Five years ago, on July 24, 2006, I wrote an article about Brother Faruk, the son of our bookseller uncle in İzmit, where I spent my childhood. In that article, I wrote about going back to Brother Faruk’s shop years later and getting into a deep conversation with him.
First, let’s recall that article:
“The moment we walked into Brother Faruk’s shop, he recognized me, just as I recognized him. After the usual ‘How are you?’ and so on, the key question came: ‘What do you do?’ As always, my answer led to the Cyprus issue and its solutions, but Brother Faruk did something different. Brother Faruk, who has always seemed different to me, did what he does once again, as you can see. He said just one sentence about Cyprus. He didn’t go into depth. He didn’t take an Annan-esque approach. He didn’t puff himself up as a wise man offering a new solution. Just one sentence… Simple, plain and easy to understand. Clear, just one sentence… The son of the bookseller uncle, Brother Faruk, as I knew him in the past—or simply Brother Faruk, as I know him these days—said this: ‘The Turkish Cypriots struggled for years, and they deserve the very best.’
That’s all. Clear and direct… This is the Turkish community’s point of view, and it is such a powerful one: it shows that a community that has faced every kind of hardship and struggled will never be left alone. From this point on, there is only one thing left to do: act with an awareness of this strength… An awareness that we deserve everything. But without getting spoiled! Without succumbing to the human ego’s insatiable appetite. Without disappointing the Brother Faruks who are the sons of bookseller uncles. Acting as a dignified, honorable and conscious community.” (July 26, 2006 — Vatan Newspaper — ‘The Bookseller Uncle’s Son, Brother Faruk’) Years have passed since that article, and during that time Brother Faruk has read a lot of news about Cyprus in the Turkish media. Let’s quickly recall some of the news Brother Faruk may have read. First, he saw our Finance Minister in the newspaper headlines. Our minister was railing against the public sector, which we are all protesting today, and said: “The days of spending money recklessly are over.” (11.08.2009, Hürriyet and the Turkish media) Then Brother Faruk came across the remarks made by the Prime Minister of the Republic of Türkiye, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, at a joint press conference with our Prime Minister, İrsen Küçük… Although we distorted the story as ‘Erdoğan asked our prime minister about his salary,’ at that press conference Erdoğan was told by our prime minister that salaries could be as high as 14 thousand TL, and then he said: “There you are. He earns up to 14 billion. Perhaps my esteemed prime minister cannot talk about this in the TRNC, but I can.” (16.07.2010, Haber Türk and the Turkish media) Finally, Brother Faruk came across the ‘dependent’ crisis… Like Brother Faruk, we all know the issue.
I wonder what Brother Faruk is thinking now?
What do you think he’s thinking?
I hope to see you next week…
Pay attention to your surroundings, keep them clean, and please be courteous in traffic…