Youngest deputy Macit says he is not in politics for life-long career

Macit, who has put away his sneakers and now wears dress shoes instead, further says: “The young people in Turkey have been forced to be submissive by pacifying and condescending words; I declined the duty of protecting the state assigned by the regime, and instead of being a gatekeeper [for the establishment] I entered the system room.” He notes that before being elected deputy he was on the other side of the table, on the side of those who were demanding and directing public opinion and influencing the decision-makers. Now he says he has moved to this side of the table, where he is responsible for representing civil society and for working hard to make laws out of their requests and demands.

Macit shares the story of what drew him to politics and information on his future plans with Sunday’s Zaman readers.

Let us go back to the days where your position as deputy was at stake as if you were being brokered on the stock exchange. You were the subject of a local race between the AK Party and the Nationalist Movement Party (MHP). How did you feel during this period?

I have experienced the feeling of winning and losing within this fairly active political life. I feel I have matured enough even before setting foot in Parliament.

What about how you felt when you learned you won?

What I became curious about from that moment on was whether the party rule stating that a candidate elected deputy three terms in a row cannot run in the elections would apply to me as well. I am just kidding, of course; the local AK Party branch was pretty sure of the win from the very beginning. And sure, what actually happened was that my phone did not stop ringing at all.

How would you have reacted if you had not been elected deputy? Would you be terribly upset?

Actually, I had never set foot in Parliament in my life. I went there for the first time for registration. In any case, I was in a race; you enter a race to win. For this reason, I would never argue that what really mattered was the race itself. I would be upset, but I would not be sick just because I lost the election. That would be over in a month. In a way, this process confirmed the importance of even one single vote.

I suppose that the people casting their votes at Customs gates have become more important for you?

I am an İstanbul deputy; but I also consider myself the deputy of the people living abroad. I have a vast election district stretching from Cambodia to South Africa, from America to Kazakhstan. This has been an exemplary case confirming that even a single vote is pretty important.

Are you considering wearing sneakers at the oath-taking ceremony? Do you have any intention as one of the founders of Young Civilians of staging your interesting actions in Parliament as well?

Before being elected deputy, I was on the other side of the table. In other words, I was on the side of those who were demanding, directing the public opinion and influencing the decision makers. Now I have moved to this side of the table. This means that I am responsible for representing groups like the Young Civilians and working hard to make laws out of their requests and demands. Parliament is a venue where you should get things done, but of course I believe I would use a different style in parliamentary deliberations and discussions.

How would you react if the Young Civilians protested something you did?

The Young Civilians have made public statements criticizing both the AK Party and the CHP in front of its party buildings. The Young Civilians was the only group that was able to be critical in the youth meeting held in Erzurum with the participation of the prime minister. It was also the group organizing a huge rally with the participation of tens of thousands of people against the AK Party closure case. The Young Civilians will, of course, criticize me when necessary.

You once said: “I am not that crazy to assume the responsibility of making decisions for the interests of millions of people.” But now you have become that crazy man; you were elected deputy. What changed your mind?

My mind did not change because I was not crazy; I did not file an application to become a deputy all by myself. Someone else made the offer. In this case, I am sharing the responsibility with many others. In fact, I believe that it would be better if the nominations for the parliamentary elections should be modeled on Nobel Prize nominations; I think this would raise the quality of politics.

Would you have accepted the nomination if another party had made the offer?

Because I cannot stand sharing seats with those who were planning to design politics by force, I would not accept any offer from the MHP and the CHP.

You see the AK Party as the extension of the mindset that Prince Sebahattin represented. What does the AK Party say about this?

I am not saying this; political science is. The cleverest people of the time pondering over how to save the Ottoman Empire were divided into two groups in the first convention of Young Turks. The first group was prone to rely on violence, the Committee of Union and Progress; and the second was the school of Prince Sebahattin, who defended liberal values. The parties representing this approach have all been dissolved; military coups have been staged against them.

You hold the title of being the youngest deputy in Parliament. How does being young help?

The young people in Turkey have been forced to be submissive by pacifying and condescending words; I declined the duty of protecting the state assigned by the regime and instead of being a gatekeeper [for the establishment], I entered the system room. The parliament is a venue for legislation. I am not member of the government, I am not a mayor and I cannot make any promises to take action. I am responsible for checking the actions of the government on behalf of the people I represent.

