Today’s film has subtitles, enjoy
Dear Reader,
On Wednesday, April 15, Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu presented his party’s election manifesto to the public. The following was compiled with sentences from Davutoğlu’s speech and various news stories.
Those in quotations belong to Davutoğlu; those in parenthesis are taken from current news stories from papers or news tickers that were “passing” on the TV screen while he was speaking.
I hope you enjoy reading, with kisses and hugs…
“In 14 years, the AK Party [Justice and Development Party] staff has proved at every stage that they were the righteous movement.”
(Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu has canceled a decision to reward deputies – who will not run for office in upcoming elections – with wrist watches in a scheduled meeting. It was said the cancellation was due to concerns that debates would be rekindled about the 700,000-Turkish Lira watch former Economy Minister Zafer Çağlayan had received from businessman Rıza Sarraf.)
“In the focus of our manifestation is human dignity. We are determined to make the necessary moves for each of our citizens to lead a life compatible with human dignity during this era of development.”
(In the Soma mine disaster court hearing, which caused the death of 301 mine workers, defendants were protected by a wall of police officers. Family members of the victims fainted.)
“It is not possible for a person whose freedom is not guaranteed to protect his/her honor. It is not possible for a person whose security is under threat to maintain his/her own freedom zone.”
(It is now considered worthy of investigation when Aegean University students plant trees, dance the “halay,” make a statement to the press and especially make demonstrations with balloons.)
“In the bureaucracy, on no account, will any horizontal or parallel organizational activity be allowed. Necessary measures will be taken against those practices that disrupt the bureaucratic hierarchy and, thus, the state order.”
(Dear listeners; this next song is coming from the archive, as an exception, for separated couples: “What did we not give you that you asked for.”)
“The state is committed to taking all measures for the physical, spiritual and intellectual equipping of the youth.”
(Unemployment is at a five-year peak of 11.3 percent.)
“One of the most natural results of this vast experience accommodating a deep human, time and place cognition is our sensitivity on the environment and the city.”
(The building that accommodates the Istanbul Library, defined as the thousand-year of memory of Istanbul, founded by Çelik Gülersoy, is for rent on a website with a note that it can be used as a “restaurant, hotel or café.”)
“For an honorable nation which was in need of a few hundred million dollars in 2002, which was in need of 70 cents, for this nation not to knock on the door of IMF again, for it not to take its tanks and artillery as a grant from others, for that nation not to beg for donations from others, we are building a strong Turkey.”
(The dollar has gone wild; it has gone past 2.70 liras… Finance Minister Mehmet Şimşek said the budget deficit was 6.8 billion liras in March and 5.4 billion liras in the period between January and March… Food prices increased twice as much as inflation.)