To be honest, as someone working in the media, I was reluctant to see Mr. Ferdi Sabit Soyer leave the CTP-BG chairmanship. The vocabulary Soyer used was so colorful that his absence from the political scene as party leader would undoubtedly be felt.
Today’s column is about precisely this!
Whenever I remember the simile Soyer used in a speech at an opening ceremony when he was Prime Minister, a smile never fails to appear on my face. Of course, I won’t deprive you of that smile either...
Soyer said this at the opening ceremony:
“Now our businesspeople should leave behind the Müslüm Gürses model and move on to the Tarkan model!”
And it’s impossible not to remember the war of words between Soyer and Eroğlu before the election!
Look at what Soyer said about UBP leader Derviş Eroğlu on a radio program he appeared on: “In his speech, Prime Minister Soyer compared the UBP leader to the wolf in the story of ‘Little Red Riding Hood,’ saying, ‘In that story, the wolf would disguise himself as Little Red Riding Hood’s grandmother, but when he opened his mouth, the girl realized he was a wolf. The Turkish Cypriot people, too, understand Eroğlu very well when he speaks, and grasp more clearly what he is and what he wants to do.’”
Soyer, who came up with some of the election campaign’s most colorful comparisons, continued to make remarks about Eroğlu on every platform: “Soyer: It’s not only the chairmen whose time is up; all of them have run their course as representatives of an outdated, fear-based politics—with their ideas, what they have done and what they have tried to do. The people are aware of this, too. They will give the necessary answer on April 19. CTP-BG is coming with 25 plus. You cannot stop us. You will not be able to stop us. These people have no reverse gear anymore. They will keep moving forward.”
One of the enjoyable aspects of the Soyer-Eroğlu war of words was that Eroğlu was just as much of a wordsmith as Soyer: “Eroğlu: Ferdi Bey, don’t get so worked up. You’ll leave, and since you have no reverse gear, you won’t come back... On April 19, CTP will see the stamps cast beneath the sun and will see UBP come to power with 50 percent plus.”
Soyer’s replies, from a man who knew no bounds when it came to verbal acrobatics, were never long in coming: “Soyer: UBP leader Eroğlu says they have reached 50 percent. That’s true: they’re about as much as our 50 percent.”
I suppose these examples are enough to explain why, as someone in the media, I didn’t want Soyer to leave the political scene as party leader.
Thankfully, without these and similar disputes that soften politics’ frowning face, perhaps politics would have been utterly unbearable...
On the other hand, it is worth saying that instead of solving the problems they are responsible for resolving, politicians have done little more than make the public laugh with these back-and-forth verbal duels!
Of course, I exclude those who are unconditionally devoted to their parties; it is a well-known fact that they applaud these verbal duels like enthusiastic supporters.
Given that Soyer, whose position was shaken after April 19, has been renewed following this party congress, it means entertaining days lie ahead. The entertaining part of Soyer continuing to remain at party-leader level in the political arena is that “he will continue as leader of the main opposition!”
Well, you can imagine the war of words between the opposition and the government...
Until Friday, I hope...
Be mindful of your surroundings, keep them clean, and please be respectful in traffic!
How Many Cubic Meters of Dikmen Landfill Poison Does One Swine Flu Virus Make? ---3.07.2009 Aunt Ayşe had made a habit of it: getting up early every morning…
It was perfectly natural that life’s necessities had led her to develop this habit.
Yet Aunt Ayşe had been getting up early for years, and just when she said, “The children have finished school and are married; now I can sleep in,” she had to start getting up early again!
Aunt Ayşe had lived through the war years, witnessed the terror of EOKA, and always tried to protect her children.
And she had protected them…
Now her eldest son, Selim, had two children…
Her daughter Selin had been married and living in Istanbul for a long time, but they still hadn’t given Aunt Ayşe a grandchild!
Although this made her very sad, Aunt Ayşe could not help feeling glad, too: she didn’t worry about her daughter as she did about her son, daughter-in-law and grandchildren, and she wasn’t burdened with longing for a grandchild on top of missing Selin…
Selim, who had lost his father to cancer two years earlier, lived with a constant fear of getting cancer himself…
Of course, he wasn’t going to leave his mother, who had the same illness as his father, alone!
Despite his mother’s strong objections following this painful death, he moved in with her along with his wife and two children!
From that day on, Aunt Ayşe had been living with her son, daughter-in-law and grandchildren.
And from that day on, Aunt Ayşe had started getting up early again…
She got up early regardless of her illness and age…
She had to get up early…
She was worried…
Aunt Ayşe was worried!
She did not want her children and grandchildren to get cancer, as she and her beloved husband of two years earlier had…
Still, she was determined. She had been able to protect them from EOKA!
