We used to think, “How do we turn our dreams into reality?” Nowadays, our biggest luxury is to escape from the harsh reality that surrounds us and dream for a moment. In other words, we no longer dream of taking refuge from dream to reality, but from reality to dream.
Çünkü asgari ücretin açlık sınırıyla bitmeyen imtihanı, market raflarında her gün değişen etiketler ve her ay açıklanan o meşhur TÜİK rakamları, yaşama sevincimizi birer birer buduyor. Gıda enflasyonunun %70’lerin altına inmediği bir iklimde gerçekler bu kadar çıplakken; birileri ısrarla bu yoksulluğun üstüne süslü mottolar örtmeye çalışıyor.
From Equality in Pajamas to Hope in Grams
As we stand on the threshold of 2026, we look back and realize that what is missing is not just a year, but a whole lifetime. On New Year's Eve in the old Turkey, the approaching New Year would warm our hearts with the famous ’what if“ possibility. That lottery ticket bought from the neighborhood dealer, the turkey table prepared for the evening, carefully selected nuts and cola for the children... This was the modest but peaceful ritual of the average family. And the most important thing was this: There were no rich and poor at that table, everyone was equal in fun and joy.
Bugün ise o “eğlence eşitliği” mottoların altında ezilerek yok oldu. Bir asgari ücretlinin maaşının %40’ından fazlasını sadece temel gıdaya ayırmak zorunda olduğu bu devirde, o sofrayı kurabilmek artık imkânsıza yakın. Bırakın hindiyi, fıstığın bile gramla tartıldığı, bir şişe kolanın veya gazozun fiyatının bir saatlik çalışma ücretine yaklaştığı bir dönemde; umut bile en maliyetli kalem haline geldi.
First Stone of the Dominion Justice
So how did we go from that childlike excitement to this gray despair? This is not an accident, but the story of a systematic collapse. We toppled everything with a domino effect: First we corrupted justice, corrupted justice shook the economy, corrupted economy crippled democracy. In a country that falls behind in the Rule of Law Index, the economy inevitably eliminated meritocracy. Where order breaks down, hope is the first to die. Those who think that today's lack of yesterday was a “disadvantage” are mistaken; the Turkey of the past may not have had much, but it did not have such a deep despair.
Victimization and victimization
Those who are supposed to illuminate this dark picture live in a completely different world, in mottoes of their own creation. At the top of politics is not the fire on the people's tables, but the fight over “who has been victimized more?” or “who stands more proud?”. While the opposition bases its strategy solely on victimization, the government is trying to turn its power into an instrument of “victimization”. The public, on the other hand, has been condemned to a climate squeezed between these two egos, between victimization and victimization.
The Most Useful Cover: “Muslims Don't Celebrate Christmas”
Moreover, the stale play that is staged at the end of every year is back in theaters: “Muslims do not celebrate New Year.” Rather than a religious sensitivity, this expression has become the most useful motto to cover up social poverty. The language that questions the turkey, nuts, even a glass of Coke or soda on people's tables through this motto; in fact, it serves to hide the fact why that table is empty.
While poverty is legitimized with an ideological cover, the fact that what is not being celebrated is not “New Year's Eve” but the “dignity of human dignity” itself is overlooked with these noisy slogans. Trying to explain the lack of food on the table with faith is nothing but sanctifying injustice.
Conclusion
This order must change, but this change can only be possible by making justice and merit the cornerstones of the system, not just by changing the numbers. Otherwise, when the calendar turns to 2026, only one number will have changed.
Because we know that in an order where justice is more expensive than bread, every slogan put on the table is not to fill the stomach, but to hide hunger. 2026 should not just be a leaf on the calendar, but the milestone of an honorable life.
When was the last time you dreamed without thinking about “numbers” and costs, without taking refuge in the shadow of a motto?