Setting the agenda

The Republic of Turkey is experiencing the greatest administrative and economic crisis in its history. The AKP government, which came to power with the promise of eliminating poverty, corruption, and bans, has pushed these problems to their peak.

The government, which has dismantled the principles of seniority and merit that form the foundation of personnel law, has entered into a state of administrative weakness and lack of planning, making appointments without regard for these principles, leaving it unable to solve any problems, primarily those concerning the economy, immigrants, and housing.

Poverty has turned into hunger, and millions of people have begun to feel the pain of poverty in the most acute way. Today, our biggest problem is poverty. Retirees, workers, and civil servants are bewildered by ridiculous raises in the face of massive inflation and have become unable to know how much longer they can endure this fate.

Corruption has become an everyday occurrence reflected in the press, and has begun to be accepted by society as normal and customary matters.

Court of Accounts reports have been ignored, and as in the most recent example of the Yunus Emre Foundation, corruption has remained unpunished.

As for the bans, they have overshadowed the practices of martial law or state of emergency periods, and various restrictions have been imposed on fundamental rights and freedoms.

Is it possible to speak of the full exercise of the freedom of communication, freedom of thought and opinion, freedom of expression and dissemination of thought, freedom of science and art, freedom of the press, the right to organize meetings and protest marches, the right to seek justice, and the right to strike today?

Every person who expresses their opinion and every journalist doing their job faces being detained in a morning raid, and those who want to seek their rights by organizing meetings and protest marches face being beaten with batons, pepper-sprayed, and hit with water cannons.

Not finding the aforementioned administrative and economic problems sufficient, the government has also pursued creating a political crisis by dealing with opposition municipalities and removing mayors from office with unsatisfactory justifications.

Today, Turkey's agenda is a crisis of administration and politics, primarily the economy. The only solution is a change of government through an early election. However, just as it does with victimhood, the government displays all its mastery in setting and changing the agenda.

Instead of the main agenda topics, primarily hunger and poverty, public opinion has become preoccupied with the Narin murder, the Newborn Gang, constitutional amendments, the investigation into lieutenants, the change of power in Syria, the appointment of trustees, and finally, the artificial Kurdish issue.

With the media power at its disposal, the AKP government unfortunately succeeds with great skill in setting the agenda as it wishes and preventing the discussion of society's real problems. Yet, the real agenda is poverty, corruption, bans, and an early election to attain a government that will truly fight these.

No government has the power to withstand society's desire and determination to defend this agenda through democratic means. For this reason, instead of turning lights on and off or handing out red cards, the opposition should stop following artificial agendas and keep poverty, corruption, bans, and early elections on the agenda. But especially when the main opposition is about to return to the real agenda, it finds itself forced to follow the agenda created by a removed mayor.

Seeing that society has reached the end of its endurance, that it cannot solve the existing problems, and that it will lose power in the first election, the AKP government shows that it has no intention of holding an early election by keeping the Kurdish issue and opposition municipalities on its agenda through constitutional amendments.