lobbyists.
"If you can’t take their money, cavort with their women, drink their whisky and then turn around and vote against them, you don’t belong in politics," is one version of Unruh’s commentary.Â
We are reassured by indications that many voters in Turkey have adopted a similar kind of attitude toward the pre-election gifts being showered on voters in poor districts. This is free coal in some places, even such white goods as refrigerators and washing machines in others. Now it is emerging that the mechanisms for deciding on the needy and distributing aid have more than a bit of overlap with the political mechanisms of the ruling Justice and Development Party or AKP.
We are also reassured that this has not gone unnoticed by the electoral watchdog, the Supreme Election Board, or YSK. The steps pending, including an investigation and the possibility of prosecution, are all appropriate.
Policy initiatives aimed at winning votes are another matter. Yes, Kurdish television and outreach to Alevis by the AKP, and the short-lived "Koran courses" proposal of the opposition People’s Republican Party, or CHP, may be transparently political. But this is the way democracy crudely functions sometimes. It hints at cynicism but it does not smell of illegality. Voters, it is clear, can figure this out too.
But the gift-giving is a distinct issue. It is wrong. Most importantly, this is all a discussion Turkey should not be having in 2009. The prime minister’s comment over the weekend, that Turkey is a social state and this gift-giving is only reflects a government’s responsibility to offer a helping hand, falls flat. Most people, including the recipients of these gestures, are responding with the Turkish equivalent of a collective "C’mon."
Trading any kind of goods for votes is a sad tactic, the tool of charlatans in the early days of post-colonial Africa or tin-pot dictators in impoverished banana republics. This should not be part of the electoral arsenal of any party in a country with the world’s 16th largest economy, growing international responsibilities and aspirations to join the European Union. In a word, it is embarrassing.
We tend to agree with the sentiments of Musa Taşkıran, a resident of a village in eastern Turkey that is benefiting from the giveaway largesse. A washing machine may be nice, he said, but "first we need roads and then we need water."
Voters like Taşkıran are smart enough to see through such ploys. But they should not have to do so. Turkish politicians should know better.
We are reassured by indications that many voters in Turkey have adopted a similar kind of attitude toward the pre-election gifts being showered on voters in poor districts. This is free coal in some places, even such white goods as refrigerators and washing machines in others. Now it is emerging that the mechanisms for deciding on the needy and distributing aid have more than a bit of overlap with the political mechanisms of the ruling Justice and Development Party or AKP.
We are also reassured that this has not gone unnoticed by the electoral watchdog, the Supreme Election Board, or YSK. The steps pending, including an investigation and the possibility of prosecution, are all appropriate.
Policy initiatives aimed at winning votes are another matter. Yes, Kurdish television and outreach to Alevis by the AKP, and the short-lived "Koran courses" proposal of the opposition People’s Republican Party, or CHP, may be transparently political. But this is the way democracy crudely functions sometimes. It hints at cynicism but it does not smell of illegality. Voters, it is clear, can figure this out too.
But the gift-giving is a distinct issue. It is wrong. Most importantly, this is all a discussion Turkey should not be having in 2009. The prime minister’s comment over the weekend, that Turkey is a social state and this gift-giving is only reflects a government’s responsibility to offer a helping hand, falls flat. Most people, including the recipients of these gestures, are responding with the Turkish equivalent of a collective "C’mon."
Trading any kind of goods for votes is a sad tactic, the tool of charlatans in the early days of post-colonial Africa or tin-pot dictators in impoverished banana republics. This should not be part of the electoral arsenal of any party in a country with the world’s 16th largest economy, growing international responsibilities and aspirations to join the European Union. In a word, it is embarrassing.
We tend to agree with the sentiments of Musa Taşkıran, a resident of a village in eastern Turkey that is benefiting from the giveaway largesse. A washing machine may be nice, he said, but "first we need roads and then we need water."
Voters like Taşkıran are smart enough to see through such ploys. But they should not have to do so. Turkish politicians should know better.