His story has a very important place in my life. Ever since I read this story, I have been hoping for a world in which there are no little match-sellers because “she had drawn her little feet under her, but she could not keep off the cold; and she dared not go home, for she had sold no matches, and could not take home even a penny of money. Her father would certainly beat her; besides, it was almost as cold at home as here, for they had only the roof to cover them, through which the wind howled, although the largest holes had been stopped up with straw and rags. Her little hands were almost frozen with the cold.”When I read this story for the first time as a little child, I was unable to figure out how it was that no one noticed the little match-seller and left her to freeze. This story was written in 1846; when I read it, the year was 1978. And at the dawn of 2010, I am still not able to accept the fact that the little match-sellers are invisible, but at least I understand how it is that they are invisible.
Maybe it wasn’t terribly cold on the last evening of 2009, at least not in Ankara, but many people were as blind as those who did not notice the little match-seller.
Sure it was almost dark because the struggle for democracy was still going on and it was not bright enough to light up the darkness.
The usual circles were trying to make it even darker by instilling anxiety among the public. They claimed that allegations about a plot to assassinate Deputy Prime Minister Bülent Arınç were trivial and that a search that began at the Special Forces Command’s Tactical Mobilization Group only aims to hand over state secrets to enemies. Meanwhile, the General Staff and the Gendarmerie General Command in separate statements claimed that no unit named JİTEM exists. JİTEM is known to have been responsible for many crimes committed against residents of the Southeast in the 1990s. The unit is also believed to be behind the disappearance of countless Kurds in southeastern Turkey. These statements were already making the whether cold and dark and making the little match-seller’s survival even more difficult.
Some people claimed we were witnessing a fight among the various state establishments, emphasizing that this fight is weakening the state. In saying so, they tried to hide the fact that what we are witnessing is in fact the fight between civilian powers and the old formations of the state, which never thought that one day they might be held accountable.
The little match-seller did not have the slippers that might have protected her from the cold and dark; this made her situation worse.
On New Year’s Eve, it was already politically dark and cold, but the government was not supplying pajamas. For real democratization, some steps need to be taken, including amending the Constitution, but none have been carried out as of yet. The country urgently needs to accelerate its democratization, but no concrete steps have been taken on this path either. These efforts would make the public feel that this is not a power struggle for the top state posts and their control, but a struggle to establish a democracy that offers social justice.
The government, instead of searching for public support, was busy trying to lose it by making statements such as the claim that Tekel workers, who will lose many of their rights after the country’s alcohol and tobacco monopoly is privatized, are enjoying themselves instead of working. According to the government, these workers are costing the public much. The government is forgetting the fact that protecting the acquired rights of workers is its duty and that an employment guarantee is not only a human right but also an element that will strengthen democracy.
As you may know, the little match-seller, just before dying, burned the matches one by one, and every time she saw a nice dream.
But this time the story will be different because the light coming from the matches is very strong. The citizens of this country are demanding democracy and social justice. But more importantly, they want all these beautiful dreams in their lifetime.
Happy new year.