Oktay Ekşi was the youngest deputy in Parliament set up after the 1960 coup. He is now a CHP deputy and the oldest member in Parliament. What is the difference between a young deputy and an old member of Parliament? Or what is the difference between you and Ekşi?

Ekşi became deputy in the parliament set up by the May 27 coup makers and drafted a coup constitution while he was young. I am now in Parliament to make a civilian constitution that will erase the imprints of the coups. There is a huge difference between me and Ekşi. You attended Kartal İHL (a vocational high school for training clerics), but you dropped out of school during the Feb. 28 [1997] unarmed military intervention. Yours is a story of accomplishments that would maximize the worries of the “concerned moderns.” Do you think you are magnifying the fears?

I completed by secondary education at Kartal İHL. In early childhood, I became familiar with the concept of “co-efficient injustice,” which I did not even understand. For this reason, I moved to Beşiktaş Anatolian High School. The reason these “concerned moderns” are so concerned is the fact that they know themselves. As a small privileged group, they have exhausted all resources of the country. They did not want to share these resources with others. Now they are concerned that the others will do the same. Our book says we have to be just, fair and pay attention to the merits. Their concerns are baseless, but if they are concerned because their privileges will be lifted, then they should continue being worried.

Would you consider yourself lucky to have grown up in an environment conducive to being more politically aware?

Of course the bad times such as when I fell of a tree or was beaten by the other kids on my block aren’t included in my CV. Turkey is like a huge training site in political awareness. For this reason, you become politically aware faster than a young Norwegian.

You will be entitled to an excellent retirement plan as a young deputy. How does this feel?

Well, you would appreciate that I cannot consider retirement before even taking the oath. It is like there is no life after active politics in Turkey. Even the oldest deputies buy a house in Anıtkabir or Kocatepe, depending on their worldview, to settle in Ankara. I will prove that there is life after politics as well.

Executives of that period are responsible for Dersim

Most probably, the young people would expect you to make some moves on a professional military or paid military service. What is your stance on this matter?

One of the so-called duties of the Turkish officers is to promote national awareness. I believe that this definition of duty plays a key role in insisting on obligatory military enlistment.

It is no longer natural to keep individuals away from their lives for such a long time in a world of integration where people closely follow technological advances.

What is Parliament’s biggest flaw? What would you contribute to Parliament?

I had the opportunity to make observations in the offices of legislators in the US and the UK. They work like think tanks. I have been in a fairly colorful and active civilian social network in İstanbul. I will take this to Parliament.

What would make you resign from the position of deputy?

Is it not early to consider resigning? Should not I have a seat in the orange seats first?

CHP leader Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu attributed the election victory of the AK Party to the Stockholm syndrome. How would you interpret this?

Kılıçdaroğlu is actually implying that he is the savior in the analogy where he described the relationship between the AK Party and the people as the abductor and the abducted. This is a classical reflection of the CHP mindset that views the people as desperate human beings waiting for salvation. The era of saviors is over. It is serious to see a party missing the spirit of the age.

The greatest challenges of the new Parliament are a new constitution and the Kurdish issue. As a young deputy, how would you approach these issues?

You can compare the Kurdish issue to pain in our bodies. Up until the AK Party came to power, we took painkillers to address this pain. We saw military means as painkillers, and we relied on military measures to resolve the problem. However, illness requires proper medication and treatment. The experts of this treatment are politicians, academics, artists and sociologists. We have started the treatment and instead of offering a one-sided approach developed by the government, we have started discussing the treatment methods.

Turkey will become a place where the Kurds want to live, with a constitution that will embrace all. The laws and current constitution have so far ignored the liberties and rights of the individuals to protect the state interests and prerogatives. They have sought to protect the state against the people. What needs to be done now is to make a civilian constitution that focuses on protecting the individual. What Parliament needs to do is lay the groundwork for making a civilian constitution and to involve all social groups in the process. The people as well as all political parties are now discussing how to make a new constitution. A new constitution is being drafted on the streets and in the offices of civil society organizations. You cannot stop this process.