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Cruising on the highway between Ankara and Istanbul you can read all funny things written at the back of the lorries. As I was sick and tired of that debate about cleansing mines that are planted along Turkey's southeastern border, my spirits rose on the Istanbul highway when confronted by the lorry drivers' jargon. An example:
"A girl should be like Istanbul. Hard to conquer but conquered by only one conqueror in the end." We know that it was very hard for centuries to conquer Istanbul. Also we know everything about Mehmet the Conqueror. But looking at the 556th year of the conquering of Istanbul celebrations on May 29, it becomes clear that certain people are lacking this information. If you ask me why, I have my answer ready. Everybody for years tried to reconquer Istanbul, but even though they each pretended to be a Mehmet the Conqueror they didn't even stick a single nail to the city.
It is very difficult to enter Istanbul. But once you enter it, it is even harder to get out. To go from one place to the other is almost a catastrophe. During weekdays you can always produce all kinds of extenuating circumstances. But during the weekends, when everybody wants to go out and have some fun, the traffic is jammed. On top of that if there are universities entering exams or a championship football match, you can have catastrophes.
The question is who is to be blamed for this horrible traffic jam? The ones who go out to have fun, the ones who didn't build the necessary traffic infrastructure, gallery owners who sell cars to people who don't even get a monthly pay of 700 liras or banks who give loans to car buyers? Most important than all are the ones to be blamed people who turn a blind eye on unlicensed construction so that it will come back to them as votes?
In Turkey even when new neighborhoods are built, the construction of their infrastructure is done eventually. When the southwest wind blows, an awful smell fills the city's air. Even in neighborhoods where apartment flats are sold for $1 million, the streets stink of sewage.
We have passed through a municipal election period when politicians gave all kinds of promises they didn't keep afterward. If we compare these past five years, has anything really changed? Did everybody continue to think they each are a Mehmet the Conqueror, or did they produce anything?
We are aware that you cannot solve the problems of Istanbul or big metropolises in a period of five years. We know that but for the last 50 years, when you compare Istanbul with other big and modern cities in the world you will see that Istanbul lags behind them. If building 33 shopping malls is an achievement, then you also had to build their sewage and water infrastructure as well.
Some criticize us for belittling what has been achieved in the city. We are not downgrading the importance of the place Turkey stands in today.
But the Turk who has opened up to the outside world today expects more and is seeking a better life. He wants to live comfortably and in peace in the city he inhabits. When in certain developing cities in the world, between 7 to 10 kilometers of metro tracks are being built yearly; in Istanbul we could only build a metro track of less than 15 kilometers in 50 years. There is a trial and error management mentality in Istanbul. They first took out the tramways and introduced trolleybuses, which they abandoned some years later. Then they took out the special bus road to be replaced by metrobuses. Now I wonder which buses they are going to choose next.
I don't deny that municipalities don't have problems. But the main problems are related to the laws. Istanbul is a very large city. It is very difficult to manage it with its surrounding sub-municipalities. Such a large city should be managed with new financial resources and a new management structure. One has to ask the inhabitants the following question:
"Are you willing to live in a city where most of the buildings are unlicensed, or do you want change?"
On a Friday if you have a funeral ceremony to go at the Teşvikiye Mosque and see the state of the mosque's grounds, you will realize the imperativeness of change. If you contradict change and say, "This is what the people want," then either you or the people don't know what they want.
Coming to the girl in the lorry driver's jargon. Without asking the choice of the girl, as another Mehmet the Conqueror you conquer her. As there is more than one Mehmet the Conqueror, it is not difficult to conquer anymore. But as always, nobody asks the girl what she wants. Don't say here are the election results.
At the back of the last lorry, cruising the Ankara-Istanbul highway, was the following: "You cannot comment on memories."
It is very difficult to enter Istanbul. But once you enter it, it is even harder to get out. To go from one place to the other is almost a catastrophe. During weekdays you can always produce all kinds of extenuating circumstances. But during the weekends, when everybody wants to go out and have some fun, the traffic is jammed. On top of that if there are universities entering exams or a championship football match, you can have catastrophes.
The question is who is to be blamed for this horrible traffic jam? The ones who go out to have fun, the ones who didn't build the necessary traffic infrastructure, gallery owners who sell cars to people who don't even get a monthly pay of 700 liras or banks who give loans to car buyers? Most important than all are the ones to be blamed people who turn a blind eye on unlicensed construction so that it will come back to them as votes?
In Turkey even when new neighborhoods are built, the construction of their infrastructure is done eventually. When the southwest wind blows, an awful smell fills the city's air. Even in neighborhoods where apartment flats are sold for $1 million, the streets stink of sewage.
We have passed through a municipal election period when politicians gave all kinds of promises they didn't keep afterward. If we compare these past five years, has anything really changed? Did everybody continue to think they each are a Mehmet the Conqueror, or did they produce anything?
We are aware that you cannot solve the problems of Istanbul or big metropolises in a period of five years. We know that but for the last 50 years, when you compare Istanbul with other big and modern cities in the world you will see that Istanbul lags behind them. If building 33 shopping malls is an achievement, then you also had to build their sewage and water infrastructure as well.
Some criticize us for belittling what has been achieved in the city. We are not downgrading the importance of the place Turkey stands in today.
But the Turk who has opened up to the outside world today expects more and is seeking a better life. He wants to live comfortably and in peace in the city he inhabits. When in certain developing cities in the world, between 7 to 10 kilometers of metro tracks are being built yearly; in Istanbul we could only build a metro track of less than 15 kilometers in 50 years. There is a trial and error management mentality in Istanbul. They first took out the tramways and introduced trolleybuses, which they abandoned some years later. Then they took out the special bus road to be replaced by metrobuses. Now I wonder which buses they are going to choose next.
I don't deny that municipalities don't have problems. But the main problems are related to the laws. Istanbul is a very large city. It is very difficult to manage it with its surrounding sub-municipalities. Such a large city should be managed with new financial resources and a new management structure. One has to ask the inhabitants the following question:
"Are you willing to live in a city where most of the buildings are unlicensed, or do you want change?"
On a Friday if you have a funeral ceremony to go at the Teşvikiye Mosque and see the state of the mosque's grounds, you will realize the imperativeness of change. If you contradict change and say, "This is what the people want," then either you or the people don't know what they want.
Coming to the girl in the lorry driver's jargon. Without asking the choice of the girl, as another Mehmet the Conqueror you conquer her. As there is more than one Mehmet the Conqueror, it is not difficult to conquer anymore. But as always, nobody asks the girl what she wants. Don't say here are the election results.
At the back of the last lorry, cruising the Ankara-Istanbul highway, was the following: "You cannot comment on memories."
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