A nondescript theater scene, a portrait of Mustafa Kemal Atatürk (founder of the Turkish Republic) in the background, a moderator in invariably black outfit, a guest seated in a large armchair, under the spotlights, facing a full house: the feature of the program “Micro libre”, hosted by the youtubeur Oguzhan Ugur, could not be more basic. The 39-year-old former screenwriter and actor moderates a casual exchange between the audience and a political figure, for several hours, all filmed by a dozen cameras. Without notes, politicians are summoned to answer all questions, and to report to a public ready to “do battle”.
“How did you become a teacher in the establishments of the cemaat [la confrérie de Fethullah Gülen, accusée d’avoir fomenté le putsch du 15 juillet 2016] », asks a young veiled woman to former prime minister and former foreign minister Ahmet Davutoglu. The latter tenses up, denies any link with the preacher in exile in the United States – become the sworn enemy of Ankara –, before being confused by the intervention of another participant, a young man who sticks the microphone on his phone to play a recording of Mr. Davutoglu’s voice paying tribute to Fethullah Gülen. Generalized laughter and thunderous applause broke out in the room.
In a highly polarized society plagued by the authoritarianism of the president, Oguzhan Ugur’s show offers public debate free from censorship and puts politics back at the center discussions. A breath of fresh air in a media environment saturated by government communication. The anonymous follow one another at the microphone, the questions follow one another with an irreverence and a freedom of tone to make the most seasoned polemicists pale.
Millions of views
“We have been prosecuted for incitement to hatred”, however, specifies the presenter who has for displayed opinions only Kemalism and freedom of expression. The political program of the moment, which he created, made and broke reputations in a few hours. The appearance of Turkish Workers’ Party (TIP) MP Baris Atay sparked renewed interest in the small party, which recorded ten thousand additional memberships in the weeks following the broadcast, an increase of almost 30 %.
Conversely, the presidential candidate Muharrem Ince, of the Memleket (Fatherland) party – who withdrew from the election on Thursday, May 11 – saw his popularity rating plummet following his appearance in the broadcast in April. According to opinion polls by the Konda polling institute, it would have gone from 10% to 2.2% of voting intentions in the space of a month.
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