Obviously they are not watching Turkey

I have always said that for a politician it is never enough to keep track of what is going on in his or her own country.

What is happening in the world, what is happening in other countries in the world, what kind of a stance do political players take against these incidents? These should also be monitored closely so that they can draw lessons from them. 

An example: Mexican President Pena Nieto’s wife Angelica Riverna bought a mansion worth $7 million. According to claims, the first lady bought this mansion from a Mexican company that is partnering with a Chinese company that has won a train bid without any competition.

Well, of course, all hell has broken loose; the president had to cancel the train tender. If he had monitored the world better, he would have learnt that there is a country, such as Turkey, and that over the years, politicians in this country have developed effective methods to fight against these kinds of claims and he would have acted accordingly.

For example, he would have said, “That villa is very old; it has been there for 20 years.” He could have also said, “It is not mine anyway. It is a friend’s. Thanks to him, we can go and stay there, the whole family.”

They could have also said this: “We married our daughter off. Thanks to the son-in-law, he bought this villa for us so that we will live there in the future.”

Then they could have attacked, “Those who create such rumors are those who want to prevent Mexico from having advanced railroads.”

Moreover, they could have searched for “higher wisdom” behind that and could have said, “Guatemala does not want this railroad to be built because they are preparing to enter NAFTA instead of us.”

Another example from yesterday’s papers: South African President Jacob Zuma has spent $24 million using state resources to build a “village” for himself, where he would live in retirement. The South African government said this was necessary for the president’s security in his retirement, but public inspectors have since decided that the money spent must be paid back to the state.

Maybe “a parallel structure” was formed in the public inspectors’ institution. The government, instead of publicizing that, like an idiot, they mumbled words such as “security.” 

Well, go for the parallel structure!

Let us assume you could not come up with this. Well, did you not think of saying, “The president’s village will be a state asset; he will not take it and move it?” 

I told you, a politician should know what is going on in other places in the world; they absolutely have to closely monitor what is happening.

If there was a need, it was the PM’s

President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has defended the palace, which was built illegally against court orders on the land of the forest farm, saying, “This building was a necessity for our country; that’s why it was built.”

Let us assume for a moment what he is saying was true; let us accept that this was because of a “need.” Like anybody else, he should also be remembering very well that this building was built for the Prime Ministry. The aim was to gather together the service units of the Prime Ministry that were scattered in different buildings in Ankara.

Regardless of it being necessary or not, this building was built for the Prime Ministry.

Now the “unauthorized and not-responsible” president has seized the building that was built for the Prime Ministry’s needs.    

Unless the constitutional order is changed, in other words, unless the presidential system that he is dreaming of is formed, this building is a luxury for the presidency.

The powers of the president are known, in order to do his job using these powers, the units he needs are also known.

They have already found themselves a place within the Çankaya Presidential Mansion. If the building were finished during Abdullah Gül’s term, would he, as the prime minister, say to Gül, “Sir, you are the president; you may need this; come and work in this building?”

He should also ask what the cost of the building was to the finance minister because he knows it’s wrong.