Surely, she could defeat the enemy she faced now, too!
Even if she could not defeat it for herself…
That was why Aunt Ayşe got up early every morning and sealed up every part of the house tightly!
Because every part of their home in Hamitköy was enveloped each morning by poison—perhaps making them ill too—that came from the Dikmen Landfill, even when it wasn’t burning…
Aunt Ayşe’s husband had escaped the hands of EOKA, but he had not escaped this insidious enemy.
Even though she had contracted the same illness, Aunt Ayşe was determined: she would protect the household from this insidious enemy!
The other day, our Health Minister, Mr. Ahmet Kaşif, made a statement about swine flu! Here is what Mr. Kaşif said: “Our message to the public is that there is no need to panic excessively about a disease that can be diagnosed and treated. …As the Ministry of Health, all necessary precautions have been taken by all units and emergency departments to prevent the situation from becoming more serious and spreading!”
A very appropriate statement that does not alarm the public!
But what about Aunt Ayşe’s concern?
Have all necessary precautions been taken to address her concern?
Is there a treatment for the possible illness affecting her and the people in the area?
I also have a question for you, our Health Minister Mr. Kaşif, for our Environment Minister Mr. Ersan, and for all the officials who have been in charge up to now and have done nothing about this matter!
In your opinion, “How Many Cubic Meters of Dikmen Landfill Poison Does One Swine Flu Virus Make?”
I hope to see you in the days when we get an answer to this unpleasant question…
Be mindful of your surroundings, keep them clean, and please be respectful in traffic!
I Found the Traffic Monster! ---7.07.2009 The loss of our young brothers in the traffic accident the other day touched all our hearts... I would like to offer my condolences to their families here.
After this incident, I remembered a column I wrote two years ago, and it saddened me greatly that what I said then still applies today...
I’m going to tell you about the traffic monster: (Excerpt from my column titled “The Farewell Ceremony,” February 16, 2007.)
They were passing me; I was astonished...
For a moment, I wondered: “Who is the traffic monster?”
A short while later, my astonishment passed; I had found the traffic monster.
“The same scene plays out in our home every day... As I get ready to go to work, my wife takes care of the household chores. Then I head toward the door and look in the mirror to check my appearance. My wife comes over and straightens my tie, even if it is already perfectly straight. I open the door, and just as I’m about to step outside, we embrace. Sadness appears on her face; tension, on mine.
Then we ask each other’s forgiveness and say goodbye.
She waits for me on the balcony until I get into the car! As I start the car and pull out of the garage, we look into each other’s eyes one last time. And as I drive away from the house, I honk my horn; its mournful wail shows that I am leaving.”
Why this ceremony?
Is it because my wife and I love each other so much and are parting, even if only for a short time? All right, we love each other, but we don’t exaggerate our farewells that much.
The reason for this whole ceremony is our roads, which claim more lives than a small-scale war... Of course, it is very sad to live with this kind of anxiety.
The other day, I left home again and was on my way to work. I passed the lights in the industrial area and was continuing along the road toward Famagusta when an image in my rearview mirror shocked me! I suddenly looked at the speedometer in front of me, and the shock that had swept over me turned into astonishment. I was going 90 km an hour, and three dump trucks behind me were flashing their headlights at me.
I didn’t know what to do!
I was still stunned, and, signaling left, I changed lanes helplessly; if I hadn’t changed lanes, the trucks could easily have run me over! Three trucks roared past me as I stared in amazement. Either they were racing, or the relief of having unloaded their cargo had sent the trucks wild...
As they passed me, fear gripped my heart: “If I hadn’t noticed them, those trucks gone mad would definitely have crushed me right there.” So the thing called the traffic monster must be trucks tearing around the roads, exhilarated by having unloaded their cargo.
Are trucks the only ones? Of course not.
For example, don’t ordinary cars stuck in traffic, moving just 10 meters a minute, go crazy like this when they find an open road?
And don’t vehicles driven by people affected by alcohol veer wildly across the roads?
There—I had found the “traffic monster”...
It must be these vehicles(!).
Of course, it must be them. Could the people driving the cars be monsters?
For years, we have been searching for the traffic monster...
But the monsters are us!
It’s something we only realize when it is too late...
For years, I have ended my columns by saying, “Let’s be respectful in traffic.”
Because I believe that preventing traffic accidents depends entirely on respecting people’s right to life on the roads we all use together.
If I obey the traffic rules—or don’t meet someone who fails to obey them on the road—and am still alive, I’ll see you on Friday...
Be mindful of your surroundings, keep them clean, and please be respectful in traffic!