Ankara, 1st site: CHP headquarters

The CHP Leader's office

Normally when I choose the sites I am to write about, it is because of their historic significance or cultural value. For Ankara, the first site probably would not meet either of those criteria. It probably isn't in anybody's tour guide either - but it was huge for me.
It was a visit to the headquarters of one of Turkey's leading political parties for a chat with an advisor to the party’s deputy leader. Murat and his friend Tugba (who runs a TV channel) pulled some strings and set up the meeting.

In Turkey, political parties are funded in large part by the state. This provides them with the ability to develop an infrastructure to support their ongoing activities (Their political work developing and maintaining a constituency). A Turkish political party’s physical presence does not come and go in the few weeks around election day like American political parties. - Think about it, if you wanted to visit the Democrats or Republicans today could you find them? In Turkey, you could. Months before an election, we saw the offices of many different political parties - open and doing business. Given that this is true even of smaller parties in smaller cities (Izmir, for example) it is not really a surprise that in the capital, a major political party would have its own building.

The Communists, on Istiklal

The CHP (Republican Peoples Party) does, and it is an impressive space. We got the grand tour - even saw the leader’s private office and the parties cabinet room. Very cool - Even so, the highlight was the chat.  In Turkey's history, the CHP (center-left) has been its leading party, often forming the government. The old guard, through complacency and corruption, led it into the electoral wilderness. But losing collections can be therapeutic. It has new blood, fueled by people like the adviser we spoke with. Like many Turkish politicians his background is in academia. Unlike Sarah Palin’s Tea Party, Turks don’t see expertise and an intellectual orientation as a liability in governing.  These young politicians have a vision for leading their party back to power and correcting the drift they see in Turkey towards Islamism.

It was very interesting to hear Murat (who supports a rival political party - more Liberal in the classical sense) and the CHP adviser agree on so many subjects. They are rivals who share a profound fear of the current leadership and its direction for Turkish society. It will be interesting to see what results the coming election will bring. Is a grand secular coalition a possibility? It sounded that way to me and struck me as another echo of Atatürk's legacy.