50 Shades of Navy Blue

The June 21, 2025, front page of Sözcü newspaper featured a full-page photograph of a 2,000-year-old olive tree in the ancient city of Teos, with the headline "Destroyed by the AKP in 26 hours" written over it. Reminiscent of the Vakit newspaper—which once published the names and photos of Council of State judges who ruled on the headscarf ban, labeling them as "judges who say the headscarf is banned even on the street"—the article, titled "these are the ones who proposed the massacre," featured the names and photos of three AKP deputies. On the other side, under the headline "this is what these three bosses ordered," were the photos, names, and companies of well-known contractors. The piece was completed with an irrelevant line from Nâzım Hikmet’s poem "On Living" that mentions an olive tree, along with a photo of the headman of İkiz village, who was allegedly dragged out of Parliament by force.

We have all heard stories of how, in the past, when inheritances were divided, fields near the sea—which were agriculturally unproductive—were given to female heirs, while the fertile fields on the inland side were given to male heirs. As the years passed and these fields were converted into plots and opened for zoning, the descendants of the female heirs became the new nobility, while the descendants of the male heirs remained peasants.

All the structures we call summer houses today were, in essence, olive groves at one time. When the first summer houses, where today's nobility reside, were being built, no one asked if the olive trees consented to being cut down. Summer house complexes were developed by leaving a single olive tree in the gardens as decoration. As time went on, olive groves turned into plots, and plots turned into summer complexes. With the growing population, the need for real estate increased, and the value of commodities that could not meet this demand skyrocketed.

The purpose of the law we know as Urban Transformation was to make earthquake-vulnerable buildings earthquake-resistant. Contractors attacked buildings in relatively earthquake-resistant, older residential areas like Kadıköy, Beşiktaş, and Şişli. Houses on Bağdat Avenue, each an architectural work of art in its own right, were demolished and replaced with endless high-rise buildings. These nobles, whose titles are longer than their names, fought each other over an extra square meter or the brand of their white goods or laminate flooring. While our house in Maltepe decayed day by day, the race to build the tallest building in Kadıköy continued for 20 years. As houses were renovated, both their values and rents increased tenfold. Tired of the crowds in Istanbul, the nobles went to their summer houses and left their city homes to tenants at exorbitant rents. With high rental incomes, they wouldn't drive anything less than a German car and became dissatisfied with their own country. Their children either attended the most expensive private schools or moved abroad. Some sold their properties, which had increased in value tenfold, and fled after obtaining golden visas from European states.

The nobles living in summer houses built on the olive groves of 25 years ago now call those who cut down trees after them cruel. Those who turned Kadıköy into a nest of skyscrapers with their signatures at the notary now criticize the skyscrapers in Fikirtepe. They go back seven generations until they find someone outside the Misak-ı Milli (National Pact) borders, find an ancestor from the Balkan region, and claim that they are "actually from there." Those who can prove the birthplace of their grandfather, who fled the Turkish genocide in the early 20th century, apply for citizenship through their ancestors who took refuge in our homeland. They go to the Greek Islands to avoid being ripped off on the Aegean coast. They are right to go to Greece instead of being ripped off in Turkey, but who is it that hands over Istanbul, İzmir, and the Aegean coast to the Kurdish Mafia? Who is it that grants zoning permits for the homes of the nobles who read Sözcü in their beachfront summer houses and cuts down the olive groves? The Official Gazette yesterday announced 5 new people awarded the Medal of Independence. Did my great-great-grandfather, who fought on the eastern front and was held captive for 3 years in what is now called Leningrad, and my other great-great-grandfather, who fought on the western front, fight for these people? For some, the only concern is to prevent zoning, permits, or anything new—that is, to prevent anything from being added to what already exists—so that they can multiply the value of what they already hold and get rich for no reason. In other words, they are pitting us against each other to maintain their monopoly. That is all there is to it.

Finally, it is clear that writing the bitter truths without a filter has caused me to be deleted from many contact lists. There is no amount of alcohol that can make a thief innocent, my dear old friends. Those who go to bed with the devil wake up struck down. You are neither condemned to these devils nor are you helpless. Believe in this so that we can write our heroic stories that you will tell your children and grandchildren together. On this occasion, I wish a lifetime of happiness to my old friend, whom I coincidentally learned has gotten married, and his dear spouse.