A trip to Germany with 600 cronies under the guise of football

The number of free invitees taken to the European Football Championship in Germany by various national football federations is circulating on social media:

France took 27 people, Switzerland 14, Spain 40, and Portugal 33. The most sensible approach was England's, which accepted no free invitees at all and only took the team, but our people took 613 people for free and are hosting them.

I am not surprised at all.

The Football Federation has been taking hundreds of people to every football championship before this as well.

In fact, years ago, when the Sabah Group where I worked acquired the broadcasting rights for the matches, we went to Switzerland. There, the Football Federation again had hundreds of such guests. Among them, alongside many prosecutors, police chiefs, and high-level civil servants, was the FETÖ-linked prosecutor Zekeriya Öz, I believe with his family. The Federation paid for all the expenses of those guests, their five-star, lobster-filled, luxury hotel accommodations, everything.

Unfortunately, they always do this, and there is no one to stop them.

Minister of Treasury and Finance Mehmet Şimşek threatens someone selling ayran for pennies in the middle of nowhere by saying, "If you don't pay your taxes, I will fine you," but he does not—and cannot—say to the Football Federation, "My friend, with whose money and by what authority are you inviting 613 people?"

The squandering of public funds is Turkey's greatest weakness.

The other day, someone in the know told the story of the Çandarlı Port:

The construction of the İzmir Çandarlı Port has been going on for perhaps 20 years. First, they had the Chinese drive the piles, but they left the job half-finished and departed. They called the Japanese; while the Japanese were working, the piles driven by the Chinese collapsed. When the Japanese saw this, they left the job. Now, the port is just sitting there idle because the piles driven by the Chinese and the concrete on top of them need to be removed first, and of course, there isn't enough money for that; we are talking about a 1.5-kilometer pier.

I did a little research on the internet; as of 2024, the situation of the Çandarlı port is as follows: no interested operator has emerged for the tenders opened previously, no new tender has been opened, the port has not been completed, it has never been maintained, and it has not received any new investment. Meanwhile, there are also allegations that the name of the well-known 'Gang of Five' is involved in the port construction.

In the end, the money spent—billions—has all flown away into thin air. The port is just standing there completely empty; go fish there, because there is plenty of fish since no one comes or goes.

Just like the empty airports built senselessly where no planes land.

Just like the Formula 1 track opened with public money that has been useless for years.

Just like the runways of Atatürk Airport, which have been turned into empty tennis courts that are now only good for archery.

Well, while all this is happening, shouldn't someone be held accountable? Is there no one responsible for these matters? Where is the judiciary, where are the inspectors, the auditing institutions, the people in charge?

Everyone is missing, because our public administrators are busy with the sleeveless dresses of high school graduates.

They said the Çandarlı Port was going to be one of the biggest projects of the ruling party's İzmir mayoral candidacy; why is no one touching it? On the contrary, there is talk of allegations that those same names are seizing bays in İzmir and Dikili.

If public money is squandered this much in a country, can that country ever make ends meet?

It cannot.

Whose can? England's, which did not invite a single person to the football championship for free with public money, can.

That is why the civilized world is governed by the British and British culture.

The rest are called "developing countries" just to be polite, but they are all struggling to survive.