Are you aware?
This country is being tried in a case to which it is not a party!
Some people are suing one another, while others feel the need to consult still others in order to make a decision about the people suing one another.
The opinions of those other people affect another country that is not party to the matter—in other words, us. Or so they say they will…
So much so that, according to some people, the consequences of the decision to be taken in line with that opinion will affect both the country’s political position and its people!
All this talk of “they say” takes things to another level.
The dramatic part is that the country spent years pursuing a policy of “self-determination”!
And yet now, we are waiting for another country to decide our country’s fate!
The politicians of that country—which is not a party to the case, but is entirely affected by it—are gathering and, all in unison, declaring that they will take a position according to the decision that other country makes!
In other words, they are being forced to recognize and embrace in advance the decision that the other country will make.
In other words, with their hands tied, they say, “This is the decision that will enable me to shape my country’s destiny.”
They are made to say it…
Worst of all, they feel they have to say it!
Hey, Turkish Cypriot…
You have been made to focus…
You come up with supposed alternatives and speak without realizing it: —You think that other country cannot make a decision that will put your country in a bad position.
—You think that other country does not care about your country and will make a decision based on its own interests.
—You think that other country cannot make the ongoing negotiation process in your country more difficult and will therefore put the case on hold!
Your thoughts are focused on that other country’s actions and the decision it will make!
Your thoughts and words are all about that other country…
Without realizing what you are saying, you say, “That other country will make” a vital decision about you!
You have your excuse ready: “That’s the global climate right now,” you say.
You don’t realize it!
You are being made to say it, and you have been made to focus!
You can’t see the glass walls restricting your thoughts; you have been blinded.
Someone tells you, “Think! But within this framework.”
You feel powerless!
You have been made to believe you are powerless!
But you forget that you can be powerless when you seem strongest, and powerful when you seem weakest!
You have forgotten that your strength lies in your ideas, in your mind.
Your brain has been taken from you!
You can’t realize that you can solve your problems by producing free thoughts, without being made to focus!
But the thief lying in wait at the circus laughs under his breath and rubs his hands as he watches your eyes fixed on the tightrope walker on the wire… That thief’s heart beats with excitement as he thinks of what he can gain from minds made to focus!
You should feel strong against those who presume to make decisions about your country’s future!
Because that strength is in your mind…
Come to your senses!
Break free of your fixation and your prejudices.
Think, create, dream, be free…
For yourself, your country, your future!
Create in order to be strong…
Hey, Turkish Cypriot, on this day when we commemorate our Atatürk, who achieved what was said to be impossible, I hope you will achieve the things you are told are impossible for you…
Happy May 19 Commemoration of Atatürk, Youth and Sports Day.
Pay attention to your surroundings, keep them clean, and be respectful on the road! “Justice delayed is justice denied.” ---5.06.2009 I used the sentence above yesterday at the Ministry of Labour. I can almost hear you saying, “What does the Ministry of Labour have to do with justice?” Let me explain… From December 2007 until the beginning of June 2008, I had the misfortune of working for six months at a well-established institution in our country. I say “misfortune” because: After I started work, I received my first month’s wages at the end of the second month. I told myself, “Well, clearly they’re having problems; we’ll manage.” I received the second month’s wages in two instalments, in my third and fourth months. I started talking to myself again, even debating the matter in my own mind: “What do you mean, ‘we’ll manage,’ Cem! They’re exploiting your labour… Get a grip..! But if I quit, I won’t get the money they owe me. I’ll hang in there a little longer. Look, they say they’re getting through their difficulties; maybe the workplace’s problems will pass and I’ll get what I’m owed.” The workplace’s promise to pay me and my own thought that “if I leave, I won’t get the rest of my money” kept me tied to the job. For about four months, they kept making excuses—“we’ll pay tomorrow,” “definitely next week,” “we’ve made a deal and are waiting for the money,” and so on—and I still couldn’t get what I was owed. The more my goodwill continued, the more shamelessly the other side took advantage of it. Of course, patience has its limits. In the end, I took the matter to the Labour Department and filed a complaint. The well-established institution that had told me it would pay me reportedly told Labour Department inspectors, “We won’t pay.” The Labour Department then sent my file to the Ministry of Labour’s legal office in March 2009.
I was there yesterday…
I said the sentence in the headline to the person who told me, “Your case hasn’t yet been served on the other party! Once it has been served, it will go to the Criminal Court. But we don’t know when the case will go to court. There’s a lot of procedure!”
