The Outhouse...

We have a Minister of National Education? A real piece of work, isn't he?

Should I call him witty? Or should I say he just says whatever comes to his mind? I really can't tell. He creates quite a stir and keeps Turkey occupied. I leave it to the public to judge.

We are in the middle of rings of fire and missile wars in the Middle East. We watch the war on television screens every moment with heavy hearts. It has been nearly a month since the war began.

Meanwhile, it remains quite interesting that Mr. Yusuf Tekin continues to make us smile bitterly with both his practices and his conversations and statements. The honorable minister's remarks about toilets in schools caused me to be taken back to my childhood in the past.

What does the Minister say? He says, "Before our (AKP) 25-year rule, there weren't even toilets in schools."

CHP Istanbul Deputy Cemal Enginyurt also asked on the Rota program broadcast on Halk TV on the evening of March 23, "How and where did the Minister of National Education relieve himself during his school years?" Will he answer? I don't know if he will or not!

But as a Yörük, a shepherd's child living in the Western Taurus Mountains, I would like to confess that I first saw a squat toilet in the two-room Göcek primary school before the 1960s.

I also recall seeing Western-style toilets in the dormitory manager's bathroom during the years I was a boarding student at İzmir Buca Middle School.

So, it wasn't 25 years ago as the Minister says, but 65-70 years ago that I first encountered the plastic or porcelain seated toilets we call WC or toilets today in boarding schools.

If you ask what we did to relieve ourselves before that, let me explain that I started life with a term the new generation might not understand.

Ayakyolu (The Outhouse)... these were makeshift toilets that provided us with quite a bit of relief. Otherwise, we had to find a spot behind a bush.

Ayakyolu...

It is an expression used in the past for a toilet or latrine located outside the house. This term, also known as abdesthane, kenef, yüznumara, or kademhane, was formed by the combination of the Turkish words "ayak" (foot) and "yol" (path). It is a word that is used less frequently today, appearing mostly in regional dialects or old texts.

I learned that as urbanization or societies modernized and developed a bit more, the expressions kenef, hela, and abdesthane, which come from Arabic, began to be used instead of ayakyolu. As I grew older, our knowledge and vocabulary were enriched in this way.

In my youth, the ayakyolu, which we mostly referred to as "yüz numara," became more commonly used as "yüz numara."

Yüz numara has its origins in French. I learned from Google that it is based on the '00' sign on the doors of "numberless" (sans numéro) toilets in French hotels being mistakenly translated into Turkish as "yüz numara" (cent numéro) and settling into our language as a result of phonetic similarity.

Today, when it is expressed more politely and we see it as WC, these are the places that sometimes lead us to (accidentally) walk into women's restrooms and are our places of salvation or relief.

By the way, what does WC mean?

The expansion of WC comes from the English expression "Water Closet." This term, which is translated into Turkish as "Su Klozeti" or "Su Dolabı," emerged in England in the 19th century and became a universal abbreviation used to refer to flush toilets.

As a youngster who spent his childhood in Taşbaşı, Fethiye Göcek District, running after goats and sheep or herding livestock, we had to migrate to the coast (sahil) when it was time to start primary school.

Wait, let me tell you.

I remember like it was yesterday when we were about to move to the Dereboğazı area of Fethiye Göcek Village, our neighbor in Taşbaşı, the late Emin Onbaşı (Emin Çetin), who owned camels, said to his wife, "So you are going to Mağazayanı (the village's bazaar center on the coast)! You're going to be one of those who s*** in water! Good luck. May God grant you clarity of mind."

It seems to me that our Minister will go down in history with a new statement, declaration, or new practice, if not every day, then every week or every month... I suggest you at least "read the history of the Village Institutes"; there are plenty of boarding school memories and examples with toilets there.

First, compare the quality of the educational institutions you head today with the Village Institutes of 80 years ago.

While searching for peace under the missiles of war, we are also completing the first month of spring. Time passes quickly.

Today (March 24) is a sad day for us from Muğla. We will attend the funeral of Zeki Çakıroğlu, a former Muğla Deputy who died at a young age due to a heart attack. May the soul of our honorable deputy, whom we lost suddenly, rest in peace. On behalf of my people, I thank him for his contributions to Muğla and our country.

My final words to you, my friends and fellow citizens; please take care of your health.

My wish is for health and to stay healthy.