Transfer Season!

In Turkey, everyone has forgotten about hunger, inflation, and the burning prices at the market. Speaking of burning, forest fires have also been forgotten. The country's most prominent agenda is transfers...

Open all the newspapers, television channels, and websites; there is no news other than transfers. Transfers in football, transfers in politics!

People are moving from that team to this team, from that party to this party. Millions of dollars and euros are being discussed in the football market. In the political arena, however, no one knows what is being discussed.

It is considered normal for a professional athlete to move from one team to another for money. But are transfers in politics the same? There, many parameters such as ethics, morality, belonging, and responsibility to the voter are involved. Shouldn't serving by switching to the exact opposite of the political view you defended for years be harder than taking off one jersey and putting on another?

For example, in football, there is a foreign player rule: you must play this many foreign players and that many local ones. There should actually be a criterion in politics as well. Transfers shouldn't be that easy. But there isn't. Because the transfer business suits everyone: ratings for newspapers, material for parties, and a method for politicians to harvest votes they couldn't get at the ballot box...

For instance, someone wanting to transfer should not be able to do so with the vote or title (mayor – member of parliament) they received. Because in politics, votes are not given based on the dribbles, goals, or assists as they are for a footballer. They are given to their party and their political ideology.

In football, world stars come and go to Turkish teams every day. Planes are in the air, agents are on the prowl, and presidents are rushing to sign contracts. The incoming footballer kisses the jersey, and the fans are over the moon with joy. Even the flight paths of transferred footballers are watched live by millions of people. The buyer is happy, the seller is happy.

THE STARS OF THE TRANSFER

The most talked-about transfer story of recent days: whether Kerem Aktürkoğlu will play for another Turkish club after Galatasaray... And also, Aydın Metropolitan Municipality Mayor Özlem Çerçioğlu resigning from the CHP and joining the AKP.

In the Kerem matter, Galatasaray fans are angry, Fenerbahçe fans are claiming him by saying, "he was already one of us since childhood," and the Beşiktaş front is making statements like, "we have held talks, if he comes, he will come to us." The fans are angry, but everyone wants Kerem. So what happens if Kerem wears another team's jersey? Will he be booed in the first match? Of course not. They will embrace him. Just like how the AKP members who hated Özlem Çerçioğlu yesterday are embracing her today...

Indeed, the AKP youth branches gave a standing ovation to the first speech Çerçioğlu made in front of the municipality. Even AKP MP Seda Sarıbaş, who was tearing up Çerçioğlu's speech texts until just yesterday, couldn't get enough of applauding and shared photos of them holding hands on social media. It seems that after a transfer, everyone can embrace everyone.

Another "transfer news" of the day was the rumors that Bursa Metropolitan Municipality Mayor Mustafa Bozbey would switch to the AKP. Bozbey was very angry and denied it in harsh language.

But that is what a transfer is like: just like the presidents of football clubs, politicians also make statements like, "we have made an offer, our policy is clear." Even President Erdoğan had hinted that "our transfers will continue." It seems the transfer season never closes in our country.

EVERYONE IS CHANGING JERSEYS

Since the March 31 local elections, 53 municipalities have changed hands. The party that has suffered the most losses is the New Welfare Party (Yeniden Refah Partisi). They had won 65 municipalities in the elections, but have already lost 25 of them to the AKP. As for MP transfers, the party that has suffered the most losses is the IYI Party. The party, which entered parliament with 44 MPs in the 2023 elections, is represented by 29 MPs today. The rest transferred to the ruling party or the main opposition. Many MPs from DEVA, Future (Gelecek), and Democrat Party have also moved to other parties.

Transfers in politics may not be as spectacular as in football; planes are not tracked, there are no welcomes at the airport, and no jersey-wearing ceremonies. But the future of the country is being shaped in silence.

IS POLITICS A PROFESSION?

I have written it many times, and I am writing it again: politics in Turkey is now a profession. The primary profession of an MP or a mayor might be medicine, journalism, or engineering; but once they enter politics, their only profession becomes politics. Do you remember any politician who resigned from politics and returned to their own job? I don't. Even if there are any, they are exceptions.

Just like honorary presidents, honorary MPs, honorary mayors, and honorary official drivers never end. As long as politics is seen as a profession, these transfers will not end. As long as there are politicians who change sides for political gain instead of following the ideas they believe in, the citizens will continue to be left breathless.

How convincing is it for someone who has served in conservative parties since childhood to suddenly say, "from now on, I am a social democrat"? Likewise, how possible is it for someone who has claimed to be on the social democratic line their whole life to switch to a conservative party? Especially after years of doing politics with hatred and insults toward each other...

You decide.

Oh, by the way... Can Kerem Aktürkoğlu play for Fenerbahçe? He can. Because in this country, everyone can wear everyone's jersey.