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SUGGESTED 'TO DO LIST' FOR PRESIDENT GUL
By Bulent Kenes
Today's Zaman, Turkey
Aug 29 2007
Finally the presidential election, a subject of debate and tension
for almost the entire past year, ended yesterday and Abdullah Gul
was elected president after winning the highest percentage of votes
in the history of Turkey's presidential elections. I would like to
congratulate him with great sincerity for his success. Gul's presidency
is an unprecedented victory for Turkey's democracy and will be recorded
in history as such. If democracy stipulates reflecting the public
will in all administrative mechanisms, then we can expect President
Gul to restructure all state institutions so as to comply with the
public's strong will and expectations. On the contrary, not to expect
the public's democratic reflex to echo in the state mechanism or the
opposition of such a natural process would be simply futile.
So what kind of a president should Gul be? What should he do
first? What type of actions should he take? Should he dismiss the
inaccurate criticisms and baseless suspicions about himself? How can
he hint at what he plans to do in Cankaya over the next seven years?
In the first weeks as president, Gul will have to display an
extraordinary performance so that the presidential post is not still
evaluated by his and his wife's identity.
As the national arbitrator he should combine the increasing
dynamism of the Turkish people with the state's organized power and
experience. With the resulting powerful synergy, he should be the
driving force for a greater and faster improvement.
Humbly I constructed a "to do list" which I recommend President Gul
should glance at.
1) After being sworn in and receiving the presidency from Sezer
yesterday evening, President Gul should immediately welcome each
nongovernmental organization that represents a different part of
society, such as the Sunnis, Alevis, workers, employers, farmers,
industrialists, westerners, easterners, leftists and rightists and
understand what they expect from him as the president. Of course
President Gul should also welcome political parties from both ends
of the political spectrum and listen to them too.
2) His visits to the military, Supreme Council, Higher Education
Board and other state institutions should be more than just courtesy
visits. He should attempt to understand the sensitivities of these
institutions and try to shape relations with them bearing in mind
common sensitivities.
3) Within the first week, or at least before he visits any other
country, he must travel the entire nation. He should begin his tour
from the Southeast, in fact he should start from Hakkari. He should not
just meet with the bureaucracy and security officials in the region,
but he should arrange mass meetings with the regional public.
He should embrace people both in Ýstanbul and in Hakkari and he must
repeat this in many cities such as Edirne, Ýzmir, Adana, Trabzon,
and Rize.
The purpose of these visits should be to show the public that
he is not the president of just the administrative elite, but
for everyone. People should be able to feel deep down that he is
everyone's president -- be they Turk, Kurd, Circassian, Laz, Alevi,
Sunni, Armenian or Russian. He must be able to prove that national
unity and solidarity is not strictly dependent on a sulky power
enforcement associated with the state, but that it can also be achieved
by developing sympathy and empathy and by embracing each other.
4) After his predecessor Ahmet Necdet Sezer, who acted as though he
was president of just the state and elitist oligarchy and remained
isolated in the Cankaya Palace away from the people with his cold
and banal character, President Gul should open the Cankaya Palace to
the public. He should prove that it is not just the state's highest
point but that it is the place where the state meets the public. In
this regard he should immediately put an end to the "public area"
nonsense that Sezer started.
5) After he completes his nationwide tour and obtains the support of
the public, President Gul should begin fulfilling the actions most
expected of him; diplomatic initiatives, and international visits. I
am certain that economic circles are anticipating these high-profile
and enlightening visits, which were last held during the term of
the late Turgut Ozal. However President Gul should have a plan when
conducting these visits. He should place equal importance on all
countries. He should visit Western countries, Christian countries,
Muslim countries, and neighboring and far countries alike. He should
also visit Central Asian Turkish republicans. Mending the years of
neglect at a presidential level, he should again strengthen relations
with these sister countries.
As Today's Zaman's headline put it yesterday, "Gul boosts expectations
from the presidency." In all, a high profile statesman such as
President Gul should not have trouble responding to these expectations.
