In his regular article in the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung entitled “Letters from Constantinople”, the well-known Turkish journalist Bulent Mumay describes the situation in Turkey in general in very black.
Against the background of the lack of vaccine availability in Turkey, the columnist, who, it should be noted, has been persecuted for years by the Erdogan regime, accused, among others, of being a supporter of the Gulen movement, states, among other things:
“Those countries that reacted in time and had enough money at their disposal, ordered and secured vaccines.
We, on the other hand, were content with vaccines that just seemed to pass the third phase of testing and be confirmed by domestic experts in the regime.
The only thing we got from the Biontech vaccine, what was drummed up here as the one discovered by the Turks, was pride.
The Touretzi and Sahin vaccine does not fill our shelves, but only the headlines. The only vaccine the government has been able to buy is CoronaVac, which has not even been approved for widespread use by China itself.
The first receipt was just 1.