Oktay Eksi: Health and panic in Ankara.....
Güncelleme Tarihi:
First off, we would like to extend our heartfelt wishes for a quick recovery to Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan; the hypoglycemic episode he experienced two days ago scared everyone. We hope it never happens again, and hope-despite the fact that we do not necessarily agree with his politics-that Erdogan serves the public for many long years ahead. This column, however, is devoted not to Erdogan's policies per se, but to his health, or rather his attitude towards health.
The event Prime Minister Erdogan experienced brought to light a few truths:
Just as we are insensitive and unprepared regarding the enormous earthquake that threatens Istanbul more and more each passing day, it is clear that the Prime Minister is also unprepared on the subject of health and other similarly urgent topics. There is a lack of comprehension on his part here to which I want to draw your attention, but it is a lack of comprehension that I see in all Turks.
People who comprehend dangers can look into the future and take precautions. Not us though-we take the idiotic path, explaining loudly "Aw, it's just nothing!" Then those who are actually hit with disaster explain it away, saying "It was Allah's will," or "That's the way fate went."
To this end, the Prime Minister's own chauffeur seemed not even to know what an official driver should do in a situation like this, and made the biggest mistake possible by leaping from the vehicle and leaving Erdogan locked inside. According to the news we read, the head of Erdogan's security detail was not much better himself. The mistakes made in this situation were bad and basic enough to raise the ends of the hair on my arms.
Clearly, we have still not come up with answers to questions on how to save the life of a person like the Prime Minister-someone whose life is potentially threatened at any moment-nor have we taken any precautions on this level. Weren't these the same reasons we lost former President Turgut Ozel?
So, the first thing we need to do is take care of the missing links in terms of education and equiptment. The second-and this is no doubt any less important-is that we need to stop dramatizing events like this in our media. A person watching us from the outside must mutter to themselves "My God, do the Turkish Prime Minister and President never fall ill?" Yes, yes, it does happen, they do fall ill from time to time, but due to the fact that we deify those who occupy those offices, even the slightest things which befall them are construed-and depicted-as "disasters" by us all.