Is this fate?

Branding whatever bad happens as “fate” while ripping benefits from whatever good develops cannot be compatible with any religious teaching. It might be “conservative opportunism” or even perhaps some sort of self-deception in order to maintain individual integrity after a massive failure. But it definitely cannot be fate and even a fatalist approach can no longer succeed to fool the people.

If it could, the tall, bald, bold and ever-yelling prime minister would not be booed by the families of the miners who perished in the worst mine disaster of the country’s recent history. Had they accepted that their loved ones died in the mine because it was their fate, they would not have shouted “thief … murderer” and such rather awkward accusations at the prime minister.

Indeed, how could it be fate?

Is it not a fact that with wrong policies of the government and its Higher Education Council “mass education” at engineering faculties that were “mass-multiplied” over the past few years mines were left to the hands of poorly educated, inept engineers?

Is it not a fact that with the mining law legislated by this government that mines were not only privatized, but also it became possible for companies who are not employing even mining engineers to undertake subcontracting at mines?

Is it not a reality that a parliamentary investigation inquiry supported by every opposition party was voted out at Parliament by the MPs of the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP)?

Is it really true that inspectors from the Energy Ministry – who by law must be mining engineers – often conduct inspections drinking coffee or having lunches in the above ground offices, without actually going down and seeing the reality in the mine? If wrong, how did it happen that such a deadly “accident” indeed took place in a mine inspected and received an “all OK” report just last March?

If everything was “OK” in that mine, as was reported in March, what happened since then that an accident with such huge dimensions engulfing the entire Turkish nation into grief was able to take place?

Why, so many hours after the accident, is there still no official and definitive figure on the amount of workers in the mine at the time of the accident? Can anyone indeed say the accident was “fate” if, despite all rules and regulations, two shifts of workers – that is the shift that completed its time in the mine and the shift starting to work in the mine – were in the same mine at the same time?

If there were 850 workers in the mine at the time of the accident, who is responsible for such negligence? Why, after so many hours no investigation has still been properly launched? Why has no one was been detained in connection of this mass-massacre?

What about the claims that local authorities had ignored enforcing safety regulations and ensuring decent working conditions in the mine because the company operating the mine is known to be “close” to the ruling party?

Is it really possible that young boys, as young as 15-16, are working in the mines? Does Turkey, or let’s say it frankly, does the government allow child labor in mines?

Can we still say the Soma mass-massacre was a product of fate? People who are not contaminated with greed (and benefits) of being in power might understand how futile indeed to have a fatalist approach on this issue and can understand why the premier was yelled at by the families, friends and colleagues of the miners murdered in the mine.

Was it not sad to see the premier of the country seeking shelter in a market or his car’s plates being changed with haste?