How About Fighting Corruption and Poverty?
More than 15 million people in Turkey live beneath the poverty line, which should be regarded as a disaster. It is also clear that 80 percent of our population still receives only 40 percent of the national income, while 20 percent grabs 60 percent of it...
Thus with the corrupt and deficient system the masses become poorer and the rich, who lend the state their money, get richer on the shoulders of the suffering majority.
If you made such statements in the past, you would be called a communist, and the system would deal with you immediately. But today with the fall of communism they either regard you as an outcast or, if they cannot find an appropriate label, you become an Islamist.
The other truth about Turkey is the widespread corruption and the irregularities which some of our foreign diplomatic friends have pointed out to us lately. They say the energy contracts stink and that some of those Turkish companies which were given preferential treatment in the past few years have not even found the funds to start the construction of these projects... The diplomats pointed to so many corruption cases that they themselves have witnessed at all levels that we were shocked. Turkish businessmen also have similar stories about purchases of the most sensitive materials...
The Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) came to office promising an effective fight against corruption and poverty. Until now we have seen nothing, but we want to give them the benefit of the doubt and hope they will start acting soon.
However, those who feel so sensitive about Turkey's national security have to realize that Turkey cannot achieve any kind of internal stability or credibility abroad with such poverty, the crooked income distribution picture and corruption. These are the menaces that are eating into our country, and those who want to maintain this kind of crooked order are the ones who are obstructing democratic reforms.
So such issues, we feel, have to be on the agenda of the all-powerful National Security Council (MGK), which seems to be the supreme power in Turkey.
Yes, let us fight effectively against Islamic activism, but we should realize that we are only creating an exaggerated enemy out of the masses who cherish religious sensitivities, while the country and its people are falling victim to poverty and the results of widespread corruption, which creates incredible social injustices..
The state always has the will and the means to cope with Fethullah Gülen or any other Islamist who wants to challenge it. This is a powerful state which cannot be defeated by a handful of fundamentalists. However, the state should show its teeth against the real menace, which is poverty and corruption.
TURKISH DAILY NEWS
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