Forgetting disasters
There are so many similar stories like this…
This time it is from the Aegean district of Soma, struck by a mine coal disaster in 2014 that killed 301 miners.
Several campaigns were run after the mine disaster; this was the one of them.
Projects emphasizing on sports were held to overcome the trauma of Soma.
Even the proceeds from the Super Cup Final, played between Galatasaray and Fenerbahçe, were transferred to facilities supposed to be constructed in Soma.
The sports complex for which a total of 6.2 million Turkish Liras was spent on construction was left abandoned without being opened.
In fact, these do not astonish me anymore.
We forgot the Soma disaster, which killed 301 people, within a few months.
However, sad stories are continuing to emerge there.
Remember, so many non-governmental organizations had tried to stand together with the people of Soma during the days after the disaster took place.
They shared the people’s pains with different projects.
But after then, the obvious happened as it happens in similar cases: We forgot and we are forgetting.
And I am questioning how we forgot what we have been through and left so many scars on us.
Why we were like this? Or are we always like this?
Looking at small stuff while losing the big picture
A fight between the Turkish national football team’s coach, Fatih Terim, and Turkish Football Federation substitute member Selahattin Aydoğdu in the Aegean district of Alaçatı was the most discussed issue last week.
All images from that night were published on social media and I listened to people who were there at the time of the incident about what had happened.
People ran away in different directions in panic because they could not exactly understand what was happening. There was panic, even if for a short while, on the small streets in Alaçatı.
When details of the event come to light, we understand that the incident emerged because of a very small screen.
I went to look at the place to visit this new entertainments center in Alaçatı to see how a society that is not interested in important issues sweats the small stuff.
Fatih Terim drove from Bodrum to Çeşme because of one screen.
He got into a fistfight with Aydoğdu, who is another member of the federation.
The incident of course isn’t one-sided, it is reciprocal…
Making us dislike football
I love football. In fact I watch a lot of different types of sports with curiosity.
But believe me I feel like they are making me dislike football.
For instance, I don’t watch football matches at home anymore.
I don’t watch football games live as there are no good stadiums in İzmir.
Why should I go, why should we go?
If I don’t enjoy the match I watch, the team that I support cannot achieve success in Europe, and I hear obscene language instead of manifestation, why should I go, why should I watch?
I have been watching tennis matches like the Wimbledon…
I watch in envy the attitudes of the spectators and the dialogues on the tennis courts…
I’d be lying if I said I am not jealous.
Increasing prices of property in Çeşme
A friend told me the other day that his biggest mistake was failing to see the developments in Alaçatı.
Who saw it coming?
We are living in İzmir and we are following everything.
Besides, we could not see Çeşme, where we spent our childhood, to turn out like this.
He is mentioning the soaring costs of real estate.
My friend, who is working in the construction sector, said: “The prices we said will no longer increase the following year again. Either there is something wrong with us or there is a mistake with the prices…”