Everything but 'Turkish-type' acceptable

We were not very tolerant about contradictory ideas in the past either, but we must see that this intolerance has constantly increased.

Columnist Ahmet Hakan listed the benefits of a presidential system and all over social media was how he had switched positions, that he was a quitter.

The problem is those who are reading the column are not concerned with that the writer is trying to explain. They obviously have such a mentality: They are against President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan. Since he wants a presidential system, then they should not.

They do not want a presidential system but they never ponder that the Turkish-type parliamentarian system, the current one, also has to be absolutely changed. 

If Erdoğan changed his mind tomorrow and decided to go on with the parliamentary system, obviously they would also oppose that.

We have only one issue: We need a system that will reinforce separation of powers, prevent the control of the executive over legislation and enable true independent and impartial justice.

This can be achieved both in the presidential system of the parliamentarian system.

We oppose the presidential system proposed by Erdoğan because he does not aim for this. 

But just because we are against him does not mean an insistence of the already wrecked parliamentarian system. 

We have seen that the current system in Turkey can easily be transformed into a one-man regime. When talks on the new constitution start, this is our priority: How will separation of powers be achieved and strengthened? 

How can an animal lover defend torture? 

In Istanbul’s Üsküdar district, a guy kicked a cat in front of his entrance causing it to die under a taxi. 

Naturally, animal lovers reacted to that. A friend of mine who is very sensitive on these issues shared it on Instagram. Here are some of the comments it elicited:  

“I hope he dies the same way.” 

“The same thing should be done to him.” 

“I hope he loses his balance and is hit by a car.”

“He should be tortured to death.” 

“I hope he is kicked to death.” 

It is understandable that they are very sensitive because they have witnessed a horrible incident. But how can you say that a live creature should be tortured to death, kicked to death? 

In the civilized world, capital punishment is abandoned even for the heaviest of crimes. Torture is considered inhuman. Are your minds still at the “eye-for-an-eye” practice of medieval times? 

Children died for nothing 

In the village of Karaağaç in southeastern Diyarbakır province, six children died after a fire broke out at a Quran school. The news stories pointed out they died of sheer negligence. 

Even though the head of the Directorate of Religious Affairs defined the fire as the “will of God” and the kids who died as “martyrs,” I don’t know what we should do with the fact that God has given people the wisdom to prevent such fires. 

The school did not have a permit to accommodate the students. Even though there was central heating in the building, an electric stove was used. Since the stove did not have metal legs, the kids had to put a pillow under it. The fire broke out when this electric heater ignited a blanket. 

Obviously this course was never monitored; nobody even knew it accommodated students overnight. 

I wonder if the Provincial Directorate controlled these courses regularly. Hasn’t any official ever been there and noticed the probability for such a disaster to happen? 

The head of the Directorate of Religious Affairs said he would share with the public the results of the investigation into this incident. 

We are, indeed, waiting for the results of this investigation, quickly.