I have recently seen the election campaign posters belonging to Ekmeleddin Ihsanoglu, one of the presidential candidates. As a communication professional, certain elements have taken my notice. One of these elements was the chosen background color, green. For many years, the CHP mentality considered green as the symbol of Islamists and underestimated it for being the color of hijab. It turned out that CHP preferred the green thinking in itself that "these people understand from this language". However, green is not a convenient color for political communication.
The second point is the title before the name, "Professor Doctor" typed in wide and large fonts. In the past, the same mentality used to mock the usage of "Professor" juxtaposed with the name of Erbakan. I recall how this mentality constantly used to mock the "high architect" title on Kadir Topbas"s posters back in the days. It seems that Mr. Ihsanoglu"s poster was prepared in a similar fashion with the motivation "these folks loves these elements and give their votes for these things; then let"s do it".
There is another thing, which is the "bread" slogan. The CHP mentality, instead of a self-criticism in analyzing the reason why it did not take the votes, always criticized the people or underestimated voters with farces like "the people who are limited to think about pasta and coal is around 50%". We have heard these clichés so many times for the last 12 years as a way for insulting the voter. In the campaign notice, which the CHP agencies prepared, the choice of "bread" as the theme proves that the group"s view of the people has not changed at all. I guess they are thinking like "use the green, get the Quran recited, feed the stomach, have the votes." Isn"t all this the same mentality persisting to underestimate the people, because it considers that this is a source of the votes? With the words of the deceased Erbakan, the imitation mentality never changes.
O HUMANITY!
I wonder if anyone has ever calculated how many Palestinians – Muslim or Christian – Israel has killed since 1947. Even so, given the killings of the organizations like Haganah – which forms the core of the Mossad today – which was established before 1947 for the sake of Zionism, would the total estimate number ever matter to the international public?
Let alone the death, the injured refugees toll, is there any sensible explanation at all within the framework of humanity for confining Palestinian generations to a life without a future while watching it without doing anything?
While the Palestinian society is getting ready for a new Intifada, and Israel is telling new stories to the whole world, the number of the conscientious voices representing the international public is quite few. One of these voices is Noam Chomsky.
Chomsky pointed out "The concept of the international community is but an empty and meaningless term, a trick and illusion to ordinary people." The fierce critique added that the U.S. bears the greatest responsibility for the Israeli aggression against Gaza and therefore must be brought to account for it because of that. He said that Turkey is the only country, which has voiced strong opposition to Israel, and made it clear through denouncing the injustices levied on the Palestinians.
Every time Israel applies to violence, there are many of those who come up with this take-it-or-leave-it formula. However, I am quite sure that they are geographically inept, not even able to point at Palestine on the map. It"s easy to talk big about the question of Palestine. However, there are things that we have to keep in mind concerning the solution. Of course, our Lord almighty is watching everything. And above every account, his account prevails. However, we also must act reasonably and with common sense.
1. The land of Palestine is confined to the Israeli geography. It is impossible to access it by air or by land singly. 2. Palestine has no separate borders. The only district that the Palestinian authority is effective in is the West Bank. The neighborhoods and cities are divided with walls there. The real authority is Israel, which allows the passage at the checkpoints. 3. There are 27 refugee camps in the West Bank. Israel can enter these camps consisting of different legal status whenever it wishes. 4. The administration cabinet, including the Prime Minister is receiving their salaries from the EU. The Arab countries finance half of these EU funds. 5. Whoever brings aid to Palestine must get permission from either the Israeli government or Egypt. Cutting off relationships doesn"t help anything other than Israel inadvertently. In such times, halting the diplomatic relationships only blocks the legal ways of inserting medicine, nutritional material into Palestine. There is no available illegal way, either. For so many days, the medical equipment, doctors and other aid materials have been waiting at the Egyptian Rafah border.
No aid collected from the whole world has been delivered inside Gaza yet. 6. Israel has never hesitated to commit its slaughters explicitly. Even so, it encourages the spread of the scenes because this relentless and horrific image helps discouraging a lot to leave their countries. Israel is using this as an occupation method. Every evacuated resident means a new occupier-settler. 7. It"s not only Muslim Arabs who live there. Jerusalem or Quds is a holy place for Christians, as well. Israel is giving out an unreal impression that it is only the "radical" Muslims living in the region and that it is not touching any Christian. 8. It really helps Israel a lot when the case turns into an anti-Jewish topic in Muslim countries. Therefore, Israel can easily tell its story saying, "There are groups which are threatening me, and therefore mine is a self-defense." The anti-Semitic slogan is justifying the action and the discourse of Israel.
