The governor’s words, per se, are distorted

Deputy Prime Minister Bülent Arınç has protected the Edirne governor who committed a hate crime and discriminated against a segment of population’s religion by saying, “The governor made a mistake. He acted emotionally.” 

This is exactly the issue, Mr. Arınç: The governor’s emotions.

The governor’s emotions that he revealed as such are filled with “racism, discrimination and hatred.” He said it himself anyway, that he was speaking “with great hatred in him.”

And the deputy prime minister said the governor’s apology was sufficient. That he was sorry his statement was misunderstood.

What is it that we misunderstood in those words?

What did the governor say? Let us remember: “We are building their synagogues at a time when those bandit-like people are blowing the winds of war within the al-Aqsa mosque and killing Muslims. I say this with great hatred in me.”

He spoke before reporters; the footage was broadcast. What is there in these words to be misunderstood?

What did he want to say that we got wrong? Come on, say which one is that!
The governor even said, “My statement was distorted.”

Which part of it was distorted?

What, actually, is distorted are the words themselves and the mentality behind those words…

Erdoğan’s new palace and Beştepe population

The only cost of the palace that was first built as the prime minister’s office, until Recep Tayyip Erdoğan became the president, was converted to the Presidential Palace is not just the so many billions spent for its construction.

The neighborhood was also seriously affected by the palace, by our administrators’ never-ending splendor and passion to show off.

Daily Hürriyet reporter Nurettin Kurt talked to the residents around the palace for me and asked how it affected them.

The buildings that were being built right across the palace were licensed for 24 floors, but their height was reduced to 14 floors because they “blocked the view.”

When a six-lane road was built for the palace, two streets at the entrance of the Türkeş Boulevard were closed. School buses now have to drive one and a half to two kilometers longer; thus increased the fares they charge.

Some parents, in order not to pay the extra school bus fare, take their children across the road for them to get on. There is also no zebra crossing in the six-lane road. There are no traffic lights or signalization to facilitate pedestrian crossings. 

The Metin Emiroğlu Middle School, which was inside the palace compound, was knocked down. Students attending this school were moved this term to barracks at the yard of Sofuoğlu Elementary School.  

Because the manhole and telecommunication covers on the protocol road were moved to the pavement, the specially built road for the visually impaired has become unusable.

Business in the shops on the street that was closed has come to a stop.

There is the Hisarcıklıoğlu Mosque right across the street from the palace. Erdoğan attended Friday prayers here last week. To facilitate Erdoğan’s access to the mosque, that road is also closed on one side and is a one-way street now. The community health center on that street and the neighborhood is now wondering how they will be able to go to the health center. 

The only positive contribution of the palace on the neighborhood is the hike in property prices. The price of a ground floor apartment of 90 square meters has climbed from 120,000 Turkish Liras to 200,000 liras.

According to the headman of the neighborhood, there is a plot to build a school in the development plan. Shareholders of the plot, because the prices have gone up, want to sell their shares; the future of the school is unknown.