The government cancelled the celebrations following last week’s powerful earthquake in Van that killed more than 600. Indeed, Turkey is quite used to such debates, as the country’s elites, who fear losing their privileges, bring forward the same accusations against the government all the time; however, in consideration of Turkey’s economic and political power and strong international standing, their allegations simply seem far from reality or even ridiculous.
At a time when we are approaching the 100th anniversary of the foundation of the Turkish Republic, Bugün’s Gülay Göktürk says some people coming up and looking for signs of the weakening of the republic is an indication of ideological and psychological exhaustion. She thinks there is nothing wrong about debates over whether the ceremonies should have been cancelled. Recalling what the then-government did in the wake of the 1999 Marmara quake, which killed thousands of people, she says the Oct. 29 ceremonies were not held back then either. Considering the fact that the government of the time was led by Bülent Ecevit, a left-wing and republican politician, she cannot help but ask whether Ecevit was also trying to undermine the foundations of the Turkish Republic.
“If we leave this nonsensical debate aside and take a look at the eye-catching change we have undergone, we can really see that something has really been weakened. This panic that is experienced every Republic Day is not a panic over the weakening of the republic but a panic over the losing of privileges enjoyed by the republic’s elite,” says Göktürk.
Star’s İbrahim Kiras thinks the decision to cancel the official ceremonies can be debated and criticized, and one can question whether there was any need to cancel the presidential reception; however, it is impossible to understand the reactions of those who claim the aim of the cancellations was to weaken the republic. “The paranoia of the Kemalist circles has begun to place both themselves and this country in a ridiculous situation,” he says. Considering the fact that these debates are also covered by the foreign media, Kiras says foreign readers might think there is a strong monarchical movement in Turkey that could take over the reins power at any time.
