Debates between candidates.. I have some experiences from the past…

2020 is the election year in the USA. Candidates for nomination of the two parties (Republicans and Democrats) have already launched their campaigns. Number of the candidates will eventually be reduced to one in the both sides, and the American people will enjoy the opportunity -even more than once- to judge the two rival candidates by watching their televised debates which take under strict rules.

In the past, the US Information Agency (USIS) would gather Turkish journalists in Ankara and Istanbul, and provide them with the opportunity to watch the final debate between two American candidates on screen. Today, we have the privilege of watching it at home.

Battle of words between candidates or party leaders on screen have spread to other parts of the world in the course of time.

Here is an example from our country that my peers would remember easily: In 1983, in the new political period that started off when the generals of the military coup allowed civil political life, Turgut Özal, the leader of Motherland Party, and Necdet Calp, the leader of the Populist Party had engaged in a fierce debate on the state television around privatization of the Bosphorus Bridge. While the former insisted “I will sell it, you will see!”, his rival challenged him, “I won’t let you do that!”, and the pro-privatization one (Özal) had come out as the winner from that debate. 

Similar battles of words have continued in subsequent elections, too…

Candidates and journalists