Post-Sedat Peker Turkey: The Decline of the ‘Ad State’
Discussions revolved around whether Turkey became a refugee rentier state or a trading state, or a tourism state so far in Turkish academia. Looking at the significant HR providers and the excessive use of mass media tools by the government, one can detect that the essential sources of the current Turkish state comprise incumbents, mafias, uneducated police forces, and political advertisers. The rentiers of the instruction sector have public echelons such as Nihat Özdemir, the head of the Turkish Football Federation; before him, this position was held by Demirören, who is now keeping the major mainstream media channels. Economic sectors’ transformation to political legitimacy tools has a process and political economy. It requires human resources to run the system of advertising this oligarchy into something democratic, national, and simply “secure.” The Presidency has even a bureaucratic body called “The Office of Communications,” legally binding the state television TRT, think-tank SETA and Anadolu Agency. The AKP government has managed it throughout the years of experience. However, with the pandemic’s failures, the system is giving errors. Therefore, I argue that Turkey is an advertisement state and losing its persuasiveness.
The postmodern theory suggests that a set of images runs the system of consumption. If the government holds the consumer sectors, then the government runs the system of objects, not people. What is consumed and not consumed in Turkey is partly determined by the government and their exchange values. Turkish government imposes the idea of a conspiratory sacred state mind. Behind the whole concept and dress of the holy “state,” actually, the aforementioned machiavellian relationship network exists. It is the politics that governs “who gets how much.” The government uses the symbolic remains of the democracy to make people believe that they really in the business of running the country, still valuable and secured. The people feel secure because there is something called “a thousand-year state mind,” just like Ertuğrul Ghazi in Resurrection Ertuğrul, Erdoğan, and his men are in charge of it today. So, against the insecurities coming from the West, there is the state even when people somehow don’t like the government’s policies.
The whole idea is nothing but an advertisement that promotes “wisdom”, but not “rationality”. It creates a myth that goes beyond reality and institutionalizes that myth. It is consumed because it is based on the very same consumerism tactics. The government strategy is not to call people’s minds. Still, just like the regular ads on TV, it sells a product that makes you do not think of any insecurities, any ontological threats, as the mind works for diminishing the probabilities and perceiving the outside world constant. It is not different than when a spectator of a soap opera comes and relaxes after the long working hours. There is an already stereotyped opposition that tries to make you believe that everything is worsening. You feel yourself wise, presuming that there is a state apart from the government, and the government needs to “make” your life better at some point. However, the government (or state, samely) ruled by the machiavellian people after 20 years of AKP reign sells the “better”.
The story differs when the same person comes home after work. S/he sees Sedat Peker videos, the nationalist mafia who sells out the Interior Minister. S/he sees Sedat Peker, thinks about the Valley of the Wolfs (Kurtlar Vadisi), gets excited, makes fun of that video, and waits for the other episodes with enthusiasm. When the person associates Peker's confessions with the Wolfs, the story becomes “criminals suppressed illegally for the sake of state”, and “for the security of people” which is tolerable, but the reality is very different. There is an absurd situation in this given story that Sedat Peker reveals what is known and is the law issue, but for the non-lawyers, this is something absurd. The deep state reveals itself as a funny mafia story similar to Valley of the Wolfs. Former ministers who make their PR with national protectors and now reveals out to be trading drugs. Whatever has been done is about individuals’ wealth in the state; the threats of gülenists revealed out to be created as cases for harming people and holding their properties. The “national security against undercover terrorists” is a myth, a dress, a password for stealing properties. This is different than the plot of the Valley of the Wolfs.
The same person sees the AKP advertisement cartoon video on Twitter and makes a laugh at it, even though s/he feels uncomfortable with the main opposition leader, who is the protagonist of the video. A few days later, s/he watches the scandalous video of Culture and Tourism Ministry, “Enjoy, I am vaccinated” written masks to sell Turkish vacation to Tourists. The Greek advertisement makes people in love with the video. Gets jealous, angry, feels some anxiety, and doubts that “what is this all about?”. A few days later, trying to forget it, s/he sees the unsuccessfully made video of the vice president of the Communication Office guy who calls for attention over the Israeli massacres on Palestine. The video is terrible, and the guy is somehow disturbing. S/he thinks that “You should make a good accent, because you should make us look better, don’t make us feel resentment.” The video was made with Turkish subtitles, actually never aimed at taking the international audience’s attention. S/he emphasizes the image, on the phenomenology of the video, the representation, but just forgets about the reality. Says that what is this absurdity?
Indeed, the absurdity is the way that the government is now lacking successful advertisers. There has always been a human resources problem at the state level. Yet the policies were never in the direction of making Turkey better but making AKP autocrat, and also there is now a problem of HR in the advertisement part of the government. The whole idea of selling the state wisdom, selling the feeling of security, the sense of greatness loses its persuasiveness. It is no different than a bad film, in which the scenario, lighting, setting, the acting does not drag you into the film’s world. The AKP government has always been a bunch of absurdity covered successfully and sold to be consumed. However, the persuasion system gives an error. The spectators feel discontent, thus feel insecure about the images. There is only one way for the government to survive. There is still some space for diverging attention from this brick in the wall. The whole system of absurdity is not revealed yet.
People still associate things with symbols on TV. That normalizes the AKP’s scandal cases, still gives the chance that they were for the sake of the state’s security, they still can divert public attention. For instance, the Sedat Peker case is not so attractive when explained by domestic security experts. The AKP government, Fahrettin Altun, will count on that and search for new images.
It is the decline of the advertisement state, but the “spectators” need to be aware that it is not the Valley of the Wolfs but the reality. Everything we counted on was empty signifiers; therefore, they should become a “voter”.
