Political communication and leader relationship from perception management perspective: Turgut Özal period analysis (1983-1989)

The aim of this thesis is an analysis of the role of the leader in the process of political communication which was prepared as an answer for question "How much are political leaders effective in a management by perception of the masses with the use of political communications?", an analysis of period Turgut Ozal`s Leadership`s and past elections in this period. Turgut Özal was the leader of the party called "Anavatan Partisi", who was in power between 1983-1989. He was elected as a political leader and showed himself as one of the effective leader in Turkish political life after 1980 and he is one of the first leaders who used mass media communications in the best. Our work based on supposition, that a political leader one of subjects of political communication is the biggest operating gun in a management by perception of the masses, appeared rendered influence on perception of electorate in addition to the rhetoric and on a character of leader. Also it is noted that the leader-centered party leader's behavior, rhetoric vary and the party's support rate are different. As a result, the study showed that the political leader is an important political communication actor in directing the perception of masses. The elections examined during Özal's prime ministerial period and the election campaigns applied in these elections show that Turgut Özal managed the perception of the electorate by using the means of communication within the conditions of the period. However discourse in Turkey with conditions that actually describe problems experienced in Turkey to have a different result, management has shown that only a limited perception of the media or the leader's success. The first part of this work consists of four chapters. In the first part of this work, there is just a short introduction. In the second part, the concept of perception management is examined and the political dimension of this concept is discussed. In the third part, the concept of political communication is touched on and the political leader who is one of the political communication actors is discussed here. In the fourth chapter, the role of Turgut Özal, the political leader to be examined as a case, in political communication has been analyzed.