A constitutional state does not ‘choke’ people

The Energy and Natural Resources Minister Berat Albayrak spoke at a meeting on the topic of “Turkey’s educated man power in accordance with the vision of 2013.”

He referred to the efforts of the Fethullahist Terror Organization (FETÖ), who are trying to create a diaspora abroad and underlined the necessity of a struggle against it.

His words reflect the truth.

The aim of the Fethullahists is clear:

They are trying to hide the fact that they carried out a coup attempt by using their network and relations abroad, and eliminate the danger of being returned to Turkey by creating a public opinion against Turkey.

Minister Albayrak continued by saying, “You see [Fethullahists] in the countries you visit. If I were you, I would not be able to restrain myself, I would choke them the very moment I saw them.”

Of course, the possibility of the minister to choke anyone is quite low. I also want to think that “he does not advise people to behave this way in reality.”

But I must say, these kinds of statements—especially coming from a minister—strengthen the image the Fethullahists are trying to create of Turkey.
They would use this to empower the propaganda of, “You see, there are even ministers there who say they would choke us with their bare hands” to remind them of the argument to bring back the death penalty in Turkey.

On the other hand, the minister’s words are not in accordance with the attitude a modern government would assume against criminals.

In a state governed by the rule of law, crime and punishment is defined by the law. The punishment that the Fethullahists will face in exchange for their crime is also written in the law.

The courts are therefore present to apply these laws.

Maybe statements of this kind of “personal revenge,” can be applied in tribal states but a constitutional state does not seek revenge.

As I have said, the state gives punishment to the crime but it does not assume a vengeful attitude while doing this.

Because a modern constitutional state respects human rights and the rights of the criminals that originate from being a human must also be under the guarantee of the government.

Therefore, no matter how angry we are, we must first think how our words will be perceived by others.


Look at the actions of the rector

The rector of the Artuklu University in Mardin Prof. Dr. Ahmet Ağırakça wrote a message from his Twitter account.
His message is this: “I was in politics way before the thieves reached the party and I am the Mardin representative of our party leader. There is no way for you. We have been in this movement for 50 years.”

It is quite interesting to see a rector declaring himself as the Mardin representative of a political party’s leader.

He can think as he wants, he has the right to defend the ideas which he finds close to himself, but of course it should not be possible for a rector to declare himself as the representative of a political party’s leader.

It looks like this man’s position as a rector originates from being a graduate of a religious high school (imam hatip) and from being a party member.

I am curious to see the kind of action the High Education Board (YÖK) will take.

At the same time, I cannot help but think what would happen had a rector come out and declared himself a supporter of the CHP, MHP or HDP.