#Election2023: Regional Media Coordination is preparing for the vital election

Thu, 04 Aug 2022 12:12:00 +0300

Local journalists and representatives of non-governmental organizations from different cities talked about the preparations for Turkey's critical election. The meeting took place upon the call of Dokuz8HABER, the preparations for the election were discussed in the meeting and a forum was held on various proposals.

At the meeting which was held at MMO Lokal on July 29 and 30 with the participation of journalists and NGO representatives from different cities, the significance of local media in the election safety and the fate of Turkey were discussed. Journalists from more than 20 cities shared their own experiences and contributed to the election preparations of dokuz8HABER.
dokuz8HABER Editor-in-Chief Gökhan Biçici told about the experiences of DOKUZ8HABER in the elections, which was established during the 2014 Municipal Elections process, and reminded about the activities of Regional Media Coordination of Election 2019.
“We are preparing for an election to be held as early as the beginning of November. We do not want to be caught unprepared for the critical election of Turkey after all the work we have been putting our efforts in over the course of many years. We have closely monitored 8 elections since March 2014. We are a platform that conducts news-oriented election monitoring in Turkey and takes into account election safety. We are aiming for a comprehensive network with journalists who will monitor the election in 973 districts and with citizen journalists around them.

Biçici emphasized that what they will do in a few months can determine the next 10 years and added:

‘’Where will we find election-related news? Although we do not have an independent national news agency, we have an institution that fulfills this function in every city across Turkey. Now it is necessary to aim to establish a national news agency. Finance and sustainability are the key problems. We aim to create an opportunity without being dependent on any funds. We want to write a success story with a fully independent media''

Biçici stated that they wanted each participant to actively discuss their role in the selection process at the meeting. He emphasized that they took important steps in a short time in the study they announced at the event held in October 2021. He reminded that they had two separate trainings in İzmir and three trainings in Hopa, Samsun and Ereğli in the Black Sea region. Biçici also said that the election news site, sendennehaber.net, is also launched.

Explaining that they are a part of the Election Safety Platform and that they are holding talks focused on civil society to enhance cooperation with various social platforms and civil society, Biçici said that many trainings are being considered within a month or two to prepare for the election, including a raid-election. Gökhan Biçici emphasized that they will meet with several local media outlets across the country including cities like Antalya, Trabzon and regions such as Çukurova, Van.

After Gökhan Biçici's presentation, the meeting continued as a forum. Medeni Sungur, founder of Kuest Media, stated that the presence of a local journalist in all 973 districts is a rare thing and said, “No other media organization has such a capability. It is an exciting process,” he said. Samsun Journalists Association President Mehmet Yazıcı stated that there is a "news agency" problem in Turkey and said, "It is clear that the existing news agencies have a political aspect. We also hear that there are various preparations in this direction. Everyone sees this gap. Turkey will see something different this time.’’

Assoc. Dr. Erkan Saka and Güventürk Görgülü also shared their previous election monitoring experiences and emphasized the significance of monitoring the elections as a reporter.

Healthcare professional Mahfuz Karaaslan shared his experiences as a citizen journalist in the previous elections and stated that the unions have important duties in this regard. Aydın Haberleri Editor-in-Chief Ayşe Yılmaz also touched upon the difficulties of being a woman in the local media and keeping a local media organization alive. Yılmaz emphasized that there is a need for reliable local news flow.

On the second day of the #Election2023 Regional Media Coordination and Citizen News Network Turkey Preparatory Meeting, the role of media and civil society in the framework of Election 2023 and preparation for Turkey's new political period was discussed.
Gökhan Biçici stated that they are considering cooperation with NGOs working in complementary fields, targeting elections. Ertim Orkun, President of the election-safety focused Oy ve Ötesi Association, emphasized that there are studies that civil society and local journalists can do together. Denizcan Sarı from verification network Doğruluk Payı stated that is not possible for an institution to fulfill its verification duties alone in times of crisis, such as during the election period, and offered suggestions on what can be done.

