Prosperity and Poverty… Is it Fate?

“According to Aristoteles, everyone is moral. In fact, everyone is smart. So, we should know how to seek the truth and virtue within ourselves. Then, we do not insist on mistakes and do not act unfairly.”

Hasan Ali YÜCEL

Education is everything!

When it comes to education, Hasan Ali Yücel initiated and made many reforms after being appointed as the Minister of National Education in the 2nd Celal BAYAR government on December 28, 1938.  Hereby, I would like to memorialize Hasan Ali Yücel, the originator of the Village Institutes which we lack for today, with respect and gratitude.

Education is one of our most fundamental issues that still require radical reform, just before the 100th anniversary of our Republic (October 29th, 2023). Our National Education System became intricate due to several changes made by AKP during the 19 years of its power. In the exams held in 2016, our students were ranked 25th among 38 OECD countries. On all occasions, educators still state that we are at our worst levels now.

Inequality of opportunity in education!

There are too many and deeper problems in our education system, which cannot be explained in a few articles. However, inequality of opportunity in education in Turkey is a crucial problem that should be emphasized whenever possible. The epidemic reveals the dimensions of inequality of opportunity in education in our country every day. Considering the actions taken so far, eliminating the inequality of opportunity in education seems very difficult and even impossible. For years, we have been hearing that Turkish students who found the opportunity have gone abroad for education, because there is no solution for this problem. We hear they work in big companies there and become very successful; of course we are proud of them, but it does not bring any added value to us. We should not be forget, it is not the place where you are born, but the place where you have a profession that brings satisfactory wage matters.

Let’s give an example about inequality of opportunity in education in our country: Students living in a village of Tokat, a city in the Central Anatolian region, came to the fore with a video in which they voiced their problems. The students (a group of six or seven students) who did not have access to the Internet climbed to the highest hill in order to make their homework and showed their problems to the whole country.

As remote education programs started during the pandemic, we have seen that there are millions of students who do not have computers, tablet or Internet access. Here, the other factor that brings inequality is the VAT rate, which is 18% for computers, tablets and internet access, while the VAT rate for high-end products like diamonds is 0%.  

Prayer for Rain!

It is known for years that the citizens pray for rain under the leadership of mosque imams and muftis during droughts. It has nothing to do with science, and I think it is a reflection of the Islamic Medieval Age on the secular Republic of Turkey, and a nonsense practice.

It is a scientific fact that Turkey will frequently experience droughts in the future. Preventing it may not be possible, but it may be postponed; protecting nature, trees and water resources, and planting lots of trees in all regions of the country, may help.

Prayer for Electricity!

Last month, the people in Suruç prayed for a surprising thing; they prayed for electricity! If we pray for rain, so we may also pray for electricity — am I wrong? I think it is a nice, dry humor.

To summarize: the people who could not find any solution for power failures up to 12 hours, despite all their complaints and applications to the power administration, decided to pray for electricity for being heard by the authorities! Interestingly, these people stated that they were supporters of AKP.  The electricity company made an allegation about this protest and the prosecution office put the file into process. Like a joke. The prosecutors, who close their eyes to all that corruption files and thinly veiled death threats, found putting this humorous file into operation suitable.

COVID-19 still threatens human health and the economy

My column dated April 7, 2020, was about COVID-19. In Turkey, the pandemic started with the announcement of the Ministry of Health on TV channels on the evening of March 11, saying “I lost my first patient today.” Ten months have passed since.

Meetings for determining the minimum wage!

As I pointed out in my article dated April 7, 2020, the statement “truth is bitter” is more clear today because the minimum wage increase is under discussion this month. The current wage of 2,324 TL/month, which the government deemed a worthy minimum wage for the 42% of the population in this country, was unacceptable even under the conditions of that day (considering that 1 Euro was equal to 6,60 TL and the minimum wage was 352 Euros as of December 20, 2019). When necessary, the rulers of the country talk big and fire up their electors, who receive a minimum wage under the starvation line and shout at Greece, Germany and Holland. However, they forget that the minimum wage in Greece, which went bankrupt two years ago, is about 700 Euros — or they simply ignore it!

What about the opposition parties? Their expectation for the minimum wage is just a shame; 3,000/3,100 TL equals 316/326 Euros, based on the currency 1 Euro equals 9.50 TL. They are not aware of the fact that this suggestion is below the last year’s minimum wage! I wonder what is negotiated in minimum wage determination meetings. This is the current situation to which the country was brought at the end of 2020.

