Perhaps I have been focusing more on Thrace because I am from Keşan. I am trying to explain how important voting “yes” is for the future of our country and the continuation of democratization, whether it be at halls or crowded fast-breaking iftar dinners.
The speeches delivered by the esteemed Fethullah Gülen on voting “yes” have had a profound impact on those who admire him. There is a spirit of mobilization and people are working very hard.
Gülen has explained once again why he is insisting on voting “yes” in a speech that was published a few days ago. He emphasized that an affirmative outcome in the referendum is crucial to the future of our country and democracy. “If in the equilibrium of states my nation is not going to be an element of balance that steers and makes others look it in the eye, then I don’t care about Europe, America or China,” he said, adding, “It is for this reason that every effort that can take people there should be applauded.”
For those who believe in the importance of the constitutional reforms, Sept. 12 is an important landmark on our way to the future. The question is whether a country that is ready to leap forward and a nation that is ready for revival will stumble and fall. Either we are going to succeed and stand up straight or we will have to face our ghosts yet again. Illegal structures, including their supporters and forces nestled within the state, have not been held accountable before now will be overcome with a desire for revenge.
Turkey is a country that has been left in the dark by a tutelage regime. We still have not been able to question the provocations that have been going on for 70 years to start conflicts between secular and non-secular communities, Turks and Kurds and Sunnis and Alevis or the bloody coups that were predicated on these provocations. Unsolved murder cases remain in the dark. Assassinations and killings targeting intellectuals, journalists, writers, members of the judiciary, college students and 17,000 Kurdish citizens are still in the dark. The Sivas, Kahramanmaraş, and Çorum provocations are still in the dark.
The deaths of Turgut Özal, Bülent Ecevit and Eşref Bitlis are still in the dark. The killing of Hrant Dink with the knowledge of state officials is still in the dark. Bloody events are still in the dark. The negligence and carelessness in the death of Turkish soldiers at military outposts that were raided several times despite warnings is still in the dark. The relations between terror, arms dealers, drugs traffickers and human traffickers over the past 25 year are still in the dark. Attempts to reduce scandalous documents to pieces of paper and rocket launchers into pipes are still in the dark. Coup plans and prostitution gangs that infiltrated honorable professions are still in the dark. The appointment as governor of a young man from Western Thrace who planted a bomb in Mustafa Kemal Atatürk’s home in Thessaloniki and laid the groundwork for the 1955 riots against Greeks in İstanbul is still in the dark. The bombing of Dersim and the massacre of thousands of Alevi and Kurdish citizens, including children, women and the elderly with military jets and the awarding of Sabiha Gökçen for her role in this massacre are still in the dark. We are living in darkness.
In the midst of this darkness reeking of blood, a country cannot go on living as if nothing ever happened. Only a democratization endeavor that seeks to change the essence of the coup Constitution for the first time can get rid of this darkness.
Of course, the reforms are not perfect. They are not enough. But this half-step will open the door to democratization. It gives us courage to move forward and instills hope for a more advanced democracy. It gives us excitement and enthusiasm to make a real democratization move.
Yes to an end to darkness. Yes to finding light. One hundred times, yes, 1,000 times, yes. Yes.