İz Medya Broadcast Coordinator Murat Atilla, Gazete Graffiti Editor-in-Chief Ali Taş, journalist Uğur İstanbullu from Artvin, citizen journalist Ozan Devrim Yay on behalf of the Yaşam Bellek Özgürlük Derneği, Adana Bir Buçuk TV Editor-in-Chief Armağan Kabaklı and other participants gave examples from their own experiences, presented cooperation proposals. Public Health Specialist Dr. Ayşegül Tözeren, on the other hand, reminded that these elections will be the first to be held under pandemic conditions, and said that it is necessary to be ready for all kinds of possibilities.
#Election2023 Regional Media Coordination and Citizen News Network Turkey Preparatory Meeting ended with discussions and the suggestions. New schedules and plans were also considered and work plans for the upcoming period were created.

Impressions on the Deeds of Appointed Trustee Mayor in Van

Mon, 19 Aug 2019 13:26:00 +0300

Recently I was in the city of Van to offer consultancy during strategic planning process at the metropolitan municipality. I will explain my first-hand experiences what kind of damage appointed trustee has caused in the city previously, because trustees are not only theft of political rights. Appointment of trustees instead of elected officials is based on anti-people practices to begin with. In any local governance body, the first thing for appointed trustees to do has been to shut down service units for the business-women, women's shelter, Women Solidarity Center, Municipal Women's Unit... Women have been the primary target of trustees. While shutting down the municipal units for women, appointed trustee in its two and a half year term also shot down Nuda Theatre Group and fired all the trainers. The trustees are also enemies of the arts apparently. The thing called "appointed trustee", has taken a series of steps to destroy the institutional structure it has taken over and destroy it. They have dismissed the planners, architects, engineers and other qualified personnel, thus making it ungovernable and preventing inspections & checks. Institutional capacity has been deliberately destroyed at these municipalities. Again, knowingly and deliberately, with a directive from the "center" the financial capacity of the municipality was collapsed. Basically, the municipality was robbed, and there was no officials left to audit this theft, so municipality's own resources have been shared by the central and local thieves. Van Metropolitan Municipality was taken over with ₺1.5 Billion debt on March 31... During the governance of the appointed trustee, the municipality's properties were put up on sale; valuable properties of the municipality located at the city center were handed over to cronies. The most obvious example is the municipal car park; due to the sold land, municipality has become a renter on its own land for the municipal vehicles. Nuda Cultural Center which I have personally visited, was turned into a strange building and given to Mufti Authority; after the sound systems, heating & cooling systems, musical instruments, various training material and many other properties located inside it were stolen without adding them to the inventory of course. Appointed trustee mayor sold the old municipal building for a really low price and looked for an institution to hand over the new building as well. As it can be seen, the goal here is not to govern but to destroy and to cause such a damage to prevent any further attempts to govern as a municipality ever again. Appointed trustee mayor spent ₺650.800 for the concrete wall to surround the Van Metropolitan Municipality, separating it from the people. The same concrete blocks on the border of Israel and Palestine. I had asked "why are you not removing these blocks from here" during my visit; apparently the Ministry of Interior had refused permission to remove the wall after elected co-mayors named their desire to remove it. In the two and a half years of appointed trustee term in Van, the municipality has taken over ₺200 million loans and these have been reflected in the Court of Audits' reports due to irregularities. State officials have detected irregularities and problems from purchases to budget applications, to employments and many other fields. Applications of appointed trustee mayors are an attempt to destroy local governance, prevent institutionalization and block municipal services; they are an application of pillaging. So, finally the appointed trustee mayor of Van Metropolitan Municipality, Murat Zorluoğlu... What has happened to him after he completed his term in Van in two and a half years? He was elected as Trabzon Metropolitan Mayor, under governing Justice & Development Party AKP. Thank you for hearing me out; now please go ahead and spread the word, tell it to everyone. Read "Appointed Trustees Replace Elected HDP Co-Mayors, Again"