Local elections were held on March 29th in Turkiye. The below article gives a snapshot of Turkiye.
Who killed Yazıcıoğlu?
Yusuf Kanlı
How will the March 29 elections be remembered in the future?
I can hear comments by some stressing that Sunday’s polls will be remembered in the years ahead with photographs of the citizen in the southeastern Anatolian Tunceli city climbing to his uphill slum without running water and electricity with a dishwasher, oven or refrigerator on his back. Or, perhaps with the photographs of the "Tunceli refrigerators on sale" placards at Istanbul’s Tahtakale spot market. Naturally, people might have different opinions.
Some would say live-broadcast orders of the chief executive to the governors that they should personally shovel free coal to the doorstep of "needy citizens"; some others would say nourishing a beggar culture in the country through the awkward, "It is a requirement of our religion to distribute alms" statement of a tall and angry man legitimizing and institutionalizing election bribery for the first time in the electoral history of this country would be remembered in the years ahead as "peculiarities" of the March 29 polls.
The systematic and massive exploitation of the public means, including government agencies, official vehicles and planes would not perhaps be remembered as the most important element of the Sunday’s polls. Did the chief executive and his men leave any road, public housing project, public lavatory not inaugurated during this election campaign even if they might have been opened to service 10 times over the past years? But, since services to the nation are not covered by the election bans, who can stop the chief executive from distributing keys of the unfinished houses constructed by the Public Housing Agency? Thus, key presentation ceremonies were converted to free-of-charge election rallies of the chief executive and his gang of merry men!
Rescue fiasco
Still, I do not believe the March 29 polls will be recalled with any of these in the years ahead. Most probably, talking with his/her grandchildren several decades later, most of the mayors or local assembly members who will be elected this Sunday, will say "I was elected in the elections when Muhsin Yazıcıoğlu and his friends were frozen to death on the mountain after their helicopter crushed and because of the primitive rescue capability of our country they could not be found and rescued."
Is it not incredible? This country has several satellites. It has many mobile telephone networks covering the entire country, even the remotest mountain peaks on the Iraq border. Our telecommunications network is so advanced that our benevolent government’s skillful eavesdroppers are listening to conversations of all our people, learning about their problems and providing efficient remedies (!).
Are not we reading the masterpieces of Ergenekon prosecutors how coups were prevented in our country thanks to the advanced listening capabilities of our modern police state?
Still, although immediately after the crash İsmail Güneş, the Ihlas news agency correspondent, one of the people on board the crashed helicopter, phoned the emergency help service and for 20 minutes he was held on the line to detect his location, after two days, despite search and rescue efforts were held by some 3,500 people, including soldiers, seven helicopters, Yazicioğlu and five other people accompanying him could not be found for more than 45 hours.
Was Hurriyet’s eminent writer Bekir Coşkun wrong in asking how it happened that the state who could detect where and when a general "farted," could not find the wreckage? Was it because all the capabilities of the state were allocated to hunting the Ergenekon "gang"?
Was it not interesting that while despite all its means the state could not find the wreckage, but some amateur wireless operators from the Malatya branch of the Wireless and Radio Amateurs Association found the wreckage?
Yes, Turkey is united in grief, but who killed, after all, Yazıcıoğlu and other people onboard the doomed chopper?
Sunday’s polls will definitely be remembered with the tragic death of Yazıcıoğlu!
Who killed Yazıcıoğlu?
Yusuf Kanlı
How will the March 29 elections be remembered in the future?
I can hear comments by some stressing that Sunday’s polls will be remembered in the years ahead with photographs of the citizen in the southeastern Anatolian Tunceli city climbing to his uphill slum without running water and electricity with a dishwasher, oven or refrigerator on his back. Or, perhaps with the photographs of the "Tunceli refrigerators on sale" placards at Istanbul’s Tahtakale spot market. Naturally, people might have different opinions.
Some would say live-broadcast orders of the chief executive to the governors that they should personally shovel free coal to the doorstep of "needy citizens"; some others would say nourishing a beggar culture in the country through the awkward, "It is a requirement of our religion to distribute alms" statement of a tall and angry man legitimizing and institutionalizing election bribery for the first time in the electoral history of this country would be remembered in the years ahead as "peculiarities" of the March 29 polls.
The systematic and massive exploitation of the public means, including government agencies, official vehicles and planes would not perhaps be remembered as the most important element of the Sunday’s polls. Did the chief executive and his men leave any road, public housing project, public lavatory not inaugurated during this election campaign even if they might have been opened to service 10 times over the past years? But, since services to the nation are not covered by the election bans, who can stop the chief executive from distributing keys of the unfinished houses constructed by the Public Housing Agency? Thus, key presentation ceremonies were converted to free-of-charge election rallies of the chief executive and his gang of merry men!
Rescue fiasco
Still, I do not believe the March 29 polls will be recalled with any of these in the years ahead. Most probably, talking with his/her grandchildren several decades later, most of the mayors or local assembly members who will be elected this Sunday, will say "I was elected in the elections when Muhsin Yazıcıoğlu and his friends were frozen to death on the mountain after their helicopter crushed and because of the primitive rescue capability of our country they could not be found and rescued."
Is it not incredible? This country has several satellites. It has many mobile telephone networks covering the entire country, even the remotest mountain peaks on the Iraq border. Our telecommunications network is so advanced that our benevolent government’s skillful eavesdroppers are listening to conversations of all our people, learning about their problems and providing efficient remedies (!).
Are not we reading the masterpieces of Ergenekon prosecutors how coups were prevented in our country thanks to the advanced listening capabilities of our modern police state?
Still, although immediately after the crash İsmail Güneş, the Ihlas news agency correspondent, one of the people on board the crashed helicopter, phoned the emergency help service and for 20 minutes he was held on the line to detect his location, after two days, despite search and rescue efforts were held by some 3,500 people, including soldiers, seven helicopters, Yazicioğlu and five other people accompanying him could not be found for more than 45 hours.
Was Hurriyet’s eminent writer Bekir Coşkun wrong in asking how it happened that the state who could detect where and when a general "farted," could not find the wreckage? Was it because all the capabilities of the state were allocated to hunting the Ergenekon "gang"?
Was it not interesting that while despite all its means the state could not find the wreckage, but some amateur wireless operators from the Malatya branch of the Wireless and Radio Amateurs Association found the wreckage?
Yes, Turkey is united in grief, but who killed, after all, Yazıcıoğlu and other people onboard the doomed chopper?
Sunday’s polls will definitely be remembered with the tragic death of Yazıcıoğlu!