The Labour Department and the Ministry, which are supposedly there to defend workers’ rights, are taking the side of the workplace that exploited my labour, even after all these months, and the case keeps dragging on. This delay emboldens that well-established institution, which does not hesitate to commit “wage theft.”
And that’s not all. According to the same person, the “Criminal Court” generally does not rule that the money owed to a worker who has been victimized should be paid! It punishes the workplace… Those who want to get their money have to file a separate civil suit.
Then why do people who work in this country on work permits and are victimized by their employers file complaints with the Labour Department?
If they can’t get what they are owed and only the workplace will be punished, what good is this complaint to people who haven’t received their wages?
The time it takes to file a case and reach a conclusion is the tragicomic part of it!
Well, I live here, so I can wait for the case and defend my rights to the very end.
But what about the people who come to this country temporarily to work and are victimized?
When the state shows its harshest side to people coming here to work, why doesn’t it show the same harshness toward employers when those people are victimized?
Isn’t the state obliged to show its harshest side to thieves who try to steal the labour of people who work and produce for this country?
Or does the state not have the time for that?
If the state can’t protect people who come to this country temporarily from these labour thieves, how will it protect its own citizens?
Until Tuesday, I hope…
Pay attention to your surroundings, keep them clean, and please be respectful on the road! Still, “Trees Thrown Away!” ---9.06.2009 On June 5, World Environment Day, our country became aware of the environment. The Ministry of Tourism, Environment and Culture had come up with a “Waste Battery Collection Project” as a pilot project and launched it on a meaningful day: World Environment Day.
What a lovely, what a happy day that was!
Without a doubt, the happiest that day was the soil of the TRNC.
Although I don’t know what the soil, which has been surrounded by batteries for years, would say if it could speak.
It would probably say something like, “Oh, come off it—is batteries our only problem?”
Or it might say, “Hooray! I’ll no longer have to dispose of batteries in this part of the world.”
Leaving aside what the soil of the TRNC might think, the first question that came to mind when this project was announced was, “Could batteries really be our country’s most common waste?”
Then I remembered an article I wrote for Vatan Newspaper on October 2, 2006, titled “Trees Thrown Away.”
In that article, I wrote:
“Is our world very green? Is our region very green? Is our country very green?
No?
Of course not!
I suppose that, especially when it comes to our country, talking about greenery means being blind.
When I say greenery, don’t think of the lettuce, parsley, and so on that we put in our salads!
I’m talking about trees.
It is an undeniable fact that our country has a shortage of trees.
In other words, we know what a shortage of trees is.
But knowing something and valuing it are two different things.
We don’t value them! You might say, ‘You say there are no trees, and then you say we don’t value them,’ or ‘How can you value something that doesn’t exist?’…
Why am I saying this? Let me explain.
To put it simply: trees mean oxygen! That means they have a vital value in our lives! They do, indeed—but have we, as people living in the TRNC, really grasped the importance of this?
Of course not.
Why not?
Because:
We still haven’t learned that paper is made from trees.
Our country is experiencing an excess of waste paper. We seem to have forgotten that this waste paper can come back to us as paper again—as notebooks, books, documents, and so on!
We are not acting on the fact that waste paper, which can be turned back into paper, could save many trees that might otherwise be cut down somewhere in the world—especially when, as I tried to say above, we know all too well what it means to have too few trees.
We can’t do it because:
There is no organization in place to make this happen!”
That’s what I was saying…
What’s sad is that I’m still saying it!
To be frank, it saddens me greatly to see that there has been no progress on this matter from then until now.
We still don’t have a waste-paper depot where we can store and send to factories the waste paper that is easiest to recycle and plentiful in our country!
Unfortunately, we are still throwing “trees” into the rubbish…
Thoughtlessly and carelessly…
Of course, when it comes to the environment, there is plenty to say!
The reason I have focused particularly on this issue is that the Minister did not address it in their statement!
On the other hand, what the Minister said about other matters did make me happy!
I should also say that I agree with what the Minister said in closing, and I hope they will be the first to take their own words seriously.
Yes, Mr. Saner, exactly as you said: “The environment belongs to us, to all of us.” Please let’s take care of it outside special occasions, too.
Until Friday, I hope…
Pay attention to your surroundings, keep them clean, and please be respectful on the road!