Truth is bitter!

I think the COVID-19 pandemic has taught people which country is rich and which country is poor. Every country, especially the EU countries, implemented economic aid packages for all employees. We have seen that the package announced in our county was useless and we have again witnessed bitter truths and realized that we are a poor country.

For me, we are in economic crisis since the referendum held on April 16, 2017, and it deepened with the pandemic. Today, all rightminded citizens of the country, including the young and the old, loyal party members, nonpartisans who admire right things and criticize the wrong ones, the ones who may vote for another party at one whack, who value services more than empty promises, and the ones who think of the country and the future are aware that our treasury is empty.  

Our Central Bank gives a red balance of minus billions of TL for the first time in its history!

So, what now?

Of course, there are some people who are satisfied with the current economic situation! Please remember the question, “Do you receive your salaries in dollars?” we heard posed to the journalist in a TV program. The Minister asked this question but the tenders are made in USD or euros instead of TL, and a group of people get richer with the increase in currency rates, regardless of the economic situation in the country.

Agriculture is a must!

Another issue I would like to emphasize on all occasions is “Agriculture is a must.” Today, agriculture struggles in Turkey. The farmers are in debt, which is the highest amount within the history of the Republic, and they lose their agrimotors and lands because of unsettled debts. Although there is a great need for agricultural products, many farmers stopped production. The government meets the need through importation. The Presidential Government System has just announced that the customs were remitted for hundreds of agricultural products.

At that point, I would like to remind the following words from the historic speech made by Great Leader Mustafa Kemal Atatürk at the Turkish Grand National Assembly in 1922:

“Gentlemen, National economy is based on agriculture.”

Our choices are our future!

The referendum on April 16, 2017, where 55 million voters accepted 18 articles offered and various radical changes were accepted, including the Presidential System of Government, indicated that Turkey manifested its choice for the future with the support of inexperienced and inconstant leftist intellectuals, the ones who said ‘not enough, but yes,’ FETO supporters who pave the way for irregularities, radical Islamic groups and right-wing extremists.

Turkey should be above everything!

Turkey should be more important for the citizens than the political parties they support because the Republic of Turkey is the country of every Turkish Republic citizen living under this roof; so it is our yesterday, today and tomorrow. Unfortunately, in Turkey political parties always had the priority, and voters who were aware of this fact had been in the minority.    

Constitution is everything!

The constitution of Turkish Republic and the Supreme Court is superior to political parties and the President. It is the highest body that everyone must comply with its decisions. However, we all know that it is not the fact. Chaos is inevitable if the Constitutional Court decisions are not followed.

The Constitution means Turkey; it represents the public and the national flag!

The Constitution is a text that symbolizes the national flag. Therefore, it is based on respect, which is the basic element of solidarity and is indispensable for people to live together, regardless of their language, religion, race and color. Disobedience to the Constitution brings corruption down to the citizen level. Lack of respect in a country affects the social life, and discrimination increases as well as the economic crisis. Unfortunately, the citizens of Turkey are discriminated as being a political party’s man or as Kurds, Cherkess, Alewis and Sunnites. Of course, it is a conscious choice of the rulers of the country in order to guarantee their future — a conscious effort that has increased significantly in recent years.

Is the President the President of everyone?

One of the items accepted by the referendum on April 16, 2017, was based on electing a President who is also political party leader. Being the leader of a political party, the President may criticize the leader and the actions of another party leader because they are competitors; so the President may want to weaken the competitor party or acquire their voters. However, what happens if the leader of that party criticizes the President? He may get in dutch with the grassroots of the criticized party.

In one year, 26.115 people were cited for insulting the President. This number is 30 times more than the total number of libel suits filed for the four Presidents since 1980. During the presidential term pf Kenan Evren, Turgut Özel, Necdet Sezer and Abdullah Gül, respectively, 340, 207, 168 and 248 people were sued for insulting the President. 

For me, even this data is proof that the President could not be the President of everyone.

Is prosperity and poverty fated?

The book “Why Nations Fail?” written by Daron Acemoğlu and James A. Robinson, emphasizes the thesis “Prosperity and poverty is not a fate,” dwells on the reasons of inequality all over the world and proves the hypothesis that “neither geography, culture, ignorance nor religion” plays an active role here.

I recommend you to read this book.

Our future is based on our choices. I would like to present you these verses of Behçet Necatigil; perhaps you may like them:

You are either hopeless,
Or you are the hope.
You are either incurable,
Or you are the cure.