Thank you Ecevit

They worked day and night only to make us happy. They were not discouraged when we criticized the policies they implemented and did not vote for them. We praised them and voted them into the government, they thanked us. It’s now our turn to thank them.

He introduced courtesy and principle
You may not like Bulent Ecevit’s policies, but you can’t ignore his important contributions to Turkish politics.

Most importantly, he changed the jargon of Turkish politics.

He introduced the word "Mister." He showed the importance of speech to politicians, the media and the public. He impressed us with his sincere courtesy. His politeness even forced others to moderate their criticisms of him. He never changed the way he addressed people, even in the worst of times. He was courteous until the end.

He always used perfect Turkish. He shamed those who used rural accents to be seen closer to the people. He received praise from foreigners and locals alike, with his Turkish and English. He also made us proud.

He introduced the left to politics. He did this at a time when being left was synonymous with treason.

Between 1960 and 1990, being a politician was understood as lying to the people, failure to keep the promises made and changing ones principles in accordance with the changes in the political landscape. Fights between the left and right and civilians vs. the military had intensified. Ecevit arose, right at that time of trouble, as a leader with principles. He never deviated from his principles. He proved how important standing upright was for a politician.

I believe his only fault (of course this is just a personal opinion) was his failure, or refusal, to adapt in the past few years to the changes in the world and in Turkey.

He failed, or did not have enough time to comprehend, the fast changes in Turkish society, especially after the capture of terrorist Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) leader Abdullah Ocalan in 1999 and the criticism his coalition government generated.

Still, he was the only leader that realized that his era was at an end and the party needed to find a new leader to take it into the future.

No matter what happened, Ecevit was one of us and worked only to make our country a better place.

We thank you.

I relived 35 years in one night
If any person, especially a member of my generation, went to watch the proceedings at the Park Forest on Sunday, they had the opportunity to revisit 35 years of their lives.

Istanbul Gelisim Orchestra was a symbol of quality when we were young. And Atilla Ozdemiroglu was the symbol of that orchestra.

How many shooting stars passed in front of this orchestra and our lives?

Erol Buyukburc, Ajda, Berkant, Timur Selcuk and many more.

As we were listening to them, we remembered our former sweethearts, past excitements and fights.

What impressed me the most was the fact that the young people, mostly early twenties, also knew the songs word-by-word.

I once again saw how much our generation accomplished in such a short time.

Thanks are in order for Efes Pilsen, which sponsored this concert. I would also like to thank the artists, who participated in this concert, without payment and those who decided to give all the proceedings from the concert to the Modern Life Foundation.