As you know, the second round of the UBP Congress will be held on February 24… Immediately after this announcement, I got reactions from the parties involved on the spot during the Günlük program I host on Ada TV…
First, we connected by phone with UBP MP Hasan Taçoy. In an excited voice, Taçoy commented on the result, saying, “We’re holding the second round months after it was supposed to take place on October 28. It will be a very exciting congress. This result is a victory for determination and justice. I congratulate the members of the party council who made this decision”…
Immediately after this conversation, UBP MP Ahmet Çaluda was my second phone guest. Our conversation with Çaluda focused on employment policy. “It’s true that people have been hired. But everyone who is criticizing now has done the same thing. People are hired after the budget has passed. Our people want to work in the State,” Çaluda said. At the end of our conversation, Çaluda claimed that İrsen Küçük would win the second round.
After this claim, during a live phone interview with Zorlu Töre, one of the UBP MPs, Töre said, “A case whose outcome was clear dragged on for this long. In my opinion, the Prime Minister’s lawyers and advisers misdirected and misinformed him.” On the issue of hiring, Töre invited all the delegates to the Prime Ministry and criticized Küçük, saying, “Mr. Küçük has treated the delegates unfairly when it comes to hiring. I’m inviting all the delegates, and even our people, to the Prime Ministry tomorrow. Let them go and ask for a job”…
UBP MP and leadership candidate Ahmet Kaşif began our phone interview by wishing well for the second round. Kaşif said, “I can’t say anything about the people who have been hired. But the wrongness of the policy being followed is clear. We’re heading into a congress that is four months late. May it be good for our country…”
Finally, I spoke by phone with Prime Minister İrsen Küçük. Of course, I was going to raise the issue of hiring… I told the Prime Minister that a significant part of the public had been saying things about hiring that began with, “If I were a delegate’s relative.” The Prime Minister said, “I’m also hearing things to this effect. Being related to a delegate is not one of our criteria for hiring.” I told the Prime Minister that there had been reports that 300 people had been hired and asked how many people had been hired since October 21. The Prime Minister replied, “I can’t give an exact number right now. We can get the exact figure from the relevant colleagues.” Finally, I asked the Prime Minister who would win on the evening of February 24. He said, “I won on October 21, I won the one before that, and I’ll win on February 24 too”…
(Note: That, in brief, is what was discussed on the program. The speculation and/or things that have actually happened to date have worn us all down considerably. For that reason, I won’t comment on these statements; readers who wish to do so can offer their own comments…)
There’s no doubt that what we’ve experienced is a serious point of reference for what else we may experience before February 24. But I hope these experiences teach us a lesson. I hope that in these days when stones are being shaken out of people’s skirts, we correctly tell the sheep from the goats. And I hope that on February 24 this chapter will close, and that we will finally fight not over the congress but to lead our country toward better days…