Unit  9:  New Approaches to Educating & Informing Turkish Lobbying Groups
 

Unit 1:  Who are lobbyists & what motivates them?
Unit 2:  Turkey's image abroad.
Unit 3:  History of Turkish communities worldwide & reasons for a weak Turkish lobby.
Unit 4:  National & ethnic interests: Anti-Turkey lobbies, misrepresentation of facts & defamation.
Unit 5:  The Turkish lobby dilemma in the United States as a case study.
Unit 6:  Problems encountered by Turkish lobbies in the EU, Germany, France & worldwide.
Unit 7:  Current Turkish lobby issues & the role of public diplomacy.
Unit 8   What can be learned from powerful lobbies such as the Jewish/Pro-Israel lobby?
Unit 9   New approaches to educating & informing Turkish lobbying groups.
Unit 10  Media relations, advertising & professional communications skills.
Unit 11  Initiatives for individuals & public speaking.
Unit 12  Initiatives for communities, campaigns, & NGO'S.
Unit 13: Fund-raising, public relations, & what can be done domestically.
Unit 14: Turkish lobbies undergo a period of transition: The need to strengthen old & new leadership.
Unit 15: Long-term strategies & lobbying in the post-September 11 era.

I. OUTLINE FOR UNIT 9: New approaches to educating & informing Turkish lobbying groups.

    1. Creating a long-term national information strategy.

        a. How technology is empowering individuals.
        b. How world politics is changing in the global information age.

    2. Creating an Internet training institute.

• 1 Comprehensive strategy and coordinating structure.
• 2 Crisis management team to rapidly respond in a preemptive manner to disseminate strategic information as news unfolds.
• 3 Train and recruit staff.
• 4 Find volunteers with specialized skills.
• 5 Offer online training courses and certificates.
• 6 Identify, prioritize and target new audiences. Offer guidance on how to communicate with foreign audiences.
• 7 Create virtual communities, networks, and mobilizing coalitions.
• 8 Create multi-language web sites.
• 9 Study the global media and create a foreign media watchdog group.
• 10 Write and edit materials such as press releases, and produce sample alert letters.
• 11 Help write speeches or letters for citizen lobbyists.
• 12 Produce reference materials.
• 13 Use institute language skills to correct material received from Turks abroad and in Turkey.
• 14 Do fact-checking.
• 15 Prepare information as a PR firm in the most advantageous way.
• 16 Conduct foreign public opinion research/develop ways to survey and evaluate public opinion (abroad and in Turkey).
• 17 Develop relations with civil society and non-governmental organizations (NGO's).
• 18 Encourage donations to be made over the Internet.
• 19 Answer questions and offer advice to Turks living abroad.
• 20 Increase multi-directional dialogue between societies, video conferences.
• 21 Better manage resources.
• 22 Compare proposals and offer awards.
• 23 Advise on organizing scholarly conferences, face-to-face meetings, or hosting exhibitions and special events.
• 24 Help visiting Turkish journalists arrange interviews and find internships.
• 25 Find ways to monitor and evaluate progress, develop future strategies.
• 26 Expand activities through the creation of larger networks.

II. EXERCISE, ACTIVITIES & PROJECTS

●Research various types of institutes and study how they operate. Then create a diagram of a group of 50 people who can debate various aspects of the current Turkish lobby situation and suggest proposals for a national dialogue (who can formulate strategy and make operational decisions with authority of judgment? how should people be grouped in research teams to compile and spread information? who should knowledge managers be? how should data be gathered? how should assessments and analysis be made about emerging issues? how can strengths and weaknesses be assessed to determine what areas need improvement to operate effectively? List information you think is crucial to gather, in addition to the subjects that are already covered in this web site--such as information on economic policy, domestic politics, trends, foreign trade, industry, business developments, commercial opportunities, legal issues, and government regulations.

(Educators and speakers from think-tanks and NGO's to be named).

III. QUESTIONS

●How should background information, analysis, and commentary on major issues facing the Turkish lobby be organized? How should daily information on Turkish political processes, economy, and culture be organized?

●What are the best methods of sending accurate information on Turkey to the international press, legislators, think-tanks, and businessmen (on a daily basis, monthly basis, and as breaking news)?

●What are the best methods of sending accurate information on Turkey to Turkish lobbies around the world (on a daily basis, monthly basis, and as breaking news)?

IV. BACKGROUND MATERIAL

Don't sit back and think somebody is lobbying for you. An effective long-term national information strategy for world public opinion must be developed by the Turkish lobby in order to promote a better and accurate understanding of Turkey. The Turkish lobby must be equipped and ready to act in a preemptive manner to disseminate strategic information to geographic locations before inaccurate information is spread, particularly by the deliberate actions of anti-Turkish lobbies. Due to 21st century geo-political and security demands, it is imperative that Turkey truly is able to build bridges of understanding across Eurasia and beyond. This also entails improving cross-cultural relations. Therefore, the Turkish lobby must develop a comprehensive strategy and coordinating structure. It must be driven by creative thinking, along with sustained leadership that can plan and coordinate.

Technology can empower individuals and groups who can play important roles in world politics. Unfortunately, not just Turkey, but many European and Eurasian countries are behind the U.S. in using the Internet. Nonetheless, the information revolution is creating virtual communities, networks, and mobilizing coalitions that cut across national borders. The key is understanding the influence of the information revolution and understanding how world politics is changing in the global information age.

It must be stressed that lobbyists must continually analyze international developments and the potential impact on Turkey's economy, national interests, and foreign policy. The Turkish lobby needs to better understand the importance of instant communication, and to better use the Internet.

Technological developments have made it easier to identify, prioritize and target new audiences (including those that may have appeared indifferent to Turkey's concerns). It is now easier to create multi-language web sites, forge coalitions, hold video conferences, invent new techniques of electronic persuasion, study the global media, and even debate online. Developing relations with civil society and non-governmental organizations (NGO's) is also easy through the Internet. Real change in improving the effectiveness of Turkish lobbying may depend on imaginative thinking and on innovation. Existing assets must be enlarged and improved by technically savvy lobbyists who are comfortable with databases, electronic tactics, and who are in command of communications techniques.

With the advice of experienced lobbyists, PR specialists, and academicians an Internet training institute can be established. One priority could be to train and recruit staff who could then find volunteers with specialized skills to meet objectives. Once they have attracted and trained others, the institute can offer online training courses. After receiving certificates from the institute (it can be e-mailed and printed by the recipient) a core high-tech elite membership can be formed (with little expense, energy, or time spent). While certificate holders help train others over the Internet, they can also encourage donations to be made over the Internet. The increasing prestige of the institute would itself generate financial support and interest. Groups can specialize in certain areas, for example write and edit materials such as press releases, help write speeches or letters for citizen lobbyists, produce reference materials, produce sample alert letters, produce sample informative letters, use their language skills to correct material they receive, do fact-checking, prepare information as a PR firm in the most advantageous way, conduct foreign public opinion research and develop ways to survey and evaluate public opinion (abroad and in Turkey).

Because timing is always an important factor, the institute should also serve as a foreign media watchdog group with a crisis management team that could be used as a center for brainstorming and for rapid response to developing news stories.

Guidance could be offered on how to communicate with foreign audiences and define new target audiences. The institute could also help Turks living abroad stay in touch with Turkey and answer any questions they may have. They could refer questions posed by foreigners and request that the institute helps them explain the Turkish system of government, the values of the Turkish people, the traditions and what makes Turkey unique. This would also increase multi-directional dialogue between societies. The institute could offer advice on organizing scholarly conferences, arranging face-to-face meetings with officials, hosting exhibitions or special events, and helping members of the media arrange interviews.

One of the priorities should also be to find ways to monitor and evaluate progress, develop future strategies and better manage resources. The institute could also compare proposals and offer awards. There may not be one lobbying model that works, so various lobbying techniques could be implemented according to the unique characteristics of the society, and the audiences that are being targeting.