Isn’t there anybody in the AKP who’s sick of this?
If you consider all those leaked wiretapped phone calls, you may think the administrators of our country are all pious people. They start their conversations with “Selamünaleykum” (an Islamic greeting meaning “Peace be upon you”), they continue by saying “Hamdolsun” (Thank God) and end with “Allah’a emanet” (I entrust you to God).
But the subjects of their conversations, things they tell each other – including the profanities they sometimes use, are not compatible with the way that they start and end their talks.
The main theme is how they can monetize the force of political power.
We learn that prime minister’s son is after plots of land in Istanbul.
He has a mediator for this job. Wherever will rise in value, this man learns about it and buys those lands.
An almost 40-acre plot in Kurtköy, Istanbul, was snatched up and the prime minister said he would pave the way for that area, etc.
They are talking about changing regulations to do this…
Millions of euros and dollars are collected at homes.
A businessman tries to give less than he promised (which is 10 million dollars), apparently with a commitment to pay the rest at a later time, but they don’t even like this amount, rejecting it as “he’ll soon fall into our laps.”
Imagine what the full amount is!
Villas are being built; the prime minister’s daughter says how many meters of distance there should be between their villas. And then, they want us to believe those villas are all about the “friends who occasionally visit on the holidays.”
I wonder one thing:
Inside the AKP, there are politicians like Cemil Çiçek, whose past we know well and whom we can presume they wouldn’t stoop to meddling with such business.
I wonder what they think of these conversations.
Don’t they feel themselves fooled? Don’t they feel bad?
Don’t these conversations make them sick?
Or else, do they also believe some people entrust their “zakat” (Islamic alms) to the prime minister in order to be distributed fairly?
How can they stay silent in the face of this disgrace?
Is a seat at Parliament so valuable to them? How can they justify to themselves to shut their eyes and ears for a chair?
Yes, it can’t be compared with Feb. 28
Hüseyin Çelik, the prime minister’s deputy at his party, has said, “They liken us to the Feb. 28 (post-modern coup), such tactlessness!”
I can’t tell if it’s tactless, but I can say the leaders of Feb. 28 cannot be compared to the AKP government.
For instance, the leaders of Feb. 28 had never thought of pressuring the businessmen they didn’t like by using taxes. They were busy with “biscuits that wouldn’t be bought” (to boycott Islamic businesses). But the current government sends tax inspectors to whomever lifts his head, making him regret the day he was born with harsh tax penalties.
Another “benefit” of this action is in how others can be intimated.
One more example: the leader of Feb. 28 could only devise to brief the members of the judiciary. The current government doesn’t waste time with such briefings. They subordinated the Supreme Council of Judges and Prosecutors (HSYK) to the Justice Ministry, and now they’ll be able to exile any judge or prosecutor who doesn’t do what they want to wherever they like.
That’s not all: the leaders of Feb. 28 couldn’t think of appointing their own “Alo Fatih” representatives to media outlets or putting “political commissars” inside newsrooms.
They also couldn’t devise ordering businessmen to buy newspapers and televisions to have direct control on pro-government media.
They had a head only for “the memorandum,” which would soon be proven sloppy. This is why the number of journalists who lost their jobs or columns on Feb. 28, is nothing compared to those who experience it today!
And finally: the leader of Feb. 28 had no head to get unearned income.
All of them are retired and had to move to resorts in order to make a living with their pensions. What about today?
They sniff at “10 million dollars,” they make an income channel from any business; they snatch land plots and pile worldly goods.