SILENCE OVER THE FUND SCANDAL: WHERE ARE THOSE WHO ALWAYS HAVE SOMETHING TO SAY?

Written by Kemal Albayrak, Former Member of Parliament for Kırıkkale (20th and 21st Terms) and Founding Member of the AKP…

As the fund scandal continues to shake Turkey’s public agenda, one of the most pressing questions demanding an answer concerns the silence coming from the ruling party. Why have AKP Deputy Parliamentary Group Chairs and senior officials at the party headquarters failed to hold a press conference and publicly address the issue? Those who never hesitate to comment on almost every development suddenly seem reluctant to speak when the matter concerns the people’s rights and the public conscience. Why?

Where are those who always have an opinion on everything, like the Bremen Town Musicians? Those who once rushed to comment on every development, involved themselves in every controversy and competed to dominate the public debate are nowhere to be seen today. Have they suddenly lost their voices now that the issue touches their own political circles?

A mind held captive becomes a slave, making independent thought and personal freedom impossible. Political loyalties, personal interests and unquestioning allegiance to those in power must never prevent people from seeing the truth. Remaining silent in the face of the truth means becoming complicit in injustice.

Shame on those who refuse to bring the full truth about this scandal into the open! Regardless of who is involved, anyone who has taken what belongs to the people must be exposed. Every allegation must be thoroughly investigated, and those responsible must face justice. This issue must not be judged according to individuals, official positions or political affiliations. The law must apply equally to everyone.

Is your power only enough to go after elderly, innocent people languishing in prison?

The country’s approach to justice is increasingly being questioned as these contradictions inflict deep wounds on the public conscience. When decisions affect people’s lives, freedoms and futures, justice must be administered equally and without discrimination. Witnessing the cruelty inflicted by those who knowingly cause people’s deaths makes us understand even more clearly how some can lose their humanity.

Without justice, there can be no public trust and no peace of conscience. A country ruled by injustice cannot claim to be a state governed by the rule of law.

Doğu Perinçek’s statement, “The judiciary is the dog of politics,” is once again being brought into the debate. Was there a deeper truth behind those words? If justice were truly independent, would the controversies and developments now deeply troubling the public conscience have reached such proportions?

What Turkey needs is not a judiciary driven by political calculations, but a legal system that is independent, impartial and equally distant from all political interests. This country is waiting for a genuine state governed by the rule of law.

Those who build their political rhetoric around the homeland, religion, the flag and national survival, yet remain silent when questioned about how the people’s resources are being used, must have their sincerity challenged. The concepts of homeland, religion and national flag must never become shields behind which anyone can hide their political interests.

If there are individuals who conceal the violation of the people’s rights behind patriotic rhetoric, they must be held accountable, whoever they may be. Those who turn religion into a political and commercial instrument must also be recognized by society and held to account.

The consequences of an attitude indifferent to the Republic’s founding values, the supremacy of law and national sovereignty are once again becoming visible in today’s controversies.

We must never forget that justice is the foundation of the state. No political establishment that fails to protect the people’s rights and places the law at the service of political power has any right to expect the public’s trust or look confidently toward the future.

The people want the truth, accountability and justice. Silence cannot erase the facts, and holding political office must never grant anyone immunity from answering for their actions.

The law must be the law for everyone, and justice must be justice for all.