Serenay Sarıkaya was talked about more than Özel’s red card!

The day before yesterday, the main opposition party CHP Chairman Özgür Özel said, “I have a big surprise. Wait for the afternoon!” 

Minimum wage earners who pinned their hopes on the opposition and retirees who were unhappy with the raise rates got excited. But Mr. Özel pulled a red card out of his pocket and showed it to the government. He also made a call, saying, “Retirees, carry a red card in your pocket”…

A huge round of applause for both Özel and the consultants and PR professionals who presented or supported this idea for him…

They truly shook the government’s seat with this move in a way I cannot even describe. 

I extend my congratulations on their strategy to those who suggested this campaign, which would make even children laugh during a primary school class president election. Put the disappointment aside; I could swear, though I cannot prove it, that the government was rubbing its hands together at this big surprise, saying, “Let’s go to an early election.” 

I am sure that if you wrote today’s conditions into ChatGPT and asked it to determine a strategy, it would suggest a more effective method! 

I am truly very curious about what these consultants actually do. Bring a retiree to the podium to speak; it would be more effective than the red card game. 

Mr. Özgür Özel defended this mind-boggling campaign by saying, “Some people are turning up their noses from social media, from their warm homes, and asking 'what are you going to do?'” and angered critics by adding an emphasis on ‘warm homes.’ 

Mr. Özel, those who criticize you do so because they expected much more from you. But if you are closed off to this as well, let me be the one to offer a harsher criticism. 

While you were sitting in your warm home or your warm parliamentary seats, thanks to your party’s clever policies, you caused the formation of a brand-new conservative right-wing alliance in Turkey. You were not the ‘Chairman’ then, but you were the MP whose voice was heard most from the podium. Today, the DEVA Party and the Future Party (Gelecek Partisi) have formed the ‘New Path’ (Yeni Yol) umbrella party to act together in parliament with the Felicity Party (Saadet Partisi). Thanks to the CHP’s magnificent strategy, you were the ones who ensured that both parties, which took parliamentary seats and are now forming the New Path, entered parliament. Do you think the Felicity Party has a different political view than the AKP you are trying to topple? DEVA and Future are those who broke away from the AKP. Two days ago, their return to the AKP was being discussed. So, who did these three parties come together and choose as their Chairman? Celal Mümtaz Akıncı…

Who is Celal Mümtaz Akıncı?

He was the lawyer for some of the defendants in the case regarding the 1993 Madımak Massacre. Celal Mümtaz Akıncı, who cast a ‘dissenting vote’ in the Constitutional Court’s decision to reject the request to cancel the rule regarding ‘the inclusion of income from personal property in the regime of participation in acquired property’ during the division of assets between divorcing spouses, had defended the cancellation of the regulation on the grounds of ‘kul hakkı’ (the right of the people/God’s right), which is a religious criterion. In other words, you also had an influence on the establishment of a brand-new conservative right-wing party. That is to say, the CHP created a new rival with its own hands. 

For this reason, we congratulate you from our warm homes for the CHP’s most effective campaign since the ‘Ekmek için Ekmeleddin’ (Bread for Ekmeleddin) campaign. We are also showing you a yellow card. This yellow card is a warning; if you repeat the mistakes made in the past, those who supported you in the Local Elections are a voter base that will pull out and show you a red card much faster. Do not forget that your voters are not a voter base that supports you like a cult under any circumstances. 

This is also the reason why the agenda regarding Serenay Sarıkaya and ID İletişim is being talked about more than Özgür Özel’s surprise agenda! 

Since everyone is talking about what is happening in the world of actors and tabloids, let us also have a word or two on the subject. 

Journalism in Turkey is a bit like cooking. That is, you cannot just be a cold appetizer chef or a side-dish master. It is like being a cook in a tradesman’s restaurant. You must be qualified enough to know how to make the main course, the salad, and the dessert, and to prepare a menu every day. 

With this logic, in my 30-year professional life, like many of my colleagues, I have worked in many fields from tabloid journalism to politics, and from sports reporting to foreign news. I published magazines and served as the night manager and news manager for major newspapers. I also prepared tabloid newspapers and television supplements. Therefore, I have something to say on this matter. At least the subjects of the topic will not be as angry at our criticism as Özgür Özel is…

While preparing tabloid, television, and lifestyle supplements, I had the opportunity to closely observe the behavior of actors and agents, and the dynamics in the sector. 

Let me explain without going into the private lives and strategies of the talent agency and the actor and singer who are occupying the agenda…

Is there a monopoly in this sector? Yes, there is. Powerful agents and companies certainly control the sector. They even set priority rankings among publications. They arrange interviews on the condition of seeing the questions to be asked to reporters in advance. They even do cover shoots in exchange for sponsorship agreements with magazines. 

Is the mentioned company the only one guilty in this regard? Believe me, the agent-actor relationships and club-agent relationships talked about in Turkish football are also experienced in this world. 

Think about digital platforms; do you think every platform does not have its own cast of actors? Who can say that Platform A’s series have not turned into the archives of certain actors, and Platform B’s series into the archives of certain screenwriters? 

And the big channels… 

Big-budget productions. Are historical series, actor and cast selections made according to talent, or according to who they know and what political views they hold? 

In other words, the real laborers of the sector, young actors who do not have crony relationships, and actors who do not pay homage or submit to certain formations are disappearing or becoming unemployed. 

I will not write names, but many actors’ agents did not allow interviews with newspapers they thought did not fit their politics or interests, wanted to see the questions, or interviews were conducted via email, which is still being done. Or when a new project started, they openly declared this with words like, “We will give an interview to this newspaper first, because we will not give an interview to you later or at all, as it is close to the channel where it will be broadcast.” Our tabloid journalist friends tell us that nothing has changed yet. Just think, can the actors of a series broadcast on TRT or ATV and filmed with the sponsorship of a state bank give interviews to newspapers like Sözcü, Cumhuriyet, or Birgün?

Do these newspapers conduct interviews with period drama actors?

As you can see, it is the paradox of ‘us’ and ‘not us,’ just like in every field. Actors, agents, companies, channels, and digital platforms are killing themselves so that the order they have established does not suffer. 

The Competition Authority has launched an investigation, but we will see if this investigation will only cover the ‘other side of the tracks.’ You know, we have a famous saying that starts with “If I start talking…” If all stakeholders in the sector speak honestly, all the distortions will come to light. 

Otherwise, just like the red card shown by the CHP, the tabloid world will have only shown a red card to Serenay, and in this rotten system, Serenay would not even be a scapegoat. Because her fan base loves her not because of her talent agency or any other reason, but because of her successful work in recent times.

Everyone has muddied the waters. Some linked it to women’s rights just because they are women, some to rent-seeking, some called it a political operation, some said there is no smoke without fire…

Maybe they are all true, but the real problem, as in every field, is the rot!..