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Trust the people!
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When, after a Wednesday lunch, the Lord Mayor of London, Alderman Ian Luder, reminded me of the "sanctity of the ballot box" and Churchill’s famous line "Trust the people!" my thoughts roamed around three terrains, past and present, all non-British.
First, I thought of my own lands where the ruling elite, confident of their unchallenged popularity, more than often emphasize the "will of the nation." I wished I lived in the times of Churchill and could ask him a couple of questions. Can we "trust the people" when the people’s democratic choices create autocracies? Can we trust the people when they vote for corrupt men, admitting they vote for corrupt men?Â
Then I tried hard to match Churchill’s idealism with the democratic choice of the German people almost seven decades earlier. Then with the democratic choice of my own people in 1982 when they overwhelmingly voted in favour of the military coup two years earlier and the "made by coup" constitution.
Finally, my thoughts went to Azerbaijan where the people would decide whether to remove the two-term presidential limit. I was not wrong to "trust the (Azerbaijani) people." In late hours I learned that President Ilham Aliyev was given the chance to rule for life. I knew we could trust the people!
Knowing in advance it would be an awfully hypothetical question, I asked Lord Mayor how would he comment if the British prime minister, ahead of municipal elections for the City of London, warned the Londoners that they should vote for the government candidate or be deprived of funding for the City. "We never try to influence choices," was the answer. Here in our lands we do. But we do trust our people too Äž only 71.5 million of them for the time being.
If Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s 16.5 million or so fans listen to his oft-repeated advice and decide to have "at least three children for each family" while other Turks think three is too many, in about 20 years the Justice and Development Party, or AKP, with or without Mr Erdogan, will probably skyrocket to 75 percent of the national vote.
Yes, we’ll keep on trusting our people.
Even in our lands where there are officially 3.3 million jobless people, the young making the majority. Lord Mayor spoke wisely: "I have two children.
But I should say family size is a personal choice." A very polite way of saying politicians should not tell people how many children they should have.
He continued: "Population growth is an advantage. But a (sizeable) population denied of education can be problematic." Yes, that’s the problem! He recalls his father’s house built in the 1930s:
"Every room was built with a ring to call the servants. We are living in different times when labor is not cheap and demand for semi-skilled labor has gone down sharply. Population growth is healthy only when the state is ready to cater for the young population."
Demographics, along with geo-politics and strategy, will definitely shape Europe’s perception of a Turkish membership.
According to the Lord Mayor, Turkey has a huge asset: a big and young population vs. Britain’s (or the EU’s) big but aging population. He is perfectly right to forewarn that young populations can be a big plus but they require skill development in our times of "war for talent."
Are we going to have enough skilled people? Put it this way: Is Turkey going to have enough skilled people when the time is ripe for both the Turks and the Europeans to eventually decide on whether the Crescent and Star has a place in the Old Continent?
There is much wisdom in that thinking. How much Churchill’s famous line could be applicable to the Turkish case in 20 years time will depend very much on how the new generation Turks "take shape." How much are we going to be able to trust our people? How many more murderers of priests and Hrant Dinks are these lands going to produce?
How many skilled young men who can perfectly integrate into Europe and become successful workers, businessmen, artists? How many more corrupt men disguised as conservatives? And how many decent men in chase of corrupt men? How many voters who would punish corrupt autocrats and how many who will prize them because of their "display Muslimness?"
What will the new generations generate? Bureaucrats, politicians and diplomats who would push Turkey westwards, or inwards? If we should trust our people why do we not ask our people in a referendum whether Turkey should freeze diplomatic ties with Israel and expel the "Zionist ambassador?" Why do we not ask our people whether we should hang Abdullah Öcalan, or whether we should half all taxes and double all wages?
Certainly, we have no alternative than trusting our people. And respect the consequences of that trust.
Then I tried hard to match Churchill’s idealism with the democratic choice of the German people almost seven decades earlier. Then with the democratic choice of my own people in 1982 when they overwhelmingly voted in favour of the military coup two years earlier and the "made by coup" constitution.
Finally, my thoughts went to Azerbaijan where the people would decide whether to remove the two-term presidential limit. I was not wrong to "trust the (Azerbaijani) people." In late hours I learned that President Ilham Aliyev was given the chance to rule for life. I knew we could trust the people!
Knowing in advance it would be an awfully hypothetical question, I asked Lord Mayor how would he comment if the British prime minister, ahead of municipal elections for the City of London, warned the Londoners that they should vote for the government candidate or be deprived of funding for the City. "We never try to influence choices," was the answer. Here in our lands we do. But we do trust our people too Äž only 71.5 million of them for the time being.
If Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s 16.5 million or so fans listen to his oft-repeated advice and decide to have "at least three children for each family" while other Turks think three is too many, in about 20 years the Justice and Development Party, or AKP, with or without Mr Erdogan, will probably skyrocket to 75 percent of the national vote.
Yes, we’ll keep on trusting our people.
Even in our lands where there are officially 3.3 million jobless people, the young making the majority. Lord Mayor spoke wisely: "I have two children.
But I should say family size is a personal choice." A very polite way of saying politicians should not tell people how many children they should have.
He continued: "Population growth is an advantage. But a (sizeable) population denied of education can be problematic." Yes, that’s the problem! He recalls his father’s house built in the 1930s:
"Every room was built with a ring to call the servants. We are living in different times when labor is not cheap and demand for semi-skilled labor has gone down sharply. Population growth is healthy only when the state is ready to cater for the young population."
Demographics, along with geo-politics and strategy, will definitely shape Europe’s perception of a Turkish membership.
According to the Lord Mayor, Turkey has a huge asset: a big and young population vs. Britain’s (or the EU’s) big but aging population. He is perfectly right to forewarn that young populations can be a big plus but they require skill development in our times of "war for talent."
Are we going to have enough skilled people? Put it this way: Is Turkey going to have enough skilled people when the time is ripe for both the Turks and the Europeans to eventually decide on whether the Crescent and Star has a place in the Old Continent?
There is much wisdom in that thinking. How much Churchill’s famous line could be applicable to the Turkish case in 20 years time will depend very much on how the new generation Turks "take shape." How much are we going to be able to trust our people? How many more murderers of priests and Hrant Dinks are these lands going to produce?
How many skilled young men who can perfectly integrate into Europe and become successful workers, businessmen, artists? How many more corrupt men disguised as conservatives? And how many decent men in chase of corrupt men? How many voters who would punish corrupt autocrats and how many who will prize them because of their "display Muslimness?"
What will the new generations generate? Bureaucrats, politicians and diplomats who would push Turkey westwards, or inwards? If we should trust our people why do we not ask our people in a referendum whether Turkey should freeze diplomatic ties with Israel and expel the "Zionist ambassador?" Why do we not ask our people whether we should hang Abdullah Öcalan, or whether we should half all taxes and double all wages?
Certainly, we have no alternative than trusting our people. And respect the consequences of that trust.
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