As 2013 is coming to an end, I have been trying, in desperation, not to sound like a naysayer.<\/p>\n
Somehow, despair looks out of place on the threshold of a new year.<\/p>\n
Try as I might, I cannot push some images and sounds out of my mind.<\/p>\n
Like penguins and shoe-boxes. Why is it that no matter how hard I try to forget them, they keep appearing?<\/p>\n
I want the memory of the last summer to be that of my short holiday in Bodrum, with its clear skies and blue seas, but keep remembering impromptu slogans at beach-side sing-alongs: \u201cEverywhere is Gezi, everywhere is Taksim\u201d.<\/p>\n
I remember feeling guilty, breathing the fresh air while other Turkish cities were choking under a cloud of tear-gas, drenched with water cannon.<\/p>\n
No matter how hard I try, images of those eyes gorged, heads split with capsules, fathers keeping vigil by hospital beds, mothers crying over bodies of their sons while penguins paraded on television screens, just do not go away.<\/p>\n
Even if I manage to forget the prime minister\u2019s threat to gather a million people against those taking to the streets during Gezi, the name of Ali Ismail Korkmaz, the young protester beaten to death in Eskisehir, keeps echoing in my mind. I recall the email sent by the governor of the city to a local journalist, threatening him with retribution if he didn\u2019t stop reporting on the issue.<\/p>\n
Then one memory leads to another and I start thinking about several more journalists, some losing their jobs, some ending up behind bars. How can I ignore the fact that Turkey is now the world\u2019s most prolific jailer of journalists, leaving Iran, China and Uzbekistan behind.<\/p>\n
\u201cGood things have happened, too\u201d I keep saying to myself. Remember the Nawrouz celebrations, when jubilant crowds lined up the streets of Diyarbakir and hope for peace swept over the country?\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Then the image of a woman on hunger strike, protesting the new wall and the barbed wire going up on the border, flashes before my eyes.<\/p>\n
I can barely look back at the images of thousands of lives lost in road accidents; young conscripts committing suicide in their barracks or seamen drowned under their capsized boat.<\/p>\n
In hospitals, more doctors were being beaten up by their patients.\u00a0\u00a0 More women were killed at their homes or on the streets, murdered by their husbands, brothers, or jilted lovers.\u00a0 I try not to remember the data on child abuse or under-age marriage.\u00a0 As for the self-appointed defenders of morality at every street corner, encouraged by the authorities to spy on university students, young men and women, living under one roof, the quicker I forget it the better.<\/p>\n
The unspeakable brutality in neighbouring Syria may be too far away in another country but the violence it spilt over to the towns and villages of Turkey is not that easy to overlook. Nor is it possible to ignore the existence of hundreds of thousands of refugees. Even if I manage to turn my head the other way, those people of the region whose lives have been changed for ever with the arrival of the world\u2019s jihadists cannot.<\/p>\n
Last week\u2019s mother-of-all corruption scandals is a memory too fresh to ignore.\u00a0 The government, accused of corruption, has wiped away overnight whatever remained of the principle of separation of powers.<\/p>\n
There is nothing unusual about cries of \u201cconspiracies, plots, interest rate lobbies, Jews and Americans\u201d. \u00a0It happens every time the government is challenged or put on the spot. It is not the first time we come across angry faces, mocking expressions and wagging fingers.\u00a0 We are used to being told: \u201cWe\u2019ll break your hands,\u201d \u201cWe\u2019ll flush you out of your dens,\u201d\u00a0 \u201cwe\u2019ll send you back to your country,\u201d or \u201cGet out of here and take your mother with you\u201d.<\/p>\n
Piles and piles of green notes stuffed into shoe-boxes, found in the homes of the high and mighty, are a bit unusual, though.<\/p>\n
Trying to have a sunny outlook proves to be harder than I thought.<\/p>\n
Just as I decide to give up trying to find something cheerful to say, the very same penguins and shoe-boxes take on a new meaning.<\/p>\n
I see the pictures of shoe boxes, this time in the hands of teachers, using it as a symbol of corruption in their protest outside the offices of the ruling party.<\/p>\n
Just like the penguins becoming a widely recognised as a symbol of a self-censoring media, the shoe-box will forever be associated with graft and corruption.<\/p>\n
Thank you teachers!\u00a0 You reminded me of the quick wit and resilience of my people.<\/p>\n
Yes, we are in a mess. Yes, we are deeply divided. And yes, the outlook is stormy.<\/p>\n
But I just have to believe that there are enough people in Turkey facing in the right direction.<\/p>\n
All they have to do is keep on walking.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
As 2013 is coming to an end, I have been trying, in desperation, not to sound like a naysayer. Somehow, despair looks out of place on the threshold of a new year. Try as I might, I cannot push some images and sounds out of my mind. Like penguins and shoe-boxes. Why is it that […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[4],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.firdevstalkturkey.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/331"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.firdevstalkturkey.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.firdevstalkturkey.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.firdevstalkturkey.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.firdevstalkturkey.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=331"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.firdevstalkturkey.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/331\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.firdevstalkturkey.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=331"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.firdevstalkturkey.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=331"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.firdevstalkturkey.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=331"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}