Why did the justice minister smile?
When reporters asked whether or not the interior minister would resign, the justice minister, sitting right beside him, started smiling. When I said smiling, he did not burst into laughter, but rather he sat there “with a big grin.”
Upon this incident Republican People’s Party (CHP) leader Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu said: “The smiling justice minister should resign; if not, he should be removed.”
When this situation was mentioned to Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu, as far as I read in the papers, he answered Kılıçdaroğlu with “body language.” He opened his hands to both sides and tilted his head as if saying, “What are we going to do with these?”
I don’t know whether the prime minister, while he was trying to express this through body language, raised one eyebrow and pointed to above. Like he was trying to say, “This justice minister is the man sent from the top; I cannot do anything about him…”
As a matter of fact, there is nothing surprising in the justice minister’s attitude. When he heard the question “Will you resign?” he grinned because he knows that in Turkish bureaucracy, in the DNA of the tradition of public administration, there is no concept such as resigning due to failure. Every civil servant knows this because they have been taught this from early ages.
Upon a question whether one should resign due to failure, one should confront it with a brazen-face.
For instance, the interior minister could have said this and his words would be met with solidarity from at least 50 percent of Turkey: “What now? Did I explode the bomb? Did I send the terrorist there?”
There is of course the situation of taking the responsibility for the failure in the case of a resignation. The top person, the ever-powerful, would not like this.
If something is successful, this has come from the ever-powerful, but the mistakes all belong to the subordinate ranks. If a “top authority” resigns and leaves because of a failure, then there are many authorities who would love to blame him for every negativity in the country.
He would be found responsible for everything from the quagmire in Syrian policies to the weakness in security.
For this reason, the interior minister whose background is Turkish bureaucracy does not resign, the justice minister, who has heard this question and who has the same background, grins.
The bronze law of bureaucracy in Turkey demands that.
Until that certain voice is heard again
After the terror attack in Ankara, Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu said, “These days are days when we are experiencing tough periods. These days are the ones when we feel the need for more unity and togetherness than any other time.”
I read in the papers. Something has happened also to Yalçın Akdoğan. He said, “We should confront the terror attack as a nation, all together.” He also added, “Those who issue irresponsible statements that agitate society would be the losers themselves.”
I have to ask whether so many people had to die for these guys to have a clear mind.
We have been trying to explain for years, that unless you change this separatist, discriminatory language then this country will become unmanageable and uninhabitable.
It was only two days ago that those who did not think like you, all of us, were “terrorists,” remember what you said.
If what you said that day was true then why should we be hand-in-hand today? Will it not bother you to hold hands with “terrorists?”
The pain and sorrow we are going through are so big that we may take what you say today seriously to get rid of this darkness.
But you should also ask yourselves: How many days will it take for you to forget the words you said today?
That certain voice that loves to keep quiet on these days, when that voice starts to be heard again, will you have the courage to remind him also of this reality?
