Public Diplomacy Post-Gezi Park Protest

WHITE PAPER FOR TURKEY

PUBLIC DIPLOMACY POST-GEZI PARK PROTEST

Whitney Baillie Alex Redmon Muhammed Yildiz

Dr. Matt Bonham December 2, 2013 Department of Political Science

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY Democracy’s main notion is effective communication among people who share common interest. As democratically elected local administrative units, local governments are the basic administrative units of a modern democratic state. Turkey, however, is still a highly centralized state. Central government is too distant, and its policy process is highly technocratic, which prevents citizens from easily identifying political preference and participating decision making processes. This situation causes lack of transparency and accountability. As a result of unpopular controversial decisions, blame shifting becomes a bureaucratic pattern between local and central government. Although the Gezi Park protest can be seen as a vivid example of lack of democratic legitimacy, it can be a point of departure for new reforms facilitating the opportunity to encourage participation and prove transparency.

According to the EU, “the local authorities are one of the main foundations of any democratic regime, and the existence of local authorities with real responsibilities can provide an administration which is both effective and close to the citizen”1. Increasing movement toward European integration, main conceptual developments on globalization, localization subjects and democratization movements, and the aim of enhancing regional influence by using public diplomacy, are the main reformative motivational objects in the Turkish local government reform process.

The overall objective of the project is to contribute to the improvement of democratic, participatory, and transparent local decision making processes through an atmosphere internationally absent of doubt with states acting in fully supportive roles. The project aims at setting the stage for democratic reform processes through revitalizing the Turkish democratic image.

This revitalized image will in turn serve as a catalyst to accessing international political organizations, markets, and creating beneficial partnerships with other states. Through highlighting the focus and successes of democratic reform, a public diplomacy effort will greatly bolster Turkey’s reputation, political clout, and capacity to effectuate her own agenda

1 European Charter of Local Self-Government, Strasbourg, 15.X.1985, retrieved from “http://conventions.coe.int/Treaty/en/Treaties/Html/122.htm”

2 abroad.

PART 1: BACKGROUND AND JUSTIFICATION

According to Municipality Act (Article 13), local residents have a right to participate in municipal decisions and municipal services. Additionally they have a right to be informed about municipal functions. Municipal administrations make necessary decisions with the broad participation of universities, specialists, and NGOs, in conducting activities that improve residents’ social and cultural relationships. Article 76 of the Municipal Act regulates a city council as a main institutional context on a participatory approach. The City council is a new body in municipal administration that enhances local participatory processes on behalf of local residents. The City council is mainly composed of the local representatives of the private sector such as the chambers of trade and industry, labor unions, public notaries, universities, related NGOs, political parties, public sector entities such as other local public organizations, neighborhood administrations and other interested residents. Decisions of the city council are put on the municipal council agenda. The Municipal council, which consists of elected members, is the main decision making body. Although this legislative structure is established, local level regulatory transparency, accountability, and participation has remained limited. There are several factors for these deficiencies and inadequate improvements regarding these important democratic principles:  Lack of implementation strategy; which requires a step-by-step approach.  Lack of legal background, lack of appropriate training on new consultation methods, and lack of training on active participation tools for local civil servants and civil society, NGO’s, local communities and residents. Failure of local government reform was revealed when The Gezi Park protest began on May 28th, 2013. The initial protests in Istanbul were led by about fifty environmentalists opposing the replacement of Taksim Gezi Park (one of the few remaining green spaces in the center of the European side of Istanbul) with reconstruction of the historic Taksim Military Barracks which was demolished

3 in 1940. The ground floor of the rebuilt barracks was expected to be a shopping mall. The protests developed into riots when a group occupying the park was attacked with tear gas and water cannons by police. The subjects of the protests then broadened beyond the development of Taksim Gezi Park into wider anti-government demonstrations. On June 13th, 2013, the Prime Minister met with representatives of the protesters. With this meeting, reconciliation was reached with the decision of making local referendum about the Gezi Park replacement project. Consequently, as a result of local government democratic decision making deficiency, this local governmental issue had to be resolved by central government intervention. Effective local public decision making requires correctly identifying problems and needs of the public, and properly designing and implementing the envisaged solutions. However, regulations bring costs with their benefits. The local governments must convince the public that regulations are needed and that their benefits outweigh their costs, including both social and environmental cost.2 In light of the realities that led to issues after the Gezi Park protest, resulting from partisan politics in light of upcoming political elections, Turkey has sustained negative attention and doubt on their commitment to democratic governance. There are major conflicts that must be resolved between the central government and local municipal structures, but first the state of Turkey must improve its international standing regarding their commitment to democratic governance and reality of being a model in the region, all achievable through effective public diplomacy; Diplomacy that will better the international relationships and greatly benefit Turkey with neighboring nations, the European Union, and the United States.

