COP 31 and November 10

President Erdoğan speaks at the United Nations Climate Change Conference COP31 Antalya Summit: “We have only one sky, one earth... We find it wrong to harm even an ant... Our ancestors expressed that cutting down a healthy tree is equivalent to killing a person by saying, ‘He who cuts a living tree, cuts off a head’...”

There is only one sky, yet you continue to run thermal power plants that spew poison into that sky, poisoning it... You have only one earth, yet you are handing over almost every inch of it to companies through mining tenders... All while ignoring the millions of farmers and villagers living on it... ‘He who cuts a living tree, cuts off a head’—yes, our ancestors spoke the truth, but in your system of rent-seeking, hundreds of thousands of trees are being chopped down every year in every region of Turkey... 

Those who boast to the world about zero waste have not even been able to establish a zero-waste system in a single city, not even in the capital... In Ankara, all trash containers are still full of paper, plastic, glass, iron, wood, and organic waste... It is not enough to just place a few blue recycling bins on some streets of the city... You know this, but you do not do it... It is just window dressing, manipulation, and propaganda... 

The previous morning, that is, November 10, I am having breakfast in the kitchen with my son Barış... My wife and daughter left early for work... Barış is studying at home because he has an exam in the evening... While having breakfast with Barış, we are watching the morning news with İsmail Küçükkaya on Sözcü TV... İsmail’s guest is Erol Mütercimler...

As the clock passes 09:00, İsmail connects live to Anıtkabir... The state officials are in the presence of the Great Leader (Ata)... And at 09:05, my son Barış and I jump to our feet without saying a single word, and we stand in a moment of silence together... On the screen, there are images of the moment of silence in the streets of Ankara and Istanbul... In streets, avenues, workplaces, and homes like ours, everyone is standing... It is very moving... My eyes welled up with tears... 

A little later, the moment of silence ends, and İsmail Küçükkaya and Erol Mütercimler continue their conversation... Mütercimler recounts a striking memory of Atatürk with a farmer in a village in Istanbul:  

Atatürk, while going towards Küçükçekmece from the Florya Mansion in Istanbul where he went to rest, accompanied only by his driver, sees a farmer plowing his field with a plow. Beside the ox yoked to the farmer's plow, there is also a donkey. Atatürk says to his driver,

— Stop the car.

He gets out of the car. He walks towards the field. The farmer has seen the person coming towards him. He stops the ox and the donkey yoked to his plow. When Atatürk comes up to him,

— May it be easy, Ağa (master/farmer), he says.

— Thank you, Bey (sir)! Welcome.

— You are welcome, Ağa. It caught my attention while passing by. You have yoked a donkey next to an ox. Can a donkey ever be yoked next to an ox? These are not a match.

The villager is annoyed. He is also a bit offended. In a weary tone of voice,

— Do you think I don't know that a donkey and an ox shouldn't be yoked side by side, Bey? Are you telling me this?

— To whom should I tell it, Ağa?

— Go tell this to the tax collector.

— To the tax collector?

— Yes! My harvest was poor this year. I couldn't pay my tax debt. Four days ago, the tax collectors took the ox's mate, saying it would “cover the tax debt.” They sold it. My ox's mate became meat and sausage for the tables of Beys like you, Bey.

Atatürk is very angry. As is his habit, he knits his brows when he is angry. The villager, seeing him like this,

— Why are you knitting your brows at me, Bey? Do you think I'm lying? Everything I told you is true. I am from the village of Küçükçekmece. Ask the village headman if you want.

Atatürk asks,

— Why didn't you go to the District Governor (Kaymakam) and explain the situation, Ağa?

— I went, Bey.

The villager pauses. Realizing this, Atatürk continues.

— What did the District Governor say?

— He said, 'Go pay your debt.'

— You should have gone to the Governor (Vali) then.

The villager studies Atatürk for a while. Atatürk listens without speaking. The villager continues to speak.

— You have never been to the Governor, Bey. It shows from your state.

— Does it show from my state?

— Yes! Besides, if you had gone, you would have known.

— What would I have known?

— That the gendarmes at the door don't let people in, Bey.

Atatürk asks,

— Why didn't you send a telegram to Prime Minister İsmet Pasha and explain your situation?

The villager smiles and says,

— Don't make me laugh, Bey. They say the Prime Minister is deaf, he doesn't hear.

Atatürk is angry.

— Well! Why didn't you send a telegram to Gazi Pasha? he asks.

— They say he is blind in one eye, he doesn't see. Besides, you are rich. You even have an automobile. Haven't you heard any of these?

Atatürk takes fifty liras out of his wallet.

— Accept this, Ağa. You can buy a mate for your ox, he says.

He shakes the hand of the villager, whose hands are trembling. He leaves him. He walks towards his car with quick steps. He returns to the Florya Mansion. He sends the following telegram to Prime Minister İsmet Pasha.

—“Gather the Council of Ministers immediately and come to Istanbul.”

The Council of Ministers, chaired by the Prime Minister, arrives at the Florya Mansion. Atatürk has sent his driver to pick up the farmer and bring him. The farmer, who comes to the Florya Mansion through rows of gendarmes lined up inside the car, is beating himself up inside, saying, “Oh no, what have I done?” Although he feels a little relieved when a well-dressed gentleman who greets him at the door says in a polite voice, “Follow me, sir,” he is very scared. Following the man, they enter a large meeting hall. The hall is crowded. There is a large table in the middle, well-dressed people sitting on chairs around it, and two more people standing. His eyes are dark, and his legs are struggling to carry his body. His heart feels like it is going to jump out of his chest from excitement. He hears a familiar voice.

— Welcome, Ağa. Come, your place is here.

Atatürk, who says this, points with his hand to the empty chair he reserved next to him on his right. The farmer walks with difficulty and sits on the chair as if collapsing. Realizing his state, Atatürk says,

— Calm down, Ağa. There is nothing to be afraid of.

— Thank you, Bey! Thank you.

Atatürk, waiting for the farmer to catch his breath and relax, says after a while,

— Do you know why I called you here, Ağa?

— No, Bey, I don't know.

— I want you to tell what you told me yesterday, here today. But; I want you to tell it without skipping a single word, completely. Come on, start, we are listening to you.

The farmer tells what he went through one by one. Atatürk completes the parts that were missing from what he had said before. When the farmer's speech ends, Atatürk introduces those sitting at the table one by one. He says that he himself is the Gazi. Then he stands up. Hitting the table hard with his hand, in an angry voice;

— Gentlemen, I do not want a law that makes a farmer sell his draft animal. I do not want a law that makes a farmer sell his seed wheat. I do not want a law that makes a farmer sell his agricultural tools or his milking animal. You will return to Ankara and solve this matter immediately.

After this incident, the following law was prepared and enacted in one night. Enforcement and Bankruptcy Law Article 82/4: If the debtor is a farmer, the land, draft animals, means of transport, and other accessories and agricultural tools necessary for his and his family's livelihood cannot be seized.

After this incident, Atatürk uttered two more sentences: “The peasant is the master of the nation... The Republic is the protector of the unprotected...” 

What is the state of the peasants and producers of today in the republic founded by such a great leader? For example, what is the state of the Atatürk Forest Farm (AOÇ), which was established by Atatürk for agricultural purposes in Ankara? Go out on the Eskişehir road, if you continue from the METU (ODTÜ) direction towards Çayyolu, you will see it very clearly. The Medipol Hospital of the former AKP Minister of Health is rising on it... New foundations are being laid every day... All kinds of concrete blocks are rising on the AOÇ land... 

As Erdoğan says, “There is no other sky and no other earth”... I think the AKP members other than Erdoğan are acting as if they have found another earth and another sky... There are no longer any newspapers or television stations to report these... Or they have been crushed, closed, seized, and thrown into prisons to the point of non-existence... The saying 'the peasant is the master of the nation' is not a saying said in vain... But it cannot be done with words alone... The AOÇ is the meaning of that word, the action of that word... Today, there are still those who say, “Our peasant is so valuable, so precious... The peasant is the master of the nation” every time they open their mouths, but the peasants, farmers, and producers are groaning in pain... In the Black Sea, in the Aegean, in the Mediterranean, in every corner of Anatolia...

What they produce has no value... Whether they produce hazelnuts, grapes, olives, tea, lemons, apples, or potatoes, it is the same... They do not have the strength to harvest the product from the field... Even if they do, they cannot sell it at a price that covers their expenses... A man produces a kilo of lemons for 8-9 TL... The merchant says, “I will buy it if you give it for three TL”... The same lemon is between 40-50 liras in the market... A base price of 250 TL is announced for hazelnuts, the TMO does not buy hazelnuts, and the merchant steals the hazelnuts from the producer's hand at 145 TL... The producer is at a net loss... And a state that watches this whole process... A government that watches this whole extinction as if watching a movie... An AKP government that cannot utter a peep while its producer is groaning, perishing, and devastated... Because those who should find solutions to the problems of the farmer, the producer, and the citizen are busy... They are chasing after how much they can embezzle from which fund... A mentality focused on embezzlement, not production; on rent, not work; on robbery, not projects, is dragging the country into an abyss...