An important day...

On the morning of December 23, we are entering the final week of 2024. I must not be late. It is an important day. As I leave my house in Karşıyaka, the smell of toasted bread from my neighbors reaches my nose. How wonderful it smells! I think they wake up late. I smell this lovely bread every day at the same time. They must be retired. Karşıyaka is a city of retirees. A slice of bread and gluten? They say, "A dram of meat covers a thousand flaws," don't they? Does the public even have the means to buy meat anymore? They rely on bread for everything! What else can a retiree do? To avoid going hungry, they cling to dry bread. When they no longer have the strength to go out, and cannot make ends meet, they stay cooped up at home. Their eyes are on the television. Will the pension increase? What will happen? Indeed, while wondering what will happen with the minimum wage, I have descended from the 4th floor and stepped out onto the street. 

It is a sunny day after days of rain. The streets are coming alive with a few people wandering about. Shopkeepers are just opening their shutters. Their faces are sullen, reluctant. The weariness of the year is written on their faces. It is as if they have a state of mind that says, "If only this last week would end so we could be rid of this year, and find some relief in the new year." It is an important day. I quickly pass through the streets. The streets I pass through are the same as the first of the day. Can sunshine and hopelessness coexist? 

I arrived at the İZBAN Karşıyaka station. I went down the stairs quickly. The station is underground. While waiting for the train, the Menderes train heading to Tepeköy arrived on the opposite side. The seats were full, albeit sparsely. It feels like a weekend. Yet it is the first day of the week. Monday. I mutter to myself again that it is an important day. I try to maintain my optimism, thinking perhaps people are heading toward Menemen. As I say, "It is an important day," thinking they are gathering in Menemen, the train heading toward Aliağa has already arrived. 

I found a seat just as the suburban train's doors were closing. In fact, it should have been packed. It is an important day. While I was thinking to myself that perhaps I was late, I saw Urla Municipal Council Member Atty. Umut Ergül across from me. We greeted each other. His father, Atty. Sabri Ergül, one of the 22nd Term İzmir Deputies, who was sitting in the next carriage, came over to me. We exchanged greetings. Starting from İzmir, moving past the point the country has reached, we arrived at what is happening in Syria and the Middle East. While the Israel-Palestine war continues, the sovereign powers have completed the Syrian leg, the second most important phase of the Greater Middle East Project. They finished off the Assad regime in 11 days. They opened a new page. While chatting about who is next, we arrived in Menemen. 

Even though the streets looked full, they were not even half as crowded as last year. With his fatherly and hurried manner, Sabri Ergül said, "...make way, my son," and in a short time, I, Umut, and he had reached the very front. While looking at his watch to see "if Chairman Özgür Özel will arrive on time," the newly elected CHP Youth Branch President Cem Aydın arrived. After greeting him and congratulating him on his success, Atty. Sabri Ergül, as a former CHP Youth Branch President, rattled off the names of the youth branch presidents elected from the first one, Suphi Baykam, elected in 1953, to the present day in one breath. He also listed how many of those elected became members of parliament. 

"There is Chairman Özgür Özel's car. I appreciated it once again. He arrived exactly on time. Deniz Baykal always used to arrive late for his appointments," he said, and after shaking hands with the Chairman who got out of the car, we moved behind the banners. We started walking side by side with the public, along with ADD (Atatürkist Thought Association) Chairman and 25th-26th term Konya Deputy Dr. Hüsnü Bozkurt, İzmir Provincial Chairman Şenol Aslanoğlu, and Metropolitan Mayor Dr. Cemil Tugay. We set off from the streets where our Republic's young Reserve Officer and Martyr of the Revolution Mustafa Fehmi Kubilay and two watchmen were massacred, toward the Monument at Yıldıztepe. On the 96th anniversary of the brutal martyrdom of Kubilay and his friends, the fact that the crowd gathered was significantly smaller than the previous year, despite the intense participation list from the Headquarters, left us with a sense of bitterness. 

The Republic was not won easily, nor did it reach these days easily. We fought against the seven great powers on the outside, and we struggled against the 77 enemies of the Republic on the inside. On the 101st anniversary of our Republic, we must come together more. We must be stronger. 

It does cross my mind, is this why it happened, because 28 out of 30 districts are CHP, and only the Menemen Mayor is from the AKP? While climbing the hill and engaging in self-criticism and criticism, when we arrived in front of Kubilay's monument, I saw the wreaths of the Governorship, the TSK (Turkish Armed Forces), and the Menemen Municipality. I was about to swallow my tongue when I learned that the municipal wreath was placed by Menemen Mayor Aydın Pehlivan from the AKP. You are both a fellow countryman of Atatürk from Thessaloniki and you studied at Kubilay High School, and you place a wreath at the Kubilay monument. Fair enough! But! What about going to the graves of those who massacred Kubilay 3-4 days ago and praying at the head of the enemies of the Republic? Shame on you! The best example of hypocrisy? I believe this behavior hurts the conscience of the vast majority of İzmir residents, especially the people of Menemen. Look at the point we have reached in the 101st year of our Republic. I leave the judgment to my readers. 

At the top of the main themes of the Chairman's and the protocol's speeches was the cruelty inflicted upon our young lieutenants due to the sword ceremony, who said, "We are Atatürk's soldiers." Naturally, alongside the importance of the day, the Syrian events, the step-by-step progress of the GMEP (Greater Middle East Projects); after Iraq and Syria, is it our turn now?! Another of the most important topics of the speeches was the economic bottleneck our country has fallen into. 

Even if 100 years pass on these rugged roads, our love for the Republic will not end. In the words of Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, "The Republic of Turkey will live forever." With this belief, I sincerely celebrate your new year and wish you a peaceful, healthy, and prosperous future.

Prof. Dr. Nurettin DEMİR