Those Who Tell The Truth Are Traitors

Admitting you made mistakes and being critical of yourself is a sign of wisdom. Those who do this make progress. One of the reasons for backwardness is when the opposite happens: failing to appreciate the mistakes and blaming others. If this is your method, it is easy to identify a scapegoat.
If there is a mining accident, the administrators, engineers, inspectors and even the coal are to blame, not you. If people take measures to protect themselves, the opposition, domestic enemies, external enemies, lobbies, Europe and the CIA are responsible, not you. Patriotic discourse may appeal emotionally, but that does not change the truth. If we just use our minds, we will see that failing to take lessons from mistakes and to identify the real reasons has repercussions; this is not happening.
Those surprised by the current state of chaos ask how this happened. But instead of thinking about the process that led to these events and subsequent chaos and being self-critical, everybody is seeking to blame each other. Almost 40 people, including two police officers, died, 351 were wounded, 1,113 buildings were destroyed, 1,177 cars were burned; but neither the government, Interior Minister Efkan Ala nor the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK)/ Peace and Democracy Party (BDP) are referred to as a culprit.
If we are able to confront the mistakes, we will seek answers to these questions, instead of cooking up conspiracy theories: Was something wrong with the settlement process, which the people have strongly supported, and that government circles have argued was going well? Was it logical that the PKK established its own courts, levied taxes and blocked roads for inspection instead of laying down arms? Which one was good for the country, the launch of KCK lawsuits, which restricted the activities of the group, or dropping the charges against its members?
Why were experienced anti-terrorism figures and teams removed from their posts before the start of this process? Who did the oligarchic team that took the state to the line of Ergenekon and the PKK include? What mistakes did Turkey make in its Syria policy? Was it right to embrace radical armed opposition groups to get rid of Bashar al-Assad? Did we not think that they would eventually threaten our national security?
One of the best things about the EU membership bid was its role as a mirror, exhibiting the mistakes Turkey made. The most recent EU Progress Report on Oct. 8 did this again this year. In fact, the report once again confirmed as an external actor the mistakes those who dared to refer to, despite the risk of being called traitors. It is sufficient to take a look at the report to understand the ongoing chaos and why our world image has been undermined without conspiracy theories. EU expert Cengiz Aktar, who refers to this report as the worst since 1998, identified 20 fields in which there is no progress, 16 subjects where the EU raised concerns and eight where serious concerns were underlined.
One of the serious concerns is relevant to judicial independence, which is the root cause of the ongoing problems. The EU report indicates that the removal and reassignment of a number of police officers, prosecutors and judges who were involved in the corruption investigation and the new Supreme Board of Judges and Prosecutors (HSYK) bill seeking to subordinate the judiciary to the justice minister are contrary to the democratic norms on judicial independence and the separation of powers. Media freedom is another major issue of concern; the government has made strong statements seeking to intimidate the media. This led to widespread cases of auto-censorship and resignation of journalists. Bans on YouTube and Twitter restricting social media use are raising concerns. The stalled constitutional reform process is also worrisome. Use of excessive force and arbitrary arrests in demonstrations is another source of concern.
Efforts to settle the Kurdish issue are praised in the report, which at the same time expresses concern over whether or not the corruption charges will be investigated impartially. The report further notes that the media and public sources were unjustly used in the election campaigns and that the laws on the Internet, the HSYK, the National Intelligence Organization (MİT) and private prep schools were not negotiated taking into considerations of the people. In the report, attempts to delay motions on corruption in Parliament, to undermine the image of Bank Asya and the stalled case of the murder of Ali İsmail Korkmaz are criticized.
The options are out there. We will either take the report that the EU minister finds to be objective and balanced as a mirror to correct our mistakes or we will rely on conspiracy theories to find a culprit for our mistakes.

ABDULHAMİT BİLİCİ (Cihan/Today's Zaman)