As in my former posts, I promised to write about Mr. Erdogan's speech which he delivered last Monday, April the 30th.
I see this not from a political point of view, but as a foreigner who is living in Turkey.
Honestly, Mr. Erdogan's speech was bad from the beginning until the end, from my observation as an international communication manager.
Why? I shall explain this in detail.
First of all, there was and is a mini-crisis in Turkey. Which means that either the President or the Prime Minister has to ease the tension! To avoid speculations about 'who did what', simple: tell what is going on.
Instead of a clear explanation about the increasing tensions, the Turkish nation saw a bad 30 minutes promo about how well the economy is doing. No words about the social standards of the average Turks and nothing about the their struggle for life, neither about the tension with the military nor with the EU. Not one word to the people about what really is going on. Only empty words about: Let's Unify.
Nothing wrong with promoting what you did, but don't use your time as a Prime Minister by what you and your party have achieved, while ignoring the tensions and protests in the streets and the country.
Also, Turkey became more polarized while the PM was asking for unification. And in this speech there was no sign of consensus or compromise. It was party politics as usual. And that's exactly what you don't do in this situation. Addressing the Nation means being above all parties.
Second: it takes 5 minutes for an ordinary statesman to highlight his or her mission.
30 minutes of preaching will have a boomerang effect. You don't get your message understood.Listeners will get confused. And all the facts you want to bring over will fade away as a leaf, blow away in the wind.
And last but not the least: the footage.
If you address a nation which is in crisis, don't use the propaganda tool. Be fair. Don't misuse the situation to broadcast a bad promo. And don't compare Turkey now with Turkey in 1923. The facts which were shown are hilarious. Also, it's not good to broadcast all the time short shots of people applauding for you, which leave the impression that a new cult was created. A new cult, but this time about Mr. Erdogan. Are we serious?
