Erdoğan’s speechwriter has no clue

An Order of State of the Republic of Turkey was given to Saudi Arabia’s King Salman on April 13. The phrase “throwing a sprat to catch a mackerel” springs to mind, but as far as we know Salman is not even offering the bone of the mackerel. (Of course, not including the gifts he brings for President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, but that does not concern us ordinary citizens.)

According to the speech Erdoğan delivered at the ceremony, the reason why this order was given to King Salman was because of his contribution to developing relations between the two countries. 

“Well done, King,” I whispered to myself. He has only been on the throne for 14-and-a-half months, so he must have done a great job in such a short time. 

But while reading Erdoğan’s words, I started wondering who wrote his speech. The speechwriter referred to the fact that “the friendship and fraternal ties between the two societies [are] rooted in history.”

But as a matter of fact, our ancestors and the King’s ancestors actually did not get along very well. Indeed, Abdullah bin Saud was publicly beheaded in Istanbul, in Beyazıt Square.

I cannot understand how one could talk about friendship and fraternity with those who, in the most difficult period of the empire (during the first years of World War I), took handfuls of British gold and declared jihad against the Ottomans. 

Whoever wrote the president’s speech should read a bit of history. Not only history, they should also read today’s papers and watch the news on TV. 

“In our region, which is facing major issues, your astute administration constitutes an assurance for regional peace, security, serenity and stability,” the speech also read.

Fine, but wasn’t it the Saudis who intervened in Bahrain and Yemen with their troops? Wasn’t today’s King the defense minister of the time? Who was it who nurtured and armed the jihadists in Syria? Who is supporting the Salafi movements threatening the world’s tranquility and the region’s peace? 

I guess it would be much better if they assign a more competent person to write the president’s speeches.


Difficult to understand 

Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) chair Devlet Bahçeli has declared that he would not “surrender his party to the parallel structure.” According to Bahçeli, his opponents forcing an extraordinary convention are merely the extension of the Fethullah Gülen gang. I couldn’t really figure out whether just one, two or all of them are from this gang. 

For instance, Koray Aydın, has been a member of the MHP for as long as I can remember. He even served as a cabinet minister, and it was Bahçeli who made him a minister. 

I also remember the ceremony when Meral Akşener joined the MHP. While serving as an independent deputy from the province of Kocaeli, she had participated in the founding of the Justice and Development Party (AKP), but later joined the MHP after dissenting from the AKP. Who do you think put her MHP badge on? 

It was also Bahçeli who made sure Sinan Oğan and Ümit Özdağ were elected as deputies from the MHP lists.

All this must mean that Bahçeli - just like Recep Tayyip Erdoğan - was also deceived by the Gülenists! One gave them whatever they wanted, the other “slept” while his party’s top management was elected from the “parallel structure.”

This is quite a weird situation. In his speech on April 12, Bahçeli said, “Each brother and sister who signed for the convention is precious to me. I respect their will. I know their demands and I understand them.”

So why has his party ended up in court, with a board of trustees appointed to oversee the extraordinary convention? 

If you respect the will of all of them, and if the statute of the party is quite clear, why did you not convene the congress yourself?  

It is indeed difficult to grasp.