'The youth who wouldn't clear a glass from the table have brought the country to its feet'

Last week, we wrote, "Tayyip Erdoğan will come out; he will put an end to it, and the matter will be closed; provided that millions do not spontaneously pour into the streets to seek justice for Ekrem İmamoğlu."

Millions truly poured into the streets!

Especially the youth.

Generation Z, whom no one, including myself, seemed to appreciate...

A young mother on social media said that the youth who are too lazy to clear a glass from the table at home have brought the country to its feet.

Then she added:

- Mom, pick up your pajamas from the floor while you're at it...

The issue surpassed the reaction to Ekrem İmamoğlu's arrest from the very first day; it turned into a quest for democracy, rights, law, and justice that encompasses the entire country.

We have seen once again that fear guards the mountains.

The more they fear, the more mistakes they make, and the more mistakes they make, the more they fear.

How can one not remember the great master Nazım Hikmet!

That is why, despite the heavy economic bill he knew would emerge, he pressed all the buttons at once.

First, they canceled Ekrem İmamoğlu's diploma, then they detained the entire municipal team en masse.

This ignited the fuse for the youth who had reached the point of losing hope.

In fact, no one expected things to get this chaotic.

The weariness, despondency, apathy, the perception that "nothing will change anyway," the incompetence of the main opposition, and the lack of foresight of Özgür Özel were cementing a hopelessness that had permeated the entire country, until Generation Z suddenly appeared on the scene.

You know, the youth who have seen no government other than the political Islamist mentality since they were born, who never lift their heads from social media, who go to sleep with Instagram and wake up with X, who breathe through TikTok and YouTube; in the eyes of our generation of parents, they are sluggish, lazy, oblivious to politics, and even completely ignorant.

Once they took to the streets, they did so with wisdom...

Especially at METU (ODTÜ), they are writing history once again.

They seem poised to surpass their older brothers and sisters who, even if they couldn't topple the government during Gezi, had shaken it thoroughly.

In a short time, they became the dynamo of the protests.

They have very justified rebellions and very justified demands. This must be seen.

It is an explosion of anger that everyone should take seriously...

Ekrem İmamoğlu is just a symbol. Let's consider him the last straw that broke the camel's back...

It is very clear that they are tired of someone constantly wagging their finger at them.

But more importantly, while a rabid Islamist minority is getting fatter, they are being condemned to hunger, poverty, insecurity, and reactionary education.

Their hopes for the future are fading with each passing day...

They do not want to live in a country where:

The government accuses people and throws them in jail as it pleases;

Law, democracy, and human rights are trampled underfoot;

Meritocracy has completely disappeared, and the public sphere is occupied by sects and religious communities;

Education has become religious in the hands of a medieval mentality, and corruption and femicides have become commonplace;

Nature and animals are slaughtered recklessly;

The founding values of the Republic are ignored, national identity is trampled underfoot, and ethnicism and sectarianism are sanctified through the literature of victimhood;

Secularism is not even mentioned;

Terrorists are accepted as acceptable and legitimate;

Those who act as servants to imperialism determine their fate!

It is that clear and simple.

You can understand this very easily when you look at the slogans, flags, banners, and placards of the youth in the squares.

It is not just the government that is receiving the backlash, but the CHP as well.

Until now, they have nicely filled the opposition vacuum that emerged either due to various political calculations or incompetence, but mostly because of collaboration with the government.

They crossed the walls of fear and spoke in a language the government understands.

Let's say it without mincing words: while the CHP should have been directing the youth's reaction during this process, we have seen over the past week that it is not the CHP leading the youth, but the youth pulling and pushing the CHP.

For example, the slogans chanted in Saraçhane, such as "Özgür Özel, come here, take some tear gas," "Özgür, take us to Taksim," and "we want action, not a rally," say a lot.

The youth know very well what it means to take to Taksim, but Özgür Özel is concerned with hitting the brakes somehow. As far as it is understood, he does not want to completely sever ties with the government; no matter how much he shouts and yells, he is trying to leave room for negotiation at the critical point.

One does not need a crystal ball to predict that the government will try to force the CHP to take a step back by holding the trustee stick in its hand.

The process is extremely critical.

We will understand in due time whether Özgür Özel will push for early elections from here, or if he will say something like, "You take İmamoğlu, let the Metropolitan Municipality stay with me," or "Just clear my path, the rest doesn't matter."

In short, Tayyip Erdoğan's calculation that "whatever I do, I will get away with it" does not seem to have worked this time. Let us end our article by hoping that Özgür Özel does not perform a U-turn with a last-minute deal and derail this process.