Ali Kırca at the School of Politics

In the 7th week of the 8th School of Politics program organized by the Bahçeşehir University School of Government and Leadership, with the participation of Show TV Head of News Ali Kırca, Bahçeşehir University School of Research Methods Director Assist. Prof. Çağdaş Şirin, Üsküdar University President Prof. Dr. Nevzat Tarhan and Mor Çatı Women's Shelter Foundation founder Canan Arın, the topics of media and politics, data-based analysis of non-political voters, neuro-leadership and management, and the search for solutions on women's rights and violence against women in Türkiye were discussed.

Highlights from the program are as follows:

ALİ KIRCA:

"Looking at Türkiye's adventure with democracy, it is said that the media influences politics. This is an urban legend. Just as politics and the democracy adventure start somewhere and move on, the media of 50 years ago is not the same as today's media. It is important to start the milestones with Siyaset Meydanı, a program that has continued uninterrupted for 19 years. What we can describe as the first milestone is the first episode of Siyaset Meydanı. At that time, Türkiye was preparing for the elections to be held on 27 March. All media organizations supported the political parties of the time; there was only one person they did not support, and that was Recep Tayyip Erdoğan. In the end, Welfare Party candidate Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, who received no support from the media and even faced its obstruction, won the election, and as can be seen, he won 'despite the media.' Looking at the process Türkiye has gone through, there is no stable political order. Democracy in Türkiye is a very new phenomenon and is still going through its childhood illnesses. In the time since 1950, this process has also been weakened by military coups, and while European countries have completed centuries on the road to democracy, Türkiye is still at the beginning of the road."

"THE PERCENTAGE OF VOTERS WHO VOTE FOR PARTIES BECAUSE OF THEIR IDEOLOGY IS 25%"

ÇAĞDAŞ ŞİRİN:

"Türkiye is a country where 50% of the population is young. In this context, technological developments also affect politics. In our survey, conducted through face-to-face interviews with 3,000 voters, the percentage of voters who vote for parties because of their ideology was 25%, while the percentage of voters who vote for a party because of its leader was 43%. Young voters change the parties they vote for at a higher rate than older voters. Compared with other education levels, this also applies to university students."

NEVZAT TARHAN:

"We can understand that a person has logical intelligence from their being idealistic, being able to dream, being able to predict the future, thinking outside the box and planning the future. Being a good person is the rent we pay for living in this world. Conscientious intelligence is the type of intelligence that politicians have least, although it is the one they should have most. Politicians who think after acting are doomed to run aground the ship they steer."

CANAN ARIN:

"In the 1980s, with the coup, at a time when even two people could not get together and talk, women came together and began to protect their rights for the first time. Because of the divisions within feminist thought, violence against women emerged as a common ground. There is a prejudice that those who commit this violence are generally men with low literacy; however, it was later revealed that university graduates also commit violence. Women in particular are isolated from their surroundings and have great difficulty finding witnesses. Women who are economically independent and have high incomes are more often cheated on and beaten."