The flood disaster in Güzelyurt, the Orams case and politics…
First I uttered cries of “ohhh, ohhh,” and immediately afterward said, “wow, what a maneuver,” one after the other. Frankly, unfortunately, there was very little time between the two remarks.
Of course, the words “Ohhh, ohhh” came out as the scale of the disaster became clear…
It didn’t take long for the matter to become political… As you know, Eroğlu was due to announce his candidacy on Monday, but then the flood disaster struck. The Prime Minister then said, “The flood disaster is our focus now,” and left the question of his candidacy for another time. He then went to the area and inspected the damage… There is no doubt that this “humanitarian-political” approach earned Eroğlu considerable points… And right then I said to myself, “Wow, what a maneuver…”
Meanwhile, our President Talat also went to the area to inspect the damage.
And at that moment I said, “The flood has turned into politics”…
Of course, it is only natural for senior government officials to visit the area after such a disaster. But while things were still unfolding that very night, the mayor was being blamed, blame was being shifted onto the Greek Cypriots with talk of the dam gates, and so on. The incident took an interesting turn; it became entirely political, and once again we managed to “politicize” even this…
The outcome of the Orams case was announced the same day. The reactions to the outcome were as expected. But we managed to politicize that too: while one side described the ruling as “political,” we took things so far in our own internal politics that it makes you want to say, “Well, bravo(!)”…
The very next day, a report about Eroğlu and the UBP published in the Star newspaper had the effect of a cold shower. The report stated: “It has emerged that Turkish Cypriot Prime Minister Derviş Eroğlu’s wife and two daughters, as well as members of the government, hold passports from the Greek Cypriot side, an EU member.” Eroğlu denied the report that evening, but when I first read it, these were the thoughts that went through my mind: “The election campaign is really heating up. So, when will Eroğlu’s wealth be reported on? Or when will he be accused of being ‘Greek’ or ‘a traitor to the homeland’? It’s always the same show…”
We will see and read a lot of this during the election campaign.
We’re used to this sort of thing already… And the public is used to it too…!
For that reason, reports like these will not cost either Talat or Eroğlu votes in the presidential elections. But unfortunately, reports like this will always appear in the press!
The bad thing is that politicians want this too. Because then they don’t have to come up with ideas or solutions… For them, accusations and trading barbs are enough to get through the campaign period.
However!
There is something “wrong” here:
If we consider the recent events in particular (Orams and Güzelyurt), how cheap it is to expect political gain from people’s suffering and anything else imaginable, or to try to score political points through accusations and fault-finding.
Let’s not reward these political games, our people…
We should make politicians come up with ideas and offer solutions…
Given that “Eastern politics” is still popular, let me say this: Don’t let politicians who come to you make situation assessments and level accusations. Ask them for their proposed solutions and how they plan to implement them… Find out what they think. Don’t let politics steer you by using every dirty tactic in its arsenal.
Until we meet again…
Pay attention to your surroundings, keep them clean, and please be courteous in traffic!