PART 2: RECOMMENDATIONS ON EFFECTIVE DEMOCRATIC REFORM

Strategic Planning:

The basic objectives of public decisions are to assure the rights of the citizens, maintain economic and social development, and protect the environment. Regulations bring

2 The European Policy Center, Occasional Paper, 2001, Regulatory Impact Analyses: Improving the Quality of EU Regulatory Activity, Retrieved from; http://ec.europa.eu/dgs/secretariat_general/admin_burden/docs/enterprise/files/epc_paper_en.pdf

4 along both costs and benefits. The public sector must convince the public that regulations are needed and that their benefits outweigh their social and environmental costs. Strategic planning should be prepared in order to enhance the capacity of democratic decision-making processes. In this sense, incorporating the contributions of civil society into the decision making process has become an inevitable requirement in terms of raising democratic legitimacy. The strategic planning should be a regulatory document for actions to be taken for the rational, effective, efficient, transparent, and participatory functioning of the local administration within the framework of the principles of better regulation. Furthermore, it is necessary to review and eliminate the failures in the regulation making process through a holistic approach. The strategy of democratization should consist of five principles: - Transparency and Participation: For increasing the quality of regulation, the regulation making process must not be limited only to public institutions; many related parties such as civil society and local area residents must also be included in the process. Furthermore, regulation must be clear, simple, and easy to understand. The public decision process must be open to access and recommendations for the related parties. This ensures public oversight and enhances participation. Transparency and participation also boost voluntary compliance with regulations. - Responsiveness to Needs and Expectations: Each regulation aims to respond to the need for producing solutions to problems. Regulations must meet the rapidly evolving needs and expectations of the public. - Coherence and Consistency: New regulations must be coherent and consistent in order to ensure enforceability. - Legal Confidence and Stability: Frequent amendments to regulations must be avoided. Frequent amendments to regulations undermines predictability and damages legal confidence and stability. -Proportionality and Enforceability: While preparing regulations, solutions that are proportional to the risks in the regulated area must be selected. Benefits and costs must be calculated, if they are measurable, and the

5 benefits that will result from the regulation must justify its costs.3 Preparing Legal Background for Advancement of Democracy: The By-Law on the Principles and Procedures for Preparation of Regulations, which was put into force in 2006 by the Council of Ministers, provides guidance to administrations on the preparation of regulations in terms of both format and content. Although this regulation requires mandatory consultation, it becomes limited due to lack of applicable manuals and guidelines for practitioners. In order to enhancing administrative capacity of local governments on consultation implementation, user-friendly manuals and guidelines should be prepared. In addition, according to the By-Law, implementation of cost-benefits analysis is required only for central government institutions. For increasing of local government efficiency this analytic method should be compulsory for local government. In terms of local authority regulations, the Municipal Act should be revised in favor of the City Council in order to increase public participation; the City Council would be composed of local representatives of private sector such as the chambers of trade and industry, labor unions, public notaries, universities, related NGOs, etc. The new regulation should provide institutional support for City Councils and focus less on the central government and its institutions. Additionally, the local government expenditures compose only fifteen percent of all government expenditures and the rest is spent on the central government. This percentage is half of that in EU member countries. Municipal Act should be amended in favor of providing more authority on public spending to the local government.

New Consultation Methods: Effective communication on a municipal level requires education and transparency. In order to combat observations of secrecy and lack of transparency while spurring civic participation and activity, the By-Law on the Principles and Procedures for Preparation of Regulations requires only one consultation method, written consultation. This single consultation tool limits the ability to obtain the opinions

3 OECD Guiding Principles For Regulatory Quality And Performance,2006 Retrieved from . http://www.oecd.org/fr/reformereg/34976533.pdf

6 of unorganized social groups. New methodologies such as online public opinion polls, eGov applications, and social media platforms should be introduced for local governments.

