The Republic of Fear

Namely the Turkish Republic of Fear...Now that officially we are a theocratic dictatorship. The iron fisted Erdogan's constitutional changes brought by the influences of shady character Fethullah Gulen, have been approved in a referendum yesterday by the people. Well every nation deserves the sort of regime they voted for.

Erdogan now has total control over the judiciary system. God protect anyone from falling into the judiciary system in Turkey from now on. Because if you are against Erdogan, Fethullah Gulen or AKP, you certainly will not have a fair judgment passed on you.

The phone tapping, dehumanisation of women, human rights and social crimes and attacks toward secularism, which have been escalating in the last 8 years will now  simply becommon occurrences that we just have to accept.

I don't feel safe. I don't have any hopes for the future of Turkey. How can I even think of having and raising children in Turkey? How can I even conceive the idea of raising a daughter in this land where the future is dark, where she will be forced to cover up? How can I trust the environment to establish a business? Why should I pay into my pension fund since people like me are clearly not wanted and will soon be extradited or psychologically forced to leave the country?

Desire to be in the limelight...

Yet another time has come, which makes it impossible to remain silent. The current Turkish "prime minister", whilst refusing to spare 10 minutes to talk to the farmers who are the backbone of the country's survival and yet who are becoming poorer and poorer every year, just had a meeting with Bono of U2 for one and half hours (!) at the prime ministerial office of Dolmabahce Palace in Istanbul.

There are so many contradictions and tragic elements in this picture:

I. How come the "prime minister" of Turkey finds one and half hours to have a meeting with Bono and not with the country's citizens? The population of citizens who live below the poverty line has increased to 14 million since he and his political party came to power. Why not spare one and half hours of his day to solve this problem?

II. This "prime minister" is in such a desperate need to become a "political celebrity" that he would do anything to be in the limelight, to be considered as a "world leader" along the lines of Obama, Sarkozy, Medvedev, even the Pope. He very well knows that in today's celebrity-pop culture world, what he needs to do is to grab the opportunity to be photographed with Bono.

III. I really wonder if Bono, who claims to be so concerned with human rights and who has indeed done more than his share of helping the poor across the world, has any idea of the human rights and other political and social crimes that this "prime minister" and his people have been committing in Turkey over the past decade.

IV. The "prime minister" and Bono's meeting could not have been in a more symbolic setting! The "prime minister" and his party, AKP are keen to engrave neo-Ottomanism. They take more pride in the Ottoman history (of course there is a lot to be proud of) than the history and achievements of modern Turkey. Don't get me wrong. Of course there is a lot to be proud of the history. But please understand that they do not care about the values of a modern republic and democracy, such as secularism, women's rights, equal opportunity to education etc. Rather, they yearn to return to the conquest filled days of the Ottoman Empire with a single Sultan in power who takes advantage of his people's religiosity for his political gains. So it is quite fitting that the meeting took place in Dolmabahce Palace!

When AKP first came to power, the sceptics voiced their concern by indicating that AKP would eventually change the constitution in their favour. The domestic hopefuls and international media refuted these concerns. In their eyes, AKP was a "reformed" version of Islamists. It was yet to be seen that they would try to change the political system in Turkey.

Well, the time has now come! They are changing the constitution with clauses that work in their favour; such as allowing their people to stay in power for longer and getting rid of the checks and balances (three layered) system, which is the fundamental element of every democracy.

The constitution will be going to referendum this Sunday. The people will be asked to vote "Yes" or "No" for the new constitutional changes. If you happen to be in Turkey nowadays, you will see the regurgitation of billboards every other square metre with the "prime minister's" picture and the word "Yes" next to it. And the captions read, "For more democracy, vote YES", "To travel across Europe without a visa, votes YES" etc.

What the billboards don't mention are the real changes that they are going to make in the constitution.

What you need to know about the majority of the Turkish population is that, unfortunately, they do not bother to read or do their own research. There is a large group in the country who find the "prime minister" to be a very charismatic man with a strong wrist. And this appeals to the psyche of the Turkish population.

A recent research conducted by Hurriyet, a daily Turkish newspaper showed that the women in the East of the country will vote "Yes" because "AKP provides them with food supplies, coal and money." When asked if they knew what the new constitution will entail, they said that they didn't know!

God help us!

Turkey is in a devastating landslide en route to becoming a theocratic dictatorship and internationally, the media and other "politicians" are turning a blind eye and deaf ear to it. I worry that it is already too late.