It would be good if…

It would not be realistic to expect the country, which has felt a trauma deep in its bones, to normalize overnight; it would not be a logical attitude. 

It should be supported without any hesitation that the perpetrators of these heinous acts should be discharged; it is a must that they should be punished with the heaviest penalties within the legal framework. 

The joint stance adopted during this coup attempt by opposite political view holders, who all sided with democracy, is promising. 

Well then, after this historic and major fracture, what would be good and what should be done for the Turkey of tomorrow now that we have an opportunity to make a fresh start? 

As Prime Minister Binali Yıldırım stated yesterday, it would of course be good if we acted wisely, away from being sentimental, while staying within the law and being determined.

Instead of political moves designed to segment society into opposite poles, neighborhoods and communities based on differences, it would be good to protect our joint features which emerged during the coup attempt and which form the glue of our society. 

It has been emphasized, but there is no harm in repeating it. While selecting applicants for official positions, if partisanship is eliminated, and instead of political baggage criteria, honesty and commitment to the job are taken into account, it would be good. 

It would be good if we hang on to our proverb: “He who gets up in anger, sits down with a loss.” It would be good if we can abandon, while it is fresh, the “environments” those platforms that would move the country towards disaster and chaos; those that open the door for a lynching culture. 

The only remedy which strengthens democracies and guards against coups is democracy, a better qualified democracy, a regime with more freedoms; it would be very good if we could see this. 

Deputy Prime Minister Mehmet Şimşek, when interviewed by Neşe Karanfil from daily Hürriyet, said, “We are one. We are united for the strengthening of democracy, together with the opposition, with the government, nongovernmental organizations, the business world, all segments of society on the entire political spectrum.

Now, we have to look ahead. Before anything else, socially, there has been a reconciliation platform for the opposition and the government. We were all together in opposing the coup. This situation opens a path for social reconciliation. The atmosphere in parliament, in that sense, is clear… Turkey has overcome a huge calamity. Now, we will look ahead to how we can construct our democracy and our economy more strongly…”
It would be very good if it happens as he has said, if an environment of dialogue instead of monologue is adopted, if democracy is strengthened, the democracy we had the opportunity to re-embrace as we were about to lose it in a major disaster. 

Otherwise…?

Well, otherwise, what can it be? It would not be good. It would be bad. Life would be worse. 

With the hope that we will strive for goodness, one more time, let us all get well soon.