Are we not electing what is best for Turkey?

Columnist Yılmaz Özdil, it is reported, wrote weeks ago about this campaign commercial. He said this video clip was prepared months ago and that the right time for it to be broadcast was being sought. Now, this film has been posted on social media. 

Just as was written by the columnist, our men’s national football squad is playing but our team is subject to continuous foul play by the opponent. The referee is biased, always blowing his whistle in favor of the opponents while showing undeserved cards to our side.

And then, a young girl wearing red goes down to the field and shows a red card to the referee. This is the turning point in the match, and our goals fly in one after the other. The spectators are thrilled; national sentiments peak; the stadium is all applause, cheers, excitement… 

Well, the rumor has it that people are asking why the advertisers knew beforehand that a crisis with the Netherlands would erupt… How come scriptwriters saw the future before our female minister was at the doors of Europe, knocking… 

Another question is why the video appeared exactly as was written; was it a coincidence Özdil’s prediction turned out to be exactly true?

I’m not even going into whether the prophesies of the advertisers or Özdil came true. Or did the scriptwriters know about the Dutch crisis beforehand or why Özdil knew that they knew?

Is this the right thing for the campaign, or can this be categorized as a misleading commercial? Let’s talk about this. 

In an election we are holding to decide on how we want to be administrated, if we are going to regard the “yes” or “no” side to a goal in football, then this goal will be scored against nobody but ourselves, right? 

No matter what the outcome of the referendum is, whether “yes” or “no,” nothing will happen to Europe; the world order will not change; whatever is going to happen will happen to us. 

If the outcome is a good thing, then we will all win regardless of being a naysayer or yeasayer. If it is a bad thing, then again regardless of out votes, we will all lose. 

Aren’t we all in the same boat in this case? It has been turned into a global competition, but the dispute is inside us. Are we not electing what is best for Turkey? 

If our decision proves to be wrong and Turkey loses in the end, then it does not matter who wins or loses; we all pay the price. 

The prime minister claims Europe is working for a “no;” opposition leader Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu says Europe is working for “yes.” The semi-official Anadolu News Agency is reporting that from Palestinian scholars to U.S. and Taiwanese Muslims, support is pouring in from the whole world to Erdoğan. None of them will cast votes and the outcome will not change their lives, but it will change ours. 

Putting an end to the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party’s (PKK) camps in the Kandil Mountains, ensuring the PKK disappears and wiping the Fethullahist Terror Organization (FETÖ) from history are not dependent on the outcome of the referendum. They don’t come and go through elections. 

In this referendum, the world is not one side and Europe is not the opposite side. Do not, especially, put the terror organizations on any side of the equation. 

Let’s not fool ourselves; putting this referendum in the context and atmosphere of a national match is steering the electorate toward the wrong motivation. It is just as misleading to present it as a referendum to fight terror…

We are not choosing between Europe and Turkey. We are not electing the terror organizations or Turkey. We are not deciding whether we side with or against Turkey while confronting the enemy. 

We are simply determining how we will be administrated. Yes, the commercial says, “Come on, yes, let our reputation carry on.” 

As a matter of fact, we are determining our future; why should we ever cast our ballots for a reputation? We are not casting our ballots to bring Europe into line, to slap their faces or repel the enemy… These things are not to be conducted with a “no” or with a “yes.” 

The “yes” is not a slap; the “no” is not a blow. Even if they were, if our choice is wrong, the slap and the blow are for our own selves, nobody else. 

Just as it is wrong to criminalize the “no” and impute that it is tantamount to the crime of supporting terror and the crusaders, it is equally wrong to nurture enmity toward the “yes” and vow to “drive it into the sea…”   
If we agree on this, then the propaganda in that film is pointless and debating it means a waste of time.