The 'stray dog' issue!

Let's give credit where it's due.

He manages the perception of my fellow citizens very well. He sets the agenda as he pleases and uses it to play games in politics.

So much so that in his 22-year rule, he has reached a point that would make Hitler's Propaganda Minister Goebbels, who convinced the German people—who had nothing left to their names while bombs rained down on them—that victory was very close, look like an amateur.

There is no need to pore over scientific articles to understand the strategy Tayyip is pursuing.

Just look at social media, watch the debate programs on news channels, and listen to conversations in the bazaar, the market, the coffeehouse, or the barbershop; if you are not willfully ignorant, you can easily solve the issue.

We have abandoned our deepening poverty, inflation, income inequality, and the security problems created by refugees; for the past week, we have been obsessing over whether stray dogs that cannot be adopted should be neutered or put down.

And it's not just a minor debate; on social media, it's almost as if there's a bloodbath.

As always, Tayyip ignited the fuse of the debate.

Upon instructions from the Palace, AKP members launched a study for an amendment to the Animal Protection Law.

You might ask, out of the blue, why this is happening now.

In other words, why did Tayyip bring this issue up out of nowhere?

Stray dogs did not appear yesterday or today. This is an issue that has been waiting for a solution for years.

But it is also clear that it does not carry any urgency in the current state of affairs.

Why now?

The answer can be found in Tayyip's strategy for winning elections.

Since 2002, he has managed to stay in power by constantly polarizing the public. From that day to this, he has been able to easily align the right-wing masses behind him by using rhetoric about religion, faith, God, the Quran, the call to prayer, the homeland, and the nation.

This strategy was more or less successful.

But in the local elections, he saw that the public was no longer buying it. He realized that his traditional strategy was no longer yielding results.

While those who know His Excellency even a little were waiting to see "what rabbit he would pull out of his hat this time," we suddenly found ourselves debating stray dogs.

This time, Tayyip polarized the public over conscience, compassion, and animal love.

My fellow citizens, setting rational thinking aside, were split right down the middle.

However, as always, "our neighborhood" did not get into a fight with the "opposite neighborhood."

Each neighborhood divided within itself.

On one side are the so-called "animal lovers" and "animal rights defenders," and on the other are those who think stray dogs are a threat, especially to the elderly and children.

The issue has gone far beyond a civilized debate as reflected on social media. Threats are flying, and insults are being hurled constantly.

While the nation is at each other's throats over whether to put down stray dogs, the real victims in the meantime have been my fellow citizens, who have become increasingly sluggish in the spiral of empty debates while being lulled to sleep.

Amidst the dust and smoke of this artificial agenda, Tayyip repealed the 24-year-old Mobilization and State of War Regulation. He transferred the mobilization authority, which previously belonged to the Council of Ministers, to himself via a regulation. In other words, he declared that he has taken upon himself the right to declare war.

He pressed the button to silence all dissenting voices with the "influence agent" regulation and to prevent retired commanders from speaking on news programs by changing the TSK Personnel Law.

He paved the way to easily label those who oppose him as "spies" based on this regulation and to keep retired generals who criticize the government's security policy under pressure with the threat of imprisonment.

He perhaps took the most critical step toward raising a vengeful and religious generation. The Board of Education and Discipline approved a dark, archaic curriculum prepared under the guidance of religious sects.

Are these the only things?

New taxes are also on the way. They will especially explode real estate and transaction taxes, making people regret owning property.

At the same time, with the New Reserve Area regulation, they are preparing to seize the property of those they have set their sights on.

Not to mention the new constitutional efforts that will keep him in power for life and provide judicial immunity to his family and close circle.

The list is very long...

The country's very foundations are shaken. Whatever we touch falls apart.

As people fight each other over stray dogs, they are carrying water to the government's mill.

Tayyip is distracting my fellow citizens with artificial agendas, ensuring that the real issues that hurt the nation are overlooked.

Thus, on one hand, he makes people forget the election defeat, continuing as if he had not suffered a rout on March 31, and on the other hand, he prevents the deepening economic crisis, poverty, social injustice, inflation, lawlessness, injustice, and the security issues surrounding the country from reaching the top of the agenda.

So, has the CHP's adolescent-like Chairman Özgür Özel gone blind, failing to see these things and still playing into Tayyip's hands by talking about "normalization" and "softening"?

This is where the crux of the matter lies.

If anyone understands, let them come forward!

It seems he is quite excited that His Excellency will come to visit him.

But if he has even the slightest concern for this country, he needs to stop worrying about the arrangement of the seats like a new bride waiting for her mother-in-law for coffee and find a way to force Tayyip into an early general election as soon as possible.

Otherwise, if things go on like this, we won't have a country left in its current form by 2028. At that point, there won't be much point in debating whether to neuter or put down stray dogs, and with that, we conclude our article.