Refugees, visas, negotiations and wishes

Being able to enter EU member countries without any visa requirements really would be a huge deal. It would be marvelous. I hope it comes true.

But I wish this beautiful event hadn’t developed under the shadow of bargaining over destitute refugees, without the arrogant and selfish stance of the Europeans effectively saying “instead of the refugees, Turks can come without visas,” and without the EU ignoring matters such as freedom of expression. 

If it is ever possible to enter EU countries without a visa in June, while we are wandering the streets of Paris and London, will the refugees not cross our minds? 

I wish, I really wish, that this hope for the lifting of visas to Europe had come about differently… 

Suicide bomber lovers
 
There was a march in London. Supposedly it was to protest events in the southeastern districts Cizre and Sur. But some participants carried posters of the suicide bomber who killed 28 innocent people in Ankara in February, as well as slogans like “Long live Abdulbaki Sömer” chanted at Trafalgar Square. 

Among those who participated in the march was a British Green party leader, a Scottish MP, and a British human rights activist. All of them marched under the poster of a suicide bomber who took 28 lives. 

Really, truly, this was a dreadful march. 

Dear suicide bomber-loving British parliamentarians: If being a suicide bomber is such a beautiful thing, then why don’t you blow yourselves up at Trafalgar Square? Afterward there would certainly be some people carrying posters of you.

Immunities should not be lifted 

The Kurdish issue focused Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP) has made quite a lot of errors. For example, it could have used the great result it secured in the June 7, 2015 election against the violent mentality of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK). It failed to do so. 

The HDP could have strongly opposed the ditch-digging and barricade-building policy. It failed to do so. 

Instead of saying “We salute the resistance,” it could have taken a position against clashes. It failed to do so.
 
But all of the above are political mistakes. These wrongdoings should not be accounted for in jail; they should be held to account in the political arena. 

That is why lifting the political immunity of HDP deputies and jailing them would be wrong. The penalty has to be given politically. 

What’s more, the method of sending MPs to jail has been tried many times before and it has only ever made the issue deeper and bigger. 

No grace left in these lands 

A group of war victim Bosnian women recently visited Turkey and were hosted in the Turkish Parliament in Ankara. 

Political party spokesmen took the floor to greet the Bosnian women at the boxes. 

Oktay Vural from Nationalistic Movement Party (MHP) and Coşkun Çakır from the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) spoke and their references to “rape” made the Bosnian guests very uncomfortable. 

Grace, thoughtfulness, empathy, kindness, care, caution, cognition, consideration… 

All of these qualities clearly left our lands a long time ago…