20th-21st Term Kırıkkale Member of Parliament Kemal Albayrak: MEETING IN JUSTICE?

Can justice truly exist when people are forced to take turns guarding for water in a village whose fountain has run dry?

Kemal Tahir once said, “They say justice is the foundation of the state; that is true. But when justice serves the powerful, the state begins to rot.”

At the invitation of the organizers, we attended the Eskişehir Günyüzü Gathering, held in Mercan Village to discuss the problems faced by people who suffered injustices under the state of emergency decrees known as KHKs. Many people were deprived of their jobs and freedom with the justification: “They have committed no crime, but this is an administrative decision.” Listening to their stories made me ashamed of my own humanity.

Can a regime destroy its own children? Can a will that raises people only to cut them down like weeds ever bring social peace?

There were many participants and political representatives. As I listened to accounts of torture, suicides and injustice, I found myself asking: Do those who created this shame and injustice have no children of their own? Why this hatred and resentment? Is it being driven by demands for exploitation?

At the point our country has reached, even corruption, mafia connections and every kind of illicit relationship can be protected through partisanship, while the cries of those suffering injustice are met with silence. I respect those who show sensitivity; but are those who remain indifferent not also responsible for this injustice?

You have broken the hearts of people as innocent and beautiful as flowers. You have destroyed their hopes. Was Ahmet Arif wrong when he said, “May your gardens never see spring”?

Every generation must encounter the truth anew. Truth is not a fortune that any generation can inherit and preserve forever. Every generation either rediscovers it or loses it.

Those who experience oppression and injustice are hurt by those who remain silent. Because silence, too, carries responsibility. If we reshape the truth according to our own desires, civilization collapses. Is the silence of those who refuse to see the people who create the fires of hell not itself a form of hostility toward what they do not know?

An era is best described not by those who lived through its privileges, but by those who lost what they had. Those who bring a society to the peak of privilege and injustice do not see the tables of the oppressed, the wronged or the poor. The true traces of an age are not found in official accounts, but in its suffering and lived injustices.

Fabricated lies destroy trust in the truth. Can sweeping judgments ever bring justice? Was Neşet Ertaş wrong when he said, “The pain of the wounded finds its way back to the one who caused it”?

The state cannot be an institution of revenge; it must be an institution of justice. Can collective punishment ever bring justice? Until the darkness is illuminated, it is impossible to know who is guilty and who is innocent. Darkness is dispelled not through arbitrariness, but through lawful and independent governance.

Wrong judgments cause the greatest damage to the human mind. Human beings are creatures who exist through reason. It is essential to think carefully when making choices and moving forward. Having the power to pass judgment does not justify abandoning justice, nor can it bring peace. Human beings should be solutions for one another—not knots, not illnesses, but healing.

Knowing the past is not about returning to it; it is about understanding the ruptures that gave rise to the injustices of today. Intellectual colonialism destroys justice. Injustice kills trust, balance, humanity, the hopes of the young, love of country and institutions. Those responsible must think about this. A country cannot be governed through arbitrariness.

May reason, science, law, morality, conscience and compassion be your guides. Otherwise, one day those who disregard justice may subject you to the very things you have inflicted upon others.

May August 30 Victory Day serve as an occasion to recognize future threats and take the necessary precautions.

Happy August 30 Victory Day. 🇹🇷

August 31, 2026
Kemal Albayrak