We witness a few people trying to subvert democratic politics through "the management of twisted perception" by ignoring the public's desires and hopes for the future. Among the few were journalists hung up on Prime Minister Erdoğan and followers of the Gülen Movement. The people gave the appropriate response to the nonsense circulated by these few people. In short, the management of twisted perception didn't affect the public. However, it disturbed the equilibrium within the Republican People's Party (CHP) and the Nationalist Movement Party (MHP). The CHP in particular seemed to switch from Kemalism to Gülenism. What was most interesting was the fact that this management of twisted perception seemed to influence the decision makers in the U.S. The U.S. Embassy in Ankara, being close to the center of the managers of twisted perception, failed to accurately predict the election results.

It took all the nonsense seriously, such as Tayyip Erdoğan becoming a dictator to win the elections. Commentaries and reports in Hürriyet and Zaman newspapers were fixated on Erdoğan and confused U.S. diplomats in Turkey.

Now, they are trying to free themselves of this confusion and re-establish a dialogue with the true representatives of the Turkish people. Ambassador Ricciardone's visit shows the change in stance. However, the steps they take to correct their mistakes are insufficient. It shows in their continued misdiagnosis of who and which newspapers truly represent the Turkish media.

This weekend, U.S. Assistant Secretary of State Doug Frantz will meet with a group of Turkish journalists in Istanbul to understand the state of journalism in Turkey.

Among those invited are journalists from Turkish dailies Zaman, Vatan and Milliyet, but none from Yeni Şafak, Star or Türkiye. I was also invited, but once I realized that the list of attendees was one sided, I declined to attend.

Understanding Turkish media

Before he was appointed to his post at the Department of State, Doug Frantz worked for many years as a reporter, columnist and executive in U.S. media and is an experienced journalist with many books to his name. However, as a public servant now he needs to understand Turkey through a skewed reality formed by deceived diplomats.

He will listen to those who don't understand the Turkish people and who have misled the U.S. and come to believe he understands the Turkish media landscape.

He will be ignorant toward the opinions of Etyen Mahçupyan, Cem Küçük, Yıldıray Oğur, Markar Esayan, Fehmi Koru, Salih Tuna, Melih Altınok or Kurtuluş Tayiz on the current state of Turkish media. He will not know what the "Media Cartel" did during the Feb. 28, 1997 "post-modern coup" or how it published the same stories with the same headline as per the military's directive.

No one will tell him that the same people are now taking orders from Pennsylvania.

In short, the U.S. thought it understood Turkey through the manipulations perpetrated by the managers of the twisted perception. This error, in some respects, seems to be continuing.