Celebrities, raids, and the real madness being overlooked

Since the day I started this profession, I have repeated the same sentence:

If you see one incident, we are witnessing at least ten times that amount.

You read about a traffic accident in the news; know that it was the most "useful" one selected from the 15–20 accidents that occurred in the country that day. The one with the most deaths, the most dramatic story, or enough blood to carry a headline… The rest are quietly buried in statistics.

While you say "Wow," we read over and over again how those accidents happened, what negligence led to them, who couldn't hit the brake and slammed the gas, or who had a heart attack behind the wheel. This is why journalists can be a bit unbearable to those close to them.

We start by saying, "Be careful," and we cannot stop ourselves from explaining the disaster scenario.

This is not just a professional deformation; it is the annoying price of knowing too much.

For days, Turkey has been talking about drug operations targeting celebrities. Club presidents, media executives, television personalities, artists… As the list grows, the gossip grows with it. The allegations circulating behind closed doors are mind-boggling. But the interesting thing is this: everyone who is detained or questioned meets on the same sentence:

"Character assassination."

"Perception operation."

But is it really so?

Or is there fire under every smoke?

Time will tell. But the real issue is not the capture of a few celebrities or their drivers. Why are these relationships formed, who wins, who protects, and thanks to whom does this wheel turn? These are the real questions.

In the middle of this turmoil, I turned on the television for the first time in a long while. Not from the agencies, not from the gossip… I looked at the country from the main news bulletins. I browsed the channels from pro-government to opposition. I watched about 30–40 news reports.

And I saw this:

Turkey's real agenda is neither celebrities, nor drug raids, nor the price of gold, nor the rise and fall of the stock market, nor Trump, nor Putin.

The real agenda is madness.

Those who stab their neighbor for her bracelets along with their wife to pay off an illegal betting debt…

Those who fight with their partner and throw a hand grenade into their father's shop…

Those who kick a female driver's vehicle because she didn't give way in traffic…

This is a country where a 12-year-old child shoots a school principal with a rifle.

A partner hands over a gun saying "shoot me," the other pulls the trigger without hesitation; it's not enough, the spouse who intervenes is also shot. Even a dog gets its share of the madness and bites the wounded person on the ground.

I am not exaggerating. These were all told one by one on the main news.

On some channels, they were told with relish, on others, they were pointed out with arrows…

We journalists have also unknowingly chased after the "painted agenda." What we used to call third-page news is now the country's headline. Crime is growing like a snowball; it is coming upon us like an avalanche. There is almost no one left on the street who does not commit a crime.

Everyone from 12 to 70 years old has gotten involved in some illegal business:

Drugs, betting, prostitution, weapons, violence…

So, is there no way to stop this decay?

What happened that society reached this state?

There is a fight in Parliament every day. Insults, punches, shouting…

However, the commission that needs to be established is not about who said what to whom; it is a commission on why this society has reached this state. Sociologists, psychologists, and social scientists should come together. Because the issue is a decay that transcends politics.

The economy will improve. Politics will shake hands. Those who fought yesterday will make peace tomorrow.

But it is not easy to repair a society that has lost its moral values and writes its own law on the street.

Saying "May God reform them" and stepping back is not a solution either. The most basic duty of the state is to ensure the peace and security of its people.

If the people's peace is gone, if morality falls silent; everything we boast about becomes hollow.

And all we ask in the end is:

When did we become so dark?