This is not a story of decay, it is a crime of incompetence

We are in a period where we are slowly disappearing, and we are expected to get used to this while losing our values. This is not just a collapse... It is a state of decay that has been watched for a long time, ignored, and deliberately deepened.

We are aware of the social degeneration.

We know how economic collapse, poverty, and insecurity grind people down. But now, it must be stated clearly: This picture is not a "destiny"; it is the direct result of a state of incompetence and the choices of those in power.

We cannot run from the facts. We must know what life has turned into on the streets, and what the individual and society have evolved into.

Crime rates are rising in Turkey. The desire to get rich the easy way is being systematically fueled. The mafia romanticism, the worship of power, and the fetishization of weapons and money, which have been pumped through screens for a quarter of a century, have been etched into the subconscious of society.

The law has retreated, justice has been delayed, and meritocracy has been liquidated. The void that emerged has been filled by a culture of crime.

But the heaviest loss is elsewhere... Conscience is eroding. Morality is eroding. People are becoming alienated from one another.

Two incidents I witnessed in a single day are, in a sense, the street-level reality of this decay.

A close friend of mine told me this...

“A well-dressed man approached me. He said he didn't have money for the bus and couldn't get home. He asked for 30–40 liras. My hand went to my pocket, but I stopped. Is this person really in need, or is he testing me? I didn't give him any money. An hour later, while passing the same spot, I saw the same man still asking for money.”

The issue here is not the 30–40 liras. The issue is the climate of distrust created by the government, the process of forcing people to be caught between kindness and suspicion becoming our nature... No one believes anyone anymore. Because poverty is real, but exploitation is also real. And the state, social policy, and oversight that would distinguish between the two are absent.

In the evening, another friend calls. He was asked for help for two “people in need” from his hometown. He was told their children were hungry and couldn't be sent to school. Money is sent. The aid is delivered.

Then the truth comes out:

These two people are caught in a gambling operation, while they are gambling.

This is exactly where one must stop and ask:

Is this individual immorality? No.

This is the result of a system that turns a blind eye to betting and gambling permeating every cell of the country, and even indirectly feeds it.

Young people are unemployed. There is no hope. There is no future.

Young women are being pushed to commodify their bodies on digital platforms.

Adults are turning being humiliated and acting like clowns on social media into a way to make a living.

Betting sites, illegal gambling networks, and mafia-like structures are everywhere.

Phone scammers, thieves, and gangs have become commonplace.

Prostitution has become normalized.

Aid money is melting away at gambling tables.

This picture is not just about moral collapse. It is the result of the weakening of the law, the destruction of education, and the eradication of the sense of justice. It is the result of a severe economic crisis.

And perhaps the greatest harm the government has done to society is this:

It has made people afraid to even do a good deed.

We now live with suspicion.

Even good people hold back so as not to be treated like a "fool."

We are in a massive darkness that alienates people who do good, and this darkness did not form by accident.

This darkness was built.

And the greatest loss of this country is not just the economy; it is human emotions.

Saying "may our end be good" is not enough.

Without confronting this order and holding those who established it accountable, no end will be good.