Current Developments in Turkey

Give me the yellow ones.

I don't understand! What yellows?

The yellows, right next to the greens, behind the blues, can you reach over and give me the yellows?

I don't understand again, what yellow are you talking about? 

Yellow is a colour, but it's also an adjective! Yellow paint, yellow pencils, yellow sweaters!

What are you talking about when you say yellow? 

Yellow what? What can I give you in yellow?

***

My wife does this, sometimes she says give me this, I say what should I give her. Then she gets angry and says, "Can't you see what I'm dealing with? I don't pay attention to what she is doing at that moment, I don't understand what she wants.

Yes, whatever you are dealing with at that moment, sometimes when she says, "Give me that one," you don't even need to say much, for example, if you are placing empty jars in the cupboard upstairs, you hand the jars one by one without saying anything, sometimes she says, "Give me the other one," I immediately know which one she wants, I leave the one I'm holding out my hand, I take the one next to it and hand it to her.

Sometimes we communicate even with our eyes. One look is enough if we want to tell what we want to tell.

The important thing is to be familiar with the subject, to know each other.

***

That's what "locals" means. 

Locals, foreigners. Locals, foreigners!

Locals of what? Foreigners of what?

Locals? Local investors? Domestic goods belong to the country?

Mr Mehmet Şimşek's "locals" remark, taken out of the context of his speech, has caused him a lot of trouble recently.

I think it is an empty discussion, but it is not that I like this economic management so much, they are doing a lot of things that I criticise, but I think that one should not be so hard on a person for no reason.

Moreover, I have never understood the criticism over a topic like "locals", which is not a trivial matter.

Firstly, sit down and learn to speak as much English as he does!

OK, he has been abroad for years and I think he even has British citizenship in addition to his Turkish citizenship. That's why Mr Şimşek can speak English so well. But he speaks, doesn't he? And when he speaks, he explains things better than you and me.

That means he knows what he means by "locals" better than you or me. 

First of all, the meaning of "locals" depends on the audience he addresses and the subject of his speech!

But no, they're going to pile on him, so he had to explain it separately. 

He said he meant local investors. But did he convince people, that is a question mark.

Sometimes some things are done deliberately, and you can't find a remedy even if you make a lot of noise.

Still, it means that if you are a politician, you have to be very careful about what you say.

***

Some politicians do this on purpose, they say something in such a way that you can't understand it. They deliberately say things that can mean different things, you can understand it this way or that way.

Did he mean it this way or that way? 

The press, whose job is to follow politicians, then discusses the issue. 

As the saying goes, these discussions are really empty discussions.

Say what you want to say directly! Let's not bother about what you're trying to say, right!?

But as I said, such words are said on purpose. They are meant to hit the nail on the head.

However, what Mr Şimşek said was not like that, his mistake was that he spoke only in adjectives.

So it is not good to speak only in adjectives, don't speak only in adjectives! 

Can you give me the yellows?

Yellows? 

Is it so hard to say yellow paints?

"Is it too hard to say "local investors"?

***

Of course, this discussion is an excuse, like the wolf saying "you are muddying my water" when he thinks of eating the lamb. 

It seems that some people in the ruling circles do not like what Mr Şimşek is doing. Perhaps there are many who have a vested interest.

Even those who think that the elections were lost because of him may be resentful.

There are those in the ruling circles who say that he persuaded Mr Erdoğan and that they could not give an election bribe to the pensioners because of him, and that Mr Şimşek is the main culprit for the result being a defeat.

It is an understandable situation, who and what rents have been made now. 

While they were living in luxury and splendour, the local government pie has shrunk, of course, and the resources that could feed so many staff have almost dried up. 

There is a grudge for this too!

And this resentment will come from somewhere!

I don't think that even Mr Erdoğan has yet decided on whose back the bill will fall.

He said with his own mouth that he could not do anything for the pensioners and the result was a defeat! 

But even if he said it with his own mouth, if there is a culprit, it cannot be him! 

Neither can Mr Simsek!

So who is guilty?

I don't know now, but I know that everyone is on edge.

Soon the smell will come out.

This is the reason for the panic within the AK Party. Everyone is waiting for their fate like sacrificial lambs. 

Let's see who will win the lottery.

For now, Mr Şimşek seems to have got away with it, partly out of necessity.

***

As I said, these are empty discussions, but there are other discussions that are not so empty.

For example, the 23 April debate. The fact that Mr Erdoğan preferred to attend a funeral on the very day of the holiday instead of the celebrations in the parliament!

For example, the fact that only one of the chairmen of the parties in parliament, Mr Numan Kurtulmuş, attended the visit to Anıtkabir, and that only the chairman of the Republican People's Party, Mr Özgür Özel, attended this visit was a matter of debate.

Apart from the AK Party chairman, the Nationalist Movement Party chairman, the Good Party chairman, the Dem Party chairman and co-minister, and even the DSP chairman Mr Önder Aksakal, the chairmen of other parties did not attend this state ceremony!

Either they did not care about Mr Kurtulmuş or they thought why should I go to Anıtkabir? 

Whatever the reason, a grave situation has emerged.

When the discussions reached a level that would affect the public opinion, a statement had to be made by the communication department of the Presidency, and it was said that the Anıtkabir ceremonies for the 23 April holiday were not held under the leadership of our President, but under the leadership of our Speaker of the Parliament, which is why our President did not attend this ceremony. Supposedly, the aim was to highlight the Speaker of the Parliament as the most authorised authority in the protocol.

Well, if our President had visited Anıtkabir with other state officials in the delegation behind the Speaker of the Parliament, Mr Numan Kurtulmuş, he would have proved his great respect for the Grand National Assembly of Turkey, which is the unconditional representative of the nation.

Thus, he would have perhaps put an end to the debates on this issue.

He missed an opportunity. I think it would not have been bad, even if only in appearance, he would have said, O people, look, I have great respect for you, I am visiting the Anıtkabir after the president of the parliament of the nation.

In terms of other party leaders, I think this is outright disrespect. It is both disrespectful to Mr Numan Kurtulmuş and disrespectful to the Grand National Assembly of Turkey.

Of course, this is an imam congregation story. You know, if the imam does something, the congregation does something!

Atatürk doesn't need you to visit him, just don't turn him upside down with your actions. 

I wish the children you put in those seats as state officials on 23 April would visit Anıtkabir. In fact, let the children rule the country for a day, let's see what happens.

I am sure they would govern this beautiful country better than you. We should leave the country to children, even for a day.

These are the issues that need to be discussed seriously.

Should we call Atatürk deceased? There is a polemic on the agenda about whether we should call him deceased or not, but this is an empty agenda!

Discuss more serious issues!

***

Another issue, namely the discussion of a new constitution, which is trying to be brought to the agenda, is an empty discussion in my opinion!

I think the moves that need to be made to fix the economy will seriously hurt, so they are already trying to create an artificial agenda to minimise the pain. Maybe they are already looking for solutions for the next presidential elections. The reason is unknown, but I think these are empty discussions.

Does Turkey need a new constitution?

What can I say, it seems as if this issue has become a little bit loose, I wrote about it recently, many things have become loose in the country, the constitution issue is one of them. 

If you tinker with it too much, it becomes loose!

I think there is no such need for now. Let them first abide by the existing constitution.

***

Another empty subject is the fact that the German president met with Mr Imamoğlu during his visit to Turkey, and even highlighted our döner as if there was nothing else. There is also the fact that dear İlber Ortaylı called Istanbul Constantinople. 

These issues occupy the agenda as if there are no other issues.

The fact that the German President is visiting Turkey under these conditions is his problem. The man wanted to celebrate the anniversary of the arrival of Turks in Germany with a doner party, who cares?

Does our president pay official visits to the president every time he visits America? 

Empty business!

I guess there is no one in this country who can teach İlber Ortaylı what to say about Constantinople, I don't know the subject, but he said what he said because it was necessary.

These are empty affairs!

***

And how happy some of them were that Mr Erdoğan and Mr Özel came together for a few minutes at the parliamentary reception, that they both celebrated Eid and said let's meet!

I think this is also a serious complex. But I will not go into that. 

What could be more natural? Of course the two party officials will meet. Moreover, it is a festive reception, and in such environments, politicians sit and chat as a matter of courtesy. There is nothing more natural than that.

***

Meanwhile, Mr Özel's visit to Mr Sezer, one of our past presidents, was also reported in the news. 

In my opinion, although this was also quite natural, it was a valuable meeting for Mr Sezer to finally say a few words in front of the cameras.

***

Kurdish mayors unfurling different flags in their municipal buildings during ceremonies and removing our existing flag!

Look, this is an issue that needs to be taken seriously! I don't know what those who do this are trying to do. Let's see what the state will do, how far will it react? I think this reaction level is what is wanted to be measured.

I will not go into more detail in this article, but for now, I will pass by condemning this issue. This issue deserves a very comprehensive article.

***

I think the results of the recent visit of our President to Iraq are also a subject that is pregnant with very important developments. Brother Sudani!

It is not known whether anything can be achieved despite America.

But will Mr Erdogan meet with Mr Biden? Or is the meeting cancelled? 

This issue is also a complete nonsense. What happens if he meets, what happens if he does not? America is an important state for the region, but their approach to us until today is already obvious. 

Therefore, I think it is of no importance even if such a meeting is to be held. We are doing a thousand somersaults even for three cent F16 fighter jets. We are literally licking our spit. So, after this hour, what does it matter if there is a meeting or not!?

We continue to make mistakes in our foreign policy, and the consequences negatively affect the whole country, including the government.

The important thing is to review our foreign policy and produce a coherent foreign policy.

This includes relations with Israel and Hamas. 

What was that last manoeuvre? As always, the Palestinian issue was used as a tool for domestic politics!?

Of course, it would also be useful to review relations with Syria.

I think things would have been much easier if we could have produced a more upright policy in the region. 

Look, then other heads of state would be chasing us, not us.

I wish we could see the days when the American president was dying to meet with us. 

Foreign policy is a separate issue in itself.

Even Libya and Cyprus should be analysed separately.

Cyprus is forgotten, but how are things going in Libya? Does anyone have any information?

Once upon a time, we were talking about Libya morning and evening, there was news that we even became partners in Libyan oil. Was that news true? Do you think we are buying oil from Libya for free now?

***

I think that's enough, I thought I would write my views on the agenda today. 

Let's see what the coming days will show. 

In domestic politics, while the tension on the ruling wing is increasing, the opposition wing seems to be a little more comfortable with the wind gained from the local elections. 

Of course, it would not be good for them to relax too much, election success is important, success should be celebrated, but it should not be exaggerated too much. There is a lot of work to be done for this success to be permanent!

Especially when there is a chance to reach the people, who are in a difficult situation due to the incompetence of the government, more easily through local administrations, I think this chance should be used well.

Love and respect to everyone from Moscow.