The issue of cars with flashing lights

Let's set aside the city center of Ankara; Atatürk Boulevard, İnönü Boulevard, GMK Boulevard! I am not even talking about them right now...

But once you set off from the capital toward Istanbul, Eskişehir, or Konya, there is almost no one who has not been harassed by civilian-plated, black Volkswagen Passats or Audi A5s with flashing lights coming from behind at full speed while you have your speedometer set to 110 to avoid getting caught by radar.

Let's say you are going on vacation with your car, with your children, spouse, and friends, heading toward Izmir or Antalya via the Eskişehir road...

You are driving pleasantly in the middle lane at a reasonable speed, as you should be.

Maybe there is some nice road music on the radio, or perhaps a pleasant conversation.

At the same time, you are paying attention to the speed limit to avoid getting caught by the radar they have placed at every turn to be a remedy for the empty Treasury.

Suddenly, a flickering blue and red light appears in the rearview mirror, far away.

Then, this flickering blue and red light begins to grow rapidly.

Before you know it, these massive cars, like demons from hell, are glued to your bumper.

They don't just stick to you; they try to force you into the far-right lane by harassing you with both sirens and high beams.

The vehicle behind you, likely an official car, is driving in the far left lane, while the vehicle protecting the personality inside is right next to it, meaning in the lane you are currently in.

According to the traffic rules applied in a normal country, since you are in the same lane, they should first signal left and then pass you.

But they don't do that.

They force you to move further to the right, driving their car right on top of you.

Whether there is another vehicle to your right or a ditch does not concern them at all. Nor does whether you have an accident.

They continue their harassment with sirens and high beams. If they think this harassment is not enough, hand and arm gestures come into play.

If that doesn't work, they roll down the tinted window and show their weapon.

Then they speed past you like lightning.

Your nerves are frayed, and while you are praying that you didn't have an accident and cursing someone under your breath, another flickering red and blue light appears in your rearview mirror.

Without waiting, you pull your vehicle to the right and give way to the car passing by at full speed.

If you haven't been subjected to this or similar harassment at least ten times during a three- or five-hour journey on the roads around Ankara, you are lucky.

But you can never know who is in these civilian-plated cars with flashing lights.

The head of the MIT (National Intelligence Organization) could emerge from inside, or the driver of the MHP Tavşanlı District Deputy Chairman... That is left to your luck.

In past years, I took a foreign journalist friend of mine to the Atatürk Forest Farm to eat kokoreç. While we were waiting for our orders in front of the open parking lot, there was some activity at the entrance gate. A car trying to exit the parking lot had its path blocked by another car trying to enter. A black Audi A5 had turned on its flashing lights, switched on its siren, and was forcing the car trying to exit the gate to reverse.

The driver of the car trying to leave must have been scared by the flashing lights and the siren, as he put the car in reverse without prolonging the issue, and the Audi A5 entered the parking lot in all its glory.

My journalist curiosity was piqued, and I calmly started waiting to see who would get out of the car. A few minutes later, a typical AKP kid appeared, wearing ill-fitting trousers, a shirt with three buttons undone under a tight jacket, hair parted from the corner, and loafers with no-show socks on his size 44 feet.

Beside him was a sister of ours wearing a headscarf...

You would think he created the world.

I went up to him and pulled a little journalist trick.

Sir, I said, correct me if I am wrong, but you are a diplomat at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, right?

He must have taken it as a compliment and loosened up; no, he said, I am an advisor to the deputy of so-and-so director at the Ministry of Family and Social Services.

Oh well, I must have mistaken you, sorry about that, I said, and then left his side.

A few months ago, on the Ankara-Edremit road, about 15-20 kilometers before Eskişehir, I took the license plate of a massive Volkswagen that was harassing almost every car as it drove along.

I stopped at the police checkpoint at the entrance to Eskişehir, gave the license plate to the police officer on duty, and explained the situation on the road.

If there are MOBESE cameras at the city entrance, you can see it, I said.

He took the plate but told me not to expect any results.

Even if they issue the necessary fines for unauthorized use, they are already canceled after a while due to instructions from above.

The Ministry of Interior occasionally issues a circular on this matter to appease those complaining about this issue, but within a short time, it is the same old story.

There were cars with flashing lights in the Old Turkey as well, but the practice was not like this. Flashing lights and sirens were almost exclusively on vehicles with official plates. We knew the red plates; it was not a mystery which institution the official plates belonged to, or which deputy undersecretary of which ministry was using which car.

Perhaps, the Undersecretaries of the MIT used civilian plates for security reasons, but that was it...

Now, whoever gets their hands on a black Audi, Volkswagen, or Mercedes puts on the flashing lights and sirens and hits the road. It doesn't matter at all whether they hold an official title or not.

As long as they are AKP members.

It is clear that they see this as a social status, a symbol of power, a privilege, and a way to show off. They are unaware that it is the height of vulgarity.

You do not witness such vulgarity in Western countries.

They carry out protection and security matters in a way that disturbs the public the least. Furthermore, such waste of public resources is seen as a cause for a political crisis in itself.

When we emerge from this dystopia, one of my intellectual pursuits will be these cars with flashing lights. If I live long enough to see a possible early general election in 2028 or before, I will end my article by declaring that I will cast my vote for the party that will ban vehicles with flashing lights from traffic.