Nation ahead of politicians in demanding freedoms, says Arınç

Speaking to a huge crowd in Mardin, Arınç said: “There is no need to go back many years. You [the people] have read and analyzed everything that has happened in the past few years very well. You have taught those who want to conduct policies in spite of your strong lessons; you have buried them in the ballot box. I have full confidence that you will display the same common sense in the referendum ahead of us. You are ahead of most politicians, and even political institutions, in your demands for change and transformation that will clear the road for Turkey.”

A highly responsive crowd listened to Arınç, who did not shy away from one-to-one dialogue with members of the audience. When Arınç recalled that the high judiciary had [in a highly controversial legal decision] canceled presidential elections in Parliament in 2007, a man in the crowd asked: “At that time, I was expecting you to run for president. Why didn’t you?” Arınç replied, “Well, we ended up electing a president like Gül, didn’t we”? This sentence involves a play on Gül’s last name – which is the Turkish word for rose – and the Turkish idiom “Like a rose,” which refers to situations or individuals that are close to ideal.

He recalled that in 2007 the presidential election crisis was coupled with an “e-communiqué” from the military, which posted a harsh statement online one midnight accusing the Justice and Development Party (AK Party) of Islamizing Turkey and warning the government to be “careful” in its future actions. “They [the military and the establishment] thought we would leave like those before us,” Arınç said, referring to the unarmed political intervention of 1997, also known as the Feb. 28 process, when a coup de communiqué issued by the military actually toppled a coalition government led by Necmettin Erbakan’s Welfare Party (RP). “We didn’t leave. Our nation was hungry for such a stance. The AK Party won nearly half of the vote in the July 2007 elections that followed the presidential crisis in May of that year and the military’s statement in April.”

Arınç’s speech in Mardin took place at the sports hall at Mardin Artuklu University, but the city’s residents showed great interest in him outside the sports hall as well. He was greeted warmly and welcomed by the locals as he walked the streets of the city.

He also gave a speech during the inauguration of a mosque built in honor of AK Party deputy Cüneyt Yüksel’s parents, Mehmet Edip and Fatma Yüksel, but did not talk about the referendum. However, he did not turn down those residents who wanted to shake hands with him.

Thousands cheered Arınç when he visited the Mardin Municipality’s Ramadan Book Fair on Tuesday evening after the iftar dinner. A majority of the crowd comprised women and children, which also spoke to the safety and peace in Mardin. Thousands of women waved flags with YES on them to display their support for the government’s amendment package that will go to a national vote on Sept. 12.

If I hadn’t seen a late-night YES rally in Mardin, known for its status as an OHAL, or martial law region, and being a terror-stricken town of poverty and despair only a few years ago, I wouldn’t have believed it. Even in other cities, police checkpoints are set up around campaign grounds to frisk people. At Mardin’s midnight rally, people could come and go out of the area as freely as they wished.

Arınç’s lengthy speech, which lasted for a couple of hours, literally mesmerized his audience. He did not follow a pre-drafted text, but the fluency of his speech and the harmony between his words and sentences -- with not even a second of silence -- added to his influence as an orator.

Arınç was met with great applause when he emphasized that the package removes any potential legal obstacles that might deter positive discrimination for women, children and the disabled.

The deputy prime minister walked back to his hotel through the stone streets of Mardin. During his late-night walk, he did not turn down locals who wanted to have him as a guest, and he visited several homes.

Observers here say that an overwhelming majority in central Mardin will vote for the package in the referendum, adding that the pro-Kurdish Peace and Democracy Party’s (BDP) call for a boycott of the referendum is likely to be ignored. However, the terrorist Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) might intimidate some voters in the province’s districts.

Harvard grad Yüksel opens mosque for his parents

A mosque built by the Justice and Development Party’s (AK Party) Mardin deputy, Cüneyt Yüksel, who is a graduate of Harvard University, was also opened during Bülent Arınç’s visit to the city. The inauguration was an occasion for leaders of different religions to come together in Mardin, known as the city of civilizations. Head of the Religious Affairs Directorate Ali Bardakoğlu and Mardin’s Metropolitan Saliba Özmen also participated in the ceremony.

The mosque bears the name of Yüksel’s parents, Mehmet Edip and Fatma Yüksel. In a highly emotional speech, Yüksel said the mosque was built in accordance with the native stone architectural tradition of Mardin and according to the city’s historical pattern. “We engraved our belief in stone,” he said. Yüksel noted that the mosque’s architecture is harmonious with Mardin’s special architecture, adding to the spirituality of the city. Motifs special to Artuklu architecture are used in the mosque, which will be the biggest mosque in Mardin with its 4,500 square meters of area.