--Boundary_(ID_QsuOCmg9sgirPdB06+nk OA)--
By Bulent Kenes
Today's Zaman, Turkey
Aug 29 2007
Finally the presidential election, a subject of debate and tension
for almost the entire past year, ended yesterday and Abdullah Gul
was elected president after winning the highest percentage of votes
in the history of Turkey's presidential elections. I would like to
congratulate him with great sincerity for his success. Gul's presidency
is an unprecedented victory for Turkey's democracy and will be recorded
in history as such. If democracy stipulates reflecting the public
will in all administrative mechanisms, then we can expect President
Gul to restructure all state institutions so as to comply with the
public's strong will and expectations. On the contrary, not to expect
the public's democratic reflex to echo in the state mechanism or the
opposition of such a natural process would be simply futile.
So what kind of a president should Gul be? What should he do
first? What type of actions should he take? Should he dismiss the
inaccurate criticisms and baseless suspicions about himself? How can
he hint at what he plans to do in Cankaya over the next seven years?
In the first weeks as president, Gul will have to display an
extraordinary performance so that the presidential post is not still
evaluated by his and his wife's identity.
As the national arbitrator he should combine the increasing
dynamism of the Turkish people with the state's organized power and
experience. With the resulting powerful synergy, he should be the
driving force for a greater and faster improvement.
Humbly I constructed a "to do list" which I recommend President Gul
should glance at.
1) After being sworn in and receiving the presidency from Sezer
yesterday evening, President Gul should immediately welcome each
nongovernmental organization that represents a different part of
society, such as the Sunnis, Alevis, workers, employers, farmers,
industrialists, westerners, easterners, leftists and rightists and
understand what they expect from him as the president. Of course
President Gul should also welcome political parties from both ends
of the political spectrum and listen to them too.
2) His visits to the military, Supreme Council, Higher Education
Board and other state institutions should be more than just courtesy
visits. He should attempt to understand the sensitivities of these
institutions and try to shape relations with them bearing in mind
common sensitivities.
3) Within the first week, or at least before he visits any other
country, he must travel the entire nation. He should begin his tour
from the Southeast, in fact he should start from Hakkari. He should not
just meet with the bureaucracy and security officials in the region,
but he should arrange mass meetings with the regional public.
He should embrace people both in Ýstanbul and in Hakkari and he must
repeat this in many cities such as Edirne, Ýzmir, Adana, Trabzon,
and Rize.
The purpose of these visits should be to show the public that
he is not the president of just the administrative elite, but
for everyone. People should be able to feel deep down that he is
everyone's president -- be they Turk, Kurd, Circassian, Laz, Alevi,
Sunni, Armenian or Russian. He must be able to prove that national
unity and solidarity is not strictly dependent on a sulky power
enforcement associated with the state, but that it can also be achieved
by developing sympathy and empathy and by embracing each other.
4) After his predecessor Ahmet Necdet Sezer, who acted as though he
was president of just the state and elitist oligarchy and remained
isolated in the Cankaya Palace away from the people with his cold
and banal character, President Gul should open the Cankaya Palace to
the public. He should prove that it is not just the state's highest
point but that it is the place where the state meets the public. In
this regard he should immediately put an end to the "public area"
nonsense that Sezer started.
5) After he completes his nationwide tour and obtains the support of
the public, President Gul should begin fulfilling the actions most
expected of him; diplomatic initiatives, and international visits. I
am certain that economic circles are anticipating these high-profile
and enlightening visits, which were last held during the term of
the late Turgut Ozal. However President Gul should have a plan when
conducting these visits. He should place equal importance on all
countries. He should visit Western countries, Christian countries,
Muslim countries, and neighboring and far countries alike. He should
also visit Central Asian Turkish republicans. Mending the years of
neglect at a presidential level, he should again strengthen relations
with these sister countries.
As Today's Zaman's headline put it yesterday, "Gul boosts expectations
from the presidency." In all, a high profile statesman such as
President Gul should not have trouble responding to these expectations.
--Boundary_(ID_QsuOCmg9sgirPdB06+nk OA)--