Radical Love Book’ hailed as key to Turkish opposition election success

Source:Middle East Eye Date:13Apr2019

Probably the first pro-CHP article in any English language  press outlet!

Faced with President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s polarising invectives labelling them as terrorists, the CHP tried a new strategy: being nice.

“Whatever wounds were opened before, in order to heal them, we will meet individually with every segment of society, every ethnic identity, every religious group,” said the CHP’s candidate for Istanbul, Ekrem Imamoglu, shortly after the elections.

The basis for the new strategy is a publication produced by Ates Ilyas Bassoy, the head of campaigning for the CHP, called the Radical Love Book.

“[Imamoglu] always speaks politely and courteously. When he talks like that, the [AKP] doesn’t know what to do,” said Bassoy, speaking to Middle East Eye.

Bassoy’s communications strategy is to avoid being reactionary and rising to the AKP’s bait.