Here, this paper has come out of my pocket too

Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan took out a paper from his pocket and asked: “What is written here?” It was scribbled “48 percent” on the paper. If he receives that percentage of votes, he will be relieved.

I also took out a piece of paper from my pocket. It was written “49.2 percent” on it. This was the vote Unites States President Bill Clinton received in the 1996 elections. If you say “national will,” then this is the king of the national will.

Have the votes he received saved him from being prosecuted? Far from it. In his second term, he was tried in three separate cases. He testified for hours to the prosecutor in the Monica Lewinsky incident. He himself was answering the prosecutor, not his son, relative or friend.

I am asking: Have you ever heard anything about “the stealing of the national will” from his or anybody else’s mouth?

The same goes for former French President Nicolas Sarkozy. He received 53 percent in real life; it is not an estimate. He has gone through a number of trials regarding monetary matters. Have you ever heard him talk about the theft of national will?

Also President Obama: He received 51.1 percent of the votes. He is the king of national will. Just examining the taxes of his opponents has created problems. Have you heard anything from Obama similar to, “I am the national will; I can do anything I want.”

Let alone preventing a son or a relative; has any of the above resisted appearing before the court themselves? Have you ever heard the word “coup” from any one of them? Have you ever heard of the repositioning of 5,000 prosecutors and police because they were investigating and arresting?

Why didn’t you? Because in those places, democracy is not defined with an “advanced” in front of it and you cannot put “national will” in front of theft.

Why so? Because theft is theft. Nobody over there dares to put national will before it. And national will over there is the permit and authority to run the country for a while. It is not the power to become a thief, to steal, to collect money in a pool…

Watch your step!

What did the prime minister say: “I will audit your records the way I would control a shopkeeper’s book.”

The addressee is apparent: The businessperson who criticizes, who dares to say things the PM dislikes. His words mean, “Watch your step!”

I am saying this: We are in the second decade of the 21st century. Supposedly we have democracy. Supposedly there is tax justice.

In this country, a state bank loans $600 million to a pocket… Another hand, a hand we do not know, we cannot ask, puts $100 million in the pocket of a foundation… Who fills this pool? Who empties it?
My request is, “Dear Prime Minister, while you are auditing that book, could you take a look at this book also?”

Is advanced democracy this awkward?

Let’s say the 48 percent do not ask, are not curious and do not care. As the prime minister of the country, don’t you have a few words for the 52 percent?

Isn’t the democracy of the 21st century good enough to solve such a simple pool problem?

Ertuğrul Özkök is a columnist for daily Hürriyet in which this abridged piece was published on Feb. 12. It was translated into English by the Daily News staff.