'The Film Has Snapped'

It is truly no longer possible to maintain one's sanity in this country. Such bizarre things happen every day that it is a miracle one doesn't lose their mind, let alone be left speechless. Looking at what is happening on the streets, on television, in the courts, in parliament, and on social media, you say, "the film has snapped." No, this isn't a normal film; it's as if it's an animation where the director is drunk, the script is torn to shreds, and the lead actor is on the verge of a nervous breakdown...

For weeks, Turkey has been burning. The Aegean, the Mediterranean, Central Anatolia... The fires cannot be contained. Temperature records are being broken, and the wind is fanning the flames. But the fight against the fires? That is a different kind of fire: institutions are at each other's throats. One side asks the other, "Why did you intervene late?" and the other replies, "You were supposed to buy the planes."

And some have left the matter to God. Those responsible for extinguishing the fire are opening their hands and sharing prayers on social media. "Oh God, help us, send rain..." God may help, but... If you rent scrap planes from the 1960s that leak water and could only be bought at an auction, calling them firefighting aircraft; if your fire department invests its money in interest instead of buying vehicles, and then dances around saying "we made a profit"... God will say, "You do your job first." They didn't say it for nothing: 'He who leaves his work to God, God will first hold him accountable for his work.'

So why are these fires starting? This part is even more tragicomic. Newspaper headlines are a disaster every day: "Caught with a gasoline canister," "started it with fireworks," "set his house on fire to get insurance money, and burned the forest too." Are we really this heartless? Have we become this filled with hatred, greed, and revenge? If this is sabotage (as some say), why couldn't you track these people? If the suspects are members of an organization, why aren't they being monitored? Social media posts are identified within an hour, yet how does a man walking around with a gasoline canister slip through the cracks? Especially if he is a member of an organization!

Fires aside, everyone across the country seems to have gone mad. The other day in Adana, a father, due to an inheritance dispute, first beat his two biological sons with a stick and then shot them. One died, and the other is in intensive care. This is a father, a father! A mindset that sends one's own child to the grave for the sake of an inheritance now prevails.

Did you hear about the fight that broke out at a funeral in a cemetery in Istanbul? The men came to put the coffin in the ground, and they are fighting during the burial. In this society that has no respect for the living, there is no longer any respect for the dead either. A fight broke out, and why? Men who said, "Why did you stand at the head of the grave, why did you take the microphone first?" started attacking each other. My friend, a deceased person is being laid to rest there; you can bury each other later if you want, but finish this task first.

The same scene is seen in public transport. The incident that happened on the Metrobus last week...

4-5 children aged 13-14 punched a grown man. They aren't even adults! There are no age groups left, and no values left. The big beat the small, the small cut the big.

There is no trust left in state institutions either. A citizen tracks the signal of his stolen phone and, instead of going to the police, raids the shop himself. He smashes the windows and frames, takes his own phone, and leaves. That's it. Who are you going to complain to anyway? Is there any scale of justice left?

Good conduct reductions for rapists, bail for fraudsters, applause for swindlers. Bribery is rampant. The person tasked with taking people on the Hajj is caught taking bribes. A religious association makes headlines with an alcohol raid. Even calling a terrorist a "terrorist" is almost a crime. Everything has become intertwined, roles have become confused, and concepts have rotted.

Even sports could not escape this rot. Fenerbahçe, which has been shouting "We are Atatürk's team" for years, said in the last congress that they would name the stadium Atatürk Stadium. Now what happened? The name of the stadium became "Chobani." How? A Kurdish businessman living in America named his brand, which he sells as Greek yogurt, "Chobani" and signed a sponsorship deal. The same businessman had previously said, "I was discriminated against in Turkey, my Kurdish identity was suppressed." Well, what about your Atatürkism? Where are those managers and fans who were shouting and yelling? Not a peep from anyone, everyone is playing the three monkeys. Because the money came...

Politics? Don't even ask. The MHP, which said "If you vote for the CHP, they will release Apo," is now indirectly killing itself to get Apo released. This is truly a Hollywood script. You know how it is in those absurd films... The time machine malfunctions, and everything gets mixed up: spaceships and cowboys are in the same scene, four horses pull the latest model cars. Ours is the same story. We have lost our perception of reality. We have lost our social intelligence. We have lost our spiritual and national values. We have lost the respect of the young for the old, and the love of the old for the young.

I hope that at the end of this simulation, one day a "system rebooted" warning will appear, and everything will continue not from where it left off, but from where it should be. Because it seems this film will not have a happy ending.