I am no jurist but as an experienced citizen of the Republic of Turkey I can say that even if the lowlifes that murdered Özgecan Aslan are sentenced to life imprisonment they will walk free in 15-20 years at the most.

This is how it has always been.

The state has never forgiven “crimes” committed against it, and even sent those who committed crimes against it to the gallows when the death sentence was in force.

But it was never this “ruthless” when it came to those lowlifes who raped minors, dismembered an innocent girl, and burned the bodies of such innocent girls.

This sulking creation known as the state has for years issued the same message: “Dear citizen, I will bow to existing legislation if you commit crimes against each other, but if you ever attempt to even stick your tongue out at me I will fabricate something to slice off your tongue, regardless of whether it complies with existing legislation or not…”

This is how Yakup Köse, who was tried with the threat of a death sentence hanging over his head, was unjustly sentenced to 10 years imprisonment and still remains incarcerated.

What crime did he commit?

Let me tell you. In a way he stuck out his tongue at the Feb. 28 state! (Feb. 28, 1997 was when the postmodern coup was carried out.) Other than that, he neither harmed an ant nor did he attack any place with a Molotov cocktail.

In the same manner, Salih Mirzabeyoğlu, a poet, writer and thinker, was made to rot for 15 years in prison by the infamous fascist state.

As the father of two daughters myself, I became so distraught after learning of what they did to Özgecan Aslan that the thought of hell awaits savages was not enough to appease me, and I want the death penalty to be reinstated for these lowlifes.

But I don’t trust the state.

If the death penalty is reinstated, God forbid, the state will first target those who it deems to have committed crimes against it.

If not immediately, it will do so at a later time…

I don’t mean to say that this is all there is to the “New Turkey” we constantly talk about. This system was not established in a day, thereby making it impossible to tear it down in a day as well.

“New Turkey,” or “A Great Turkey Once Again,” first and foremost, represents a process and not a consequence.

What I am trying to say is that the building process of a “New Turkey” is ongoing and it is not a completed piece of work.

A lot of the old habits of the “Old Turkey” are still prevalent in many institutions.

If the CHP (Republican People’s Party) were to come to power today, it is very likely that the “Old Turkey” could proceed from where it had left off.

This is because there has been no change in mentality.

There are so many examples that it is difficult to pick which ones to cite.

For instance, CHP Chairman Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu replied “no” when asked by Ahmet Hakan if he was opposed to Abdel Fattah el-Sisi. Ahmet Hakan, too, was taken by surprise and asked, “What is the difference between Sisi and Kenan Evren?” Kılıcdaroğlu replied, “I won’t engage in cheap politics by saying I oppose someone who has been internationally accepted. Are the Americans opposed to him? Are the French opposed to him? (…) Why should I be opposed to him?…”

You tell me; can someone with such a mindset oppose a coup d’état? Particularly when it is about a coup where the parallel structure’s command base says, “It was our guys who succeeded.” (The parallel structure is a term used to refer to the Fethullah Gülen-led movement.)

On the contrary, he is more concerned with clearing the path for a coup.

Why else would he have chirped about “the public’s right to resist” recently?

This was not just some irrelevant remark.

A few years ago, during an election campaign trip, Can Dündar reminded Kılıçdaroğlu of İsmet İnönü’s remarks in the early 1960s where he had said, “If a democratic regime is transformed into an oppressive regime, then insurrection becomes a legitimate right of the people…” Kılıçdaroğlu, without missing a beat, replied, “Yes, same situation… even worse… resisting against oppression is a right…”

We could have ignored this by saying what can one expect from someone who even justifies the Dersim massacre by saying it was due to existing conditions at the time, despite hailing from Dersim himself.

But…

We are not talking about any ordinary person but about the leader of the main opposition party. Therefore we are talking about an insight into a mentality.

In short, we have a long road ahead of us toward the attainment of a “New Turkey.”

Shifting to a presidential system is very important in this regard…

Yes, a change of system is a must. This will be the biggest blow to those who dream of the “Old Turkey” and the creation of “new parallel structures.”