Are we going to take sides in a “regional” war?

Details of a military base to be built in Qatar, according to an agreement reached between Turkey and Qatar, were discussed at the parliament’s foreign affairs committee.

According to the information provided, the Turkey-Qatar “Division Tactic Headquarters” will be set up in Doha. The contingent will be commanded by a Qatari major general while his deputy will be a brigadier general from the Turkish Armed Forces. There will be 500 to 600 Turkish troops present at the base. 

When the deal was made, you may remember; it was said that the military base would be used against “common enemies.” 

Before the military agreement with Qatar, a “very comprehensive” military agreement was reached with Saudi Arabia. When the government said the military dimension of this deal was limited to “advising and training,” the president had said, “No, if necessary, joint operations can be conducted.” You will also remember that. 

More than a year has passed. We have learned that the base in Qatar will be opened soon.  

Last week, Saudi Defense Minister and Deputy Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman accused Iran of upholding an “extremist ideology with an ambition to control the Islamic world.” He also said, “We will not wait until the fight is inside Saudi Arabia and we will work so that the battle is on their side, inside Iran, not in Saudi Arabia.” 

Iranian Defense Minister Hossein Dehghan said they “will leave nothing standing in the kingdom except for the Islamic holy cities of Mecca and Medina” if the Saudis do anything “ignorant.”

If this tension between Saudi Arabia and Iran turns into a military showdown and clash, it is not difficult to guess that Qatar will find itself inside this fire. 

Let’s hope this does not happen, but this business does not develop according to our wishes; we know that from our experience in Syria now. 

In such a situation, are we going to go to war against the “common enemy” with Qatar? Will the cost of the “very comprehensive” military deal with Saudi Arabia be being involved in a war that has nothing to do with us? 

The ambition to be “a regional power” has cost us 3 million Syrian refugees and almost $10 billion. It is still not known how the Democratic Union Party (PYD) at our Syrian border will be dealt with. Now, with the same ambition, are we going to take sides in an irrelevant war? 

Daylight saving time  

Europe switched to the daylight saving time on March 26; thus our time difference with central Europe was back to a one-hour difference again. 

We did not set our clocks forward because daylight saving time practice was continuing here. For this reason, throughout the winter, we, children and everyone else, had to hit the road at pitch darkness in the mornings. 

The Energy and Natural Resources Ministry had said that year-long daylight saving time practice would save 1 billion Turkish Liras only in public energy consumption. Adding the private sector’s consumption, the saving would reach 2.5 billion liras. We, as electricity consumers at home, would also save another 1 billion.  

As a matter of fact, the same ministry used to say just the opposite and that never switching to daylight saving time would cause more saving, but they changed their minds later.

I have been waiting for an explanation since March 26 on whether we have actually saved on anything and - if any - how much? 

It was citizens who suffered from this practice, but the minister does not feel the need to inform them on what they earned for this suffering. 

Actually in a modern democracy, the public administration is expected to inform citizens on such matters. But maybe that business has gone way past Üsküdar.