Today’s politicians no longer press the door bell and politely wait outside a voter’s home; physical messengers vying for our attention seem to be passé, but something else is apparently in vogue: campaigning by means of mobile phone text messages.
One such “political” SMS ended up in my inbox on Thursday evening. The message in question asked the recipient to become a member of Turkey’s major opposition party, the Republican People’s Party (CHP), for an annual membership fee of TL 60. Being in the profession I am in, I immediately replied, not to agree to become a member but to inquire about whether the sender and the return SMS number was what it said it was. Direct marketing has become such a nuisance and an entire operator’s mobile phone numbers lists can easily be bought by anyone for whatever commercial or other unwanted activity. You know what I am talking about -- think the weekly text message reminder from your favorite hypermarket chain telling you about two or three of this week’s hot picks. Even more annoying when received after hours.
Assuming the text message received from Turkey’s CHP is indeed part of a unique political campaign and not a form of spam (I am reasonably certain someone else would have complained to the CHP headquarters already), I would be glad indeed to have opened and read the message for a number of reasons.
Democracy depends on government and opposition. While Turkey has a successful and strong one-party government, it lacks a unified and equally attractive opposition party. As it seems from today’s perspective and taking numerous opinion polls into account, the currently ruling Justice and Development Party (AK Party) might as well win another general election and above all else with a comfortable majority.
Hence, the CHP in particular needs to totally revamp its direction and strategy. One such approach is to get in touch with voters outside their traditional camp as over time this very segment of the Turkish electorate seems to have eroded quite significantly.
They need to get the message across that the party is no longer the stalwart of the status quo of tutelage and defending privileges for a few elitist circles but a modern social democrat alternative to the reform-minded political mainstream currently represented by Turkey’s much adored Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan. I am fully aware of the fact that the CHP faces the dilemma of becoming as reform-minded as the AK Party, which is difficult, as becoming even more reform-oriented for the CHP seems impossible. What they can do instead is to make certain that a functioning and liberal market economy based on individual entrepreneurial freedom does not become a form of casino capitalism but stays within the framework of a fair and just society. A social democrat party always has to defend the rights of the working population vis-à-vis those who provide them with employment. A social democrat party must be the eyes and ears of those people who have not yet fully partaken in Turkey’s economic miracle. They should strongly defend Turkey’s EU vocation and its approach to showing international solidarity with peoples in oppressed overseas countries.
What I wish to say, however, is that from the moment the CHP becomes a viable alternative to the current government, the present administration will become even more reform-oriented as the opposition pushes them in that direction. When eventually the time comes for the government to recharge its political batteries for one or two terms, they can do so with peace of mind as the danger that Turkey will once again be turned backwards (at high speed back to the 1960s, so to speak) is no longer there as the opposition will continue from where the current government stopped.
I am looking forward to receiving the related SMS from the CHP once it is ready telling me and others about their precise policy plans in an easy to digest format. I hope they keep me on their mailing list, although I politely refused to become a paid member.