Training and Increasing Public Awareness: Implementation of new strategies, especially new consultation tools, requires administrative capacity. Training projects such as workshops and seminars should be provided to local governments. Public awareness is an important challenge to raising public participation. Media campaigns and social media platforms can be used to effectively increase public participation. Additionally, after implementation of public consultation, providing detailed feedback encourages citizens to further engage in the political system. PART 3: PUBLIC DIPLOMACY AND THE EU MEMBERSHIP

Public Diplomacy:

New strategies will be used to communicate with foreign republics in order to establish dialogue designed to inform and influence. Further democratization provides new opportunities for the Turkish government to forge relationships with foreign nations. Exhibiting increasingly democratic processes and public engagement creates a basis for new communicative channels with other democratic nations.

Public Diplomacy Through Advocacy:

Implementation of new democratic strategies allows citizens to question the way that policy is administered. Increased access to the town councils increases citizens’ access to education on political processes and prominent issues being discussed. The new strategy increases citizens’ ability to participate in agenda setting and to raise significant issues. By focusing on improving political processes at the local level, citizens are able to target political systems that are not responsive to their needs and demand better representation by talking with local representatives and attending town council meetings. Better transparency gives the citizens better access to information regarding the actuality of political processes rather than a convoluted and corrupt version often presented by politicians. Citizens are also given the opportunity to actively engage in the political process and 7 propose potential policy solutions. As citizens propose solutions, it opens up space for public argumentation, eventually leading to more successful solutions.

Public Diplomacy Through Cultural Diplomacy:

Through the exchange of a number of aspects of culture among nations and their citizens, a better mutual understanding will be reached between Turkey and other nations. Democratic progress fosters a country’s ability to engage in cultural diplomacy. It allows them to prevent a better view of their people, culture, and policies through engagement. Improved international perception allows for cultural exchanges that induce greater cooperation, aid in changing policies, and prevent, manage, and mitigate conflict.

“Literatürk,” a Turkish-German Literature Festival that takes place annually serves as an artistic exchange aimed to create opportunities for those of Turkish decent living in Germany. The event draws a lot of attention from Turkish and Turkish-German artists and enthusiasts. Turkey should use its increased soft power as a means to create similar exchanges with other EU states in order to gain better cultural understanding and facilitate better diplomatic communications.

Additionally, film directors like Fatih Akın, who was born in Germany but is of Turkish decent, often focus their films on different issues for Turkish populations living abroad. Sharing films like these at international festivals is another opportunity for the Turkish population to exchange ideas with other nations in a way to gain a mutual understanding of their perspectives. On the other hand, since 2001, Turkish TV dramas have become wildly popular in Balkans, Middle East and in Middle Asia Turkic Countries. Until now more than 65 Turkish television series have been sold abroad. Most of These TV dramas take place Istanbul that show Turkish modern life.4

‘ 4 The soft power of Turkish television’ The news and views of Southeast Europe Retrived from “http://www.setimes.com/cocoon/setimes/xhtml/en_GB/features/setimes/fea tures/2011/07/23”

8 Another opportunity for gaining better intercultural understandings is through academic and university exchange programs. Turkey could increase its relations with a number of countries by offering increased opportunity for cultural exchange within Turkey. It would provide students with a better understanding of Turkish culture that they would be able to share with their home country. Increasing these opportunities would likely result in reciprocal exchange opportunities for Turkish students, proving Turkey with better intercultural knowledge.

Accession to the EU:

One of the primary barriers to Turkey’s accession to the European Union is the effective implementation of democratic processes. Democracy is one of the primary principles of the EU, and without abiding by the stated standards, Turkey could never gain membership. Reform of government processes at the local level is a strong symbolic representation of Turkish commitment to democratic principles. The stated goals of the implementation of our reforms would necessarily improve the facilitation of democracy within Turkey.

Increased ability for citizens to participate in political processes is a demonstration of increased democratization. Another important factor is the citizens’ ability to hold their government officials accountable which is attained through increased education and transparency. Expanding methods of cultural diplomacy gives Turkey the opportunity to gain a better understanding of the cultures of various EU nations. Additionally, it provides the chance for Turkey to invite foreigners from those other nations to learn about Turkish customs and to better understand the country. These improved cultural understandings create a better environment for communication and dialogue that can be used to facilitate Turkish admittance to the EU.

Conclusion:

Turkey will be able to stand as an example in the region of democratic governance and fulfill its goals of ascending into the European Union. This will be achieved through the

9 same campaign style that lead to the creation of the European Union itself, aggressive public diplomacy. Public Diplomacy that will be able to showcase the cultural specificities and normalize the Turk in the broader world, while highlighting the governance and values of the state and people in an effort to assimilate into broader supranational organizations and markets. Through displaying reform and advocating for such in other states, Turkey will achieve her goals in the realm of international relations.