Will you be a CEO or a politician?

The option of becoming a politician was not even an option for us during the years when I was a student at Boğaziçi University. We were young people who feared politics. We were distracted from politics and made to fear it. Even political science students did not plan a career in the public service, a job in a political party or even an activity in a nongovernmental organization – it was just studied for fun. Success and money were the main targets in those years.

Boğaziçi University was like that in particular. Friends and students who were more active in politics at other universities would refer to Boğaziçi as “the Boğaziçi Holiday Village,” because the attitude towards political studies was not the same there. 

I was given the honor of making the commencement speech at the 150th Boğaziçi University graduation ceremony. I saw, at this occasion, how students of all opinions were closely interested in politics. They had prepared banners with several messages including criticism of the state of emergency decrees (KHK),
 making fun of the clichés of politicians, posters on LBGTI rights, women’s rights, the independence of the university, environmental awareness, support for Palestine and commemoration of our martyrs. But the texts were not vulgar. They were expressions of ideas, most of them humorous. If the situation is the same in other universities, then a very qualified political generation may be on its way on both the right and left of the political spectrum.

A generation is growing with the ambition and determination to carry society to a better place. A wise person would stay away from aggression both in discourse and actions. The contribution of these bright brains is life-sustaining not only for the future of the country’s economy and culture but also for its political life. 

These people can form a political environment based on wisdom, logic, knowledge, freedom of speech and democracy, so long as they stay in the country. We certainly need them.

My notes on the justice march

It is beautiful that the opposition’s justice march from Ankara to Istanbul is a peaceful action. The physical effort is admirable. The march is calm. Measures have been taken against possible provocations. There are no party flags. Slogans and messages are restricted to the concept of justice only. Hopefully, the final leg of the march will also end like this. 

A note for those who are asking me why I do not join the march: I have been invited to trips abroad with government leaders, as well as to rallies of different parties. I have also been invited to this march. 
I have thanked them all for their kind invitations and their courtesy. All of them can be regarded positively. But my personal choice is to stay away from all of them as a citizen, and to try to write my own impartial opinion. 

I am a writer of TV comedies. I am neither focused on nor have a good enough command of the political field as that of a newsperson. So I do not join these trips, rallies and marches to make political observations and write about them. Anyway, this country is probably not sane enough to regard such attendances with common sense.

I am not fond of any political party. Sometimes I like some aspects of some of them; sometimes I like others. I want to hold onto my right to criticize all of them loudly, to make fun of all of their performances.

Whenever there is an issue I want to learn more about, there are plenty of sources. I have written, in my own style, the problematic situation of the judiciary. This is my style of marching for justice. 

There is a rumor that the main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP) leader Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu has lost five kilos in 20 days. Many jokes immediately cross my mind about this. Maybe I should recommend certain people stop opposing the march and join it instead.  

So please don’t invite me to trips, marches and rallies. Mine is the mind of a humor writer. Who knows what could be drawn from it?