We are sane and well, very well

We are sane and well, very well

In Istanbul, the sun is trying to find its way through cotton-like clouds that are all covering the sky. The sun is trying to find itself a path in the sky.  

It is the right time for idlers who are lucky enough to sit on a bank by the Bosphorus and watch the sea that has turned into a shiny blue cover…

Souls that are worn out after a long winter are experiencing tranquility pangs saying, “The sun is here; no it has gone; rain and thunder started…” Then news stories came pouring in… 

Educators Nuriye Gülmen and Semih Özakça, who have been on a hunger strike to protest their unjust dismissals from their jobs with a state of emergency statutory decree, have been detained in a police raid at their homes. Later they were arrested. “What kinds of benefits are being offered to you to go on hunger strike?” the teacher and the academic were asked by the prosecutor. In other words, the prosecutor is asking: “What advantage do you have in dying?” 

“Ah,” you would say in agony. The man who sits on the bank by the Bosphorus then sees this news story: “In a parliament general assembly, a motion proposed by the Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP) on a ‘parliamentary research for the absolute prevention of child abuse and for the provision of the adaptation to social life of abused children;’ even though the debate has ended, was not able to be processed because the minimum votes needed for the decision was not met.”

While the 07:45 ferry from Beşiktaş sails by to Kadıköy on the Asian side of the city, an astonishing news story, this time from Central Anatolian province of Sivas, comes. “One of the significant venues of the Seljuk period, the 750-year-old Gök Medrese tiles were cleaned with the acid that destroyed them. After this, they were painted blue, it was found out,” the news said.   

Did we say astonishing? Well, let’s continue… Our colleagues Gurbet Gökçe and Ali Can Zeray are reporting from Saros Bay, from the paradise called İbrice Port. “The forest area that has been declared as a special protection zone is facing the risk of destruction because of limestone-mining and stone pits. The ministry made a decision that there was no need for an environmental impact assessment report; upon which environmentalists took the decision to court. The court decided that the assessment report was necessary. Despite this decision, two applications were submitted to open two new limestone mines in the area.” Well, saints and saintly beings, we do not need the sea, we need the limestone; of course… 

Ankara Mayor Melih Gökçek took tourism investors to the “mega amusement park” project in Ankara. While they were riding a rollercoaster, they were stranded halfway in the air. Gökçek told reporters that this actually showed how strong security was. I wonder if anybody thought of asking him: “Teflon-coated politicians are the best, right?’” 

But we are well, very well. 

For instance, in Ankara, Demetevler, a group of “citizens” blocked a main street with their convoy of vehicles, they drove geometric designs with their cars, they shot in the air with their guns, then left the scene as if nothing had happened. 

Our sanity is full; our reasoning works perfectly; our conscience is at its peak…

We are well, very well.