This mentality...

We have three birthdays Ñ including myself Ñ in the family around the end of December and beginning of January. For the past almost three decades we have developed a tradition; the family meets that evening at my place and share some happy moments until early hours of the new year. So we did this yearÉ Neither we, nor other residents of the neighborhood, were of course aware that night that just two buildings away seven youngsters were being poisoned with carbon monoxide and were silently passing awayÉ What a tragedy.

Next morning, we woke up to the sirens of the ambulancesÉ By the time we learned what might have happened Ñ no one had any clear explanation of how the youngsters had lost their lives Ñ live transmission trucks of almost all TV stations, scores of journalists and hundreds of curious residents filled our street within moments. It is difficult not to revolt against untimely death! Seven jewels of their families were goneÉ One was to become a lawyer, the other was to become an economist, the other was dreaming to become a diplomat one dayÉ Gone their dreams, gone themselves, gone the happiness and the most important treasure of their families. None of them could come back even if the entire treasures of world would be spent!

However, earlier that night the upper floor neighbor of the seven youngsters had called police, reported that there was some sort of a gas leak in the building and were hospitalized. An emergency team of the Ankara Gas Authority visited the building, checked the upper floor, detected carbon monoxide in the flat, knocked on the door of the upper and lower flats as well, but although light and music was coming out from the youngsters flat no one was responding to the knock on the door, the team did not feel the need to call police and enter the flat. There was of course gross negligence.

Shameless gaffÉ
What was the cause of the tragic death of seven youngsters? Apart from the negligence of the gas authority team that night, there was apparently faulty construction and use of inappropriate tin pipe connector of the heating device to the chimney (there were reportedly some cracks in the pipe). But, starting from the morning the bodies were discovered and Turkey heard of the tragedy, the Ankara Gas Authority Director General Veysel Karani Demir made a series of gaffs trying to wash his hands of the responsibility with the deaths. He did everything to hide how poor the security measures his administration has taken tough Ankara residents have been paying the highest price for natural gas in Turkey. He tried to escape from questions of the media, first by using the pretext that it was a Friday and he had to leave for Friday prayers Ñ as if prayers were more important than the lives of seven youngsters. Then, he made the worst-ever gaff of recent times and made a slanderous statement. He claimed that some of the youngsters were half nakedÉ

Police had taken photographs of the scene and there were eyewitnesses all proving that seven youngsters were all properly dressed. But, even if they were half or totally naked, what was the use of making such a "disclosure" if the aim was not to imply that "They were infidels; they were engaged in immoral acts; they were reveling; they were punished by God." Indeed, a radical Islamist newspaper was more honest than Demir in its report on the issue. That paper exactly wrote what Demir might have had in his mind when he said "some were half naked."Naturally, because of the national outburst neither Melih Gökçek nor the prime minister could keep Demir in his seatÉ He resignedÉ But, the problem is not the individual DemirÉ The problem is with that mentality in power in Turkey. The problem is the habit of the political administration to appoint to all key positions members of the same Islamist brotherhood, rather than people with competence. Any objection? Just look who was Demir; what are his qualifications; why he was made boss of Ankara gas?