Immorality and Lack of Politics

On November 16, 2024, I wrote the following in this column: ''Let us admit it now... The society is fragmenting. Social bonds are being shaken. All social relations have been reduced to money, interest, and power. Those who have money and can defend their interests, those who hold power, do as they please. Those who lack these opportunities are hunted like partridges and become victims. Justice is the foundation of the state! Injustice, however, is the cause of chaos! Let us be sincere. Those who feed on chaos are stronger.'' 

(for the full text, see https://12punto.com.tr/yazarlar/cenk-ozdag/toplumu-suctan-korumak-ve-samimiyet-60447) 

Immorality is rampant. When the subject turns to morality, most people think of education, better education, and then even better education. Some wish to solve this with religion... Others focus on problems we cannot solve. ''We adopted this belief in the year dot, or such an event happened in the year dot...'' In other words, it is too late now. Supposedly, this is in our genes. 

Whenever the subject of immorality is raised, space is made for education, religion, and cultural and ethical sermons. Yet, immorality and morality are related to social perception and behavioral patterns and the interpretation of these. When you do not aim to change these perception and behavioral patterns, talking is in vain.

Strange things are happening in Turkey now. Getting positive results from the reports of international financial rating agencies, changing the agenda, cleaning up the area, eliminating alternatives... Even if these are true, regardless of the reasons, we are witnessing a series of events that resemble ''clean hands'' operations. We realize that the salt has gone bad. First, the Newborn gang and similar criminal organizations, the immorality experienced within the police, the judiciary, municipalities, the media, and the sports world, drug trafficking... All these are examples of immorality springing up from the corners of society... It seems someone has pressed the button in our country. Perhaps it is not a hidden hand, but it is as if those who want to do their job properly are not being hindered, and it is as if these people are being supported with a ''go ahead'' signal. 

Drugs, debt, the inability to use one's mental faculties, blackmail, and prostitution cases... All these point to social decay, becoming immoral, and the instrumentalization of this decay and immorality in the economy and politics. Immorality is not political on its own. Therefore, it generally does not generate a political response or reaction. But if immorality becomes politicized, if it gains political representation or a front, then the moral problem becomes politicized; immorality itself becomes a tool for resolving political conflicts. That is what is happening now. It feels as if there is always more than what we know and witness. 

There are moves that the government and the judiciary can make, and are making, against immorality and its political effects. However, the opposition and the masses remain devoid of politics... The opposition, which cannot interpret the reckoning by including political identities, is merely a spectator of the process. Yet, it is the perfect time... It is time to fight against thieves and drug dealers. It is the perfect time to call for an effective fight against drug use and trafficking. 

On June 14, 2025, I wrote the following in this column: ''If the goal is to fight against drug consumption, production, and trafficking, more radical and systematic solutions must be sought. Solid psychological, social, and economic support must be provided to those who consume drugs. In this way, the cooperation of those who consume drugs should be utilized. Instead of hunting down the smallest-scale elements of drug production and trafficking one by one, endangering rights and freedoms; the traffic of active ingredients in drug production should be pursued, the human resources involved in drug production and trafficking should be handled seriously, and a real social life should be provided to them.'' 

(for the full text, see https://12punto.com.tr/yazarlar/cenk-ozdag/uyusturucuyla-mucadelede-karine-ve-ciddiyet-sorunu-89794) 

Steps that would make drug use impossible are not being taken, the heart of drug trafficking is not being reached... Are we not sincere? In this environment where families are falling apart, people are falling into a debt spiral and becoming hollowed out in the hands of loan sharks and the mafia, and this debt is turning into a tool to make people do things, an effective fight against drugs and the enslavement of people is required. But we are spectators. The opposition is a spectator. The government does not question the global and regional foundations of drugs; it cannot grasp the immorality in the discussions revolving around morality. 

On September 13, 2025, I wrote the following in this column: ''We have arrived at a grueling internal reckoning. Politics, politicians, projects, almost everything is evaporating. While a new world system is being established, everyone is trying to grab a corner. However, it is very difficult to separate the corners from each other. Perhaps a lack of corners prevails. Everyone is trying to sit at a table shaped like a Round Table. At this table, there is no room for us, that is, for those of us who are not the chosen ones of communities, sects, capital, or foreign powers. We are spectators. We are devoid of politics. We are in collapse. We are watching the collapse. We are collapsing.''

We are in collapse, watching the fight on an immoral ground. We cannot even take a side in the fight. 

Fighting against drugs, the drugging of the public, the dulling of people's lives, and preventing our citizens and the Turkish nation from falling into the hands of a handful of interest groups must be a fundamental goal. We are in a collapse where one cannot remain a spectator. To remain a spectator at this moment means to be a partner in crime and to the criminal.