63 DISTILLING IDEOLOGIES: OPINION PAGE STRATEGIES FOR EXPLAINING THE TURKISH ELECTIONS TO FOREIGNERS Josh CARNEY Indiana University, UNITED STATES OF AMERICA jlcarney@indiana.edu Abstract This paper examines opinion and editorial page articles from the Turkish Daily News and Today’s Zaman, Turkey’s two leading English‐language daily papers, in the lead‐up to the July 2007 presidential elections in Turkey. Though both papers present themselves as liberal dailies with independent editorial practices and similar missions of informing the sizeable business, diplomatic, and tourist populations in the country, their ownership by Turkey’s leading media conglomerate (the Dogan group own Turkish Daily News) and a moderately Islamic media conglomerate (Feza Group owns Today’s Zaman) give reason to suggest that differences of mission might emerge. This is especially true in a country like Turkey, where the Islamic/secularist divide is increasingly pronounced and where business ownership of media groups is frequently viewed as a mode of publicity investment and a means to political ends. The Turkish setting is also unique in the high level of respect accorded to columnists relative to other newspaper writers. This paper examines the discursive strategies of columnists from the two papers by highlighting the presentation styles, themes, and party valence emphasized by each paper in the three weeks prior to the 22 July elections. It finds more effective presentation strategies in Today’s Zaman and a greater breadth of discourse in the Turkish Daily News. Distilling Ideologies: Opinion Page Strategies for Explaining The Turkish Elections to Foreigners Introduction In 2007, the Turkish parliamentary election was held in July rather than in November as planned. For foreigners in Turkey, particularly those who could not speak Turkish, this was a lively and potentially confusing time. The businessperson, the diplomat, the educator, the tourist—all present in Turkey for different reasons—were all subjected to the same dizzying array of flags spanning the streets, party stalls and busses blaring songs and slogans, television programs featuring heated debates, rallies held in city centers, or marches in the streets. While some foreigners in Turkey spoke the language and had arrived at their own understandings of the election process, many who lacked the language skills, the cultural context, or both turned to a source that offered to make sense of this cacophony: the English‐language Turkish press. For the first time in history, these foreigners had a choice for local, easily accessible English‐language election coverage: they could read the long‐ established Turkish Daily News or they could turn to Today’s Zaman, a paper