Was all this turmoil necessary?

Every member of the government, led by Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, are getting angry with the media. Why did we concentrate on the adultery amendment when there was the entire Turkish Penal Code (TCK) to think about? All our reports were based on nothing they say.

Please!

Who raised the adultery issue in the first place? Wasn’t it a few members of the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP)?

Didn’t the prime minister appear on television to repeatedly state his opinion on the matter? Didn’t he go further and even tell the media that he found this demand for the inclusion of the adultery amendment legitimate? The statements made on television were there for all to see and hear. In other words, didn’t he show he took the matter seriously and that he intended to include the adultery amendment in the new TCK?

After all that has happened, they turned around and said: "Wait a minute. An amendment has not even been submitted yet. Don’t criticize it before you see it."

The AKP raised the adultery issue, fed the flames and aired its opinions. After doing all that, they don’t have the right to turn around and accuse us of ignoring the bigger picture.

They created a problem from nothing and eventually collapsed under it.

They also ruined their prestige overseas
The AKP, by stoking up the adultery issue, not only ruined Turkey’s, but also its overseas prestige. Just look at the criticism from European Union officials, even those who support Turkey’s membership, in the past week. Just take a look at what has been written in the international media. Almost all are surprised and say the AKP acted upon its religious instincts. However, members of the AKP claim just the opposite.

Ok then, why did you do it?

Actually, the AKP shot itself in the foot, and injured Turkey in the process. And no one knows why…

They either have no decision-making mechanism or they don’t know how to use it
Turkish Industrialists’ and Businessmen’s Association (TUSIAD) representative in Brussels Bakadir Kaleagasi, talking on CNN-Turk on Tuesday, noted an important fact. He said the AKP has yet to set up a proper decision-making mechanism and was raising certain issues without first sifting them through executive commissions or committees.

When someone thinks of something they just say it — especially when they receive some support from the party — and the matter grows exponentially, dragging the leadership behind it. No one is there to examine the positive and negative consequences of the idea.

All of a sudden you see an unrefined issue dropping like a bomb. No one can control it at such a stage. Weeks are spent before returning to exactly where we were before the issue was raised in the first place. At the end, everybody realizes how hard or impossible it would be to implement it, and the matter is dropped.

When looked from the outside, it appears that the AKP has backed away and then, the party itself is angered.

We have seen many examples of this before. Unfortunately, we will continue to see them in the future; until that is the AKP initiates a mechanism which will shift through ideas emanating from its deputies and its organization.

A fair complaint by Cicek
As we were listening to a speech by Justice Minister Cemil Cicek on Tuesday in Parliament, we heard him make a very fair complaint. Cicek said that our people were happy to criticize what was happening, but never took the trouble to work and contribute to the proposals made.

An accurate deduction.

I believe this is because of our education system. We can only criticize. We like nothing and contribute even less. Let others do what we want so that we can stand there and criticize. Let’s take no responsibility. Naturally, this leads to conflict. Those who come forward with new ideas get angry and initiate their plans, while we stay there complaining. We’ll get used to it. We will learn how to carry out a debate, work to contribute to projects and stop seeing everything from an ideological perspective.