The West has to pay the price

To prevent the refugee inflow to Europe, German Chancellor Angela Merkel suggested the number of daily entries, which is now above 2,000, be decreased to three-digit figures. In other words, what Merkel wants is that a maximum number of 999 people should be allowed to enter Europe every day so that the Refugee Joint Action Plan can be applicable. 

If this comes true, then Germany will shoulder the main burden of the refugee flow, convincing the EU members that are reluctant to accept refugees. 

It is not a very easy plan to implement. A significant portion of EU members maintain their reluctance to accept refugees. This is quite understandable in terms of those countries which have small populations. Integrating a community with a different language, religion and traditions scares them. Racist political movements that feed on this fear make the operation much more difficult. 

However, they need to realize that fear does not help much because it is impossible to prevent this refugee flow; it can only be regulated by taking it under control. 

Last year, 1,200,000 refugees were able to cross to Italy and Greece over the sea. It is known that more than 4,000 people drowned.   

This inflow looks like it will not stop. People have seen that in countries led by Syria and Libya, as well as Afghanistan and Iraq, they would not be able to live anymore. 

Most of them are left with no houses; their countries have been destroyed and when they will recover is extremely uncertain. 

The effort to “export democracy” to these countries has brought this. The Western world has to pay the price for its attempts that it launched with wrong calculations.

It also has to be noted that except for Turkey and Jordan, all other Muslim countries are acting as if this issue does not interest them. 

PM remembers his powers 

When Deputy Prime Minister Numan Kurtulmuş said President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan was stating his own opinion when he criticized the Constitutional Court ruling, the reply came from Erdoğan’s chief advisor, who reminded that the president was the head of both the state and the government.

When asked about this situation, Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu replied, “I have never been or will not be replying to such statements… In Turkey, the powers of the president as the head of state and the powers of the prime minister as head of the government are known.”

These words create the impression that while the chief advisor of the president was trying to reply to a cabinet minister, the style and the words he used created discomfort for the prime minister. 

The prime minister is clearly stating that the president is the head of the state, and the power to rule the government belongs to himself. 

This can also be seen as the expression of discomfort that the army of chief advisors in the palace has a tendency to act as a “parallel government.” 

This does not necessarily point to a crack at the top of the state, but the palace should see that it is a reaction to duality. 

Responsibility of public employees

Two years ago, five young people lost their lives when the pedal boat they rented in Istanbul’s Kumburgaz neighborhood capsized. A new expert report has been submitted to the court. As you can guess, the person who rented the pedal boat and the people who lost their lives were found at fault because for not taking the necessary precautions. 

Certain public officers were also found at fault for allowing the unlicensed manager to rent out pedal boats for six years, including the Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality, the Büyükçekmece district municipality, the civilian authority and the related police force. 

Generally, in our public administration, the damages and casualties caused by public officials remain unpunished, whereas, even if one public employee did his job properly, it could make a huge difference.  

Just as in this case, if municipal and administrative officials had done their jobs properly, those five people would not have lost their lives. The management would have been forced to take measures in a timely manner. A period of six years of lawlessness was allowed. Let us see what the court decides.