Well done kids, well done

AHMET HAKAN

They are just about to say, “Secularist minds are on the stage again,” but then, they take a look and see: Those kids who have taken to the streets have no idea about the outdated and stale tension that is named the “secularist/Islamist contradiction.”

They are just about to say, “They are printing invitations for the military.” But they look around and see: Those kids who have taken to the streets are so colorful, so cheerful, so jovial, so fancy free… They have come to notice that let alone the color khaki, the possibility of these kids to wish to wrap themselves up in any one color is zero.

They are about to say “They cannot stomach persons who have strong religious beliefs.” They take a look and see that the kids who have taken to the streets issue communiqués to “Respect the Night of the Ascent;” some among them come out and declare, “I am religious and I am here.”

They are just about to say, “Their roots are outside the country…” They take a look and see that these kids who have taken to the streets are super non-aligned, super inexperienced, super flighty and super naïve… Let alone them having foreign roots, they do not have any roots…

They are about to say, “They are yearning for May 27…” Then, they take a look and see that the fathers of the kids who took to the streets were not even born on May 27. The Turkey of May 27 is not even their father’s Turkey.

They are just about to say “They are being guided by the CHP.” They look around and see that among the kids who took to the streets, none of them ever take the CHP seriously.

Well done to you kids, well done. You have thrown away like a used handkerchief into the wastebasket of history all those previously memorized theses, analyses, contradictions, strategies, approaches.

You have broken all the molds. You have bewildered those who thought they were measuring even the breath of the society by having 80 surveys held every day; you have baffled them.

You have made the conservatives of today who do not get you, not a bit, fall into the position of the secularists of yesterday who were not able to grasp the developing society at that period when they were asking, “Where have all these covered women come from? Every place is full of them, sweetie.”

You have shown to the whole world that it is predestined, that it is their fate to fail, those who close their ears to the demands for freedom of the developing society… That they will fail today as they have failed yesterday…
Really, well done to you, well done…

Attention: This piece has been written after observing the actions staged at Taksim and Gezi Park for six days. The “kids” referred to in the piece are the “kids” who have participated in the celebratory protests. Let us not deviate, let us not allow others to deviate.

All thanks to you, kids

President Abdullah Gül for the first time since he stepped up to the Çankaya Presidential Mansion found the self-esteem to emerge, to have a say in the course of events and to conduct talks… Thanks to you, kids.

Bülent Arınç has issued statements that made all of us hopeful without fearing the head of the delegation that went to North Africa… Thanks to you, kids.

News channels started showing the courage to do justice to the news and to do their job… Thanks to you, kids.

That bank’s general manager came out to say “I am a marauder, also.” Thanks to you, kids. Even the most partisan writer started saying “I of course support non-violent demonstrations…” City Planners, architects who were treated like dirt up to now are now invited to the Office of the Prime Ministry. Thanks to you, kids.

For a long time, the political reporters who were not able to ask anything that came to their minds started slightly and shyly to ask the questions that came to their minds to the “acting prime minister.” Thanks to you, kids.

The thesis “If you put too much pressure on the media, then this will prove to be against the government who exerts it” has almost become one that everybody accepts… Thanks to you, kids.

Right now, the leaves of the trees at Gezi Park are swishing in an unprecedentedly happy mode… That’s because of you kids…

Everybody is discussing the difference between “majority-ism” and pluralism; from all corners voices of “participatory democracy” are rising… Thanks to you, kids.

I am confessing: We have done nothing, but nothing. We were not able to do anything.

You have done everything, but everything, kids.

Ahmet Hakan is a columnist for daily Hürriyet in which this piece was published on June 6. It was translated into English by the Daily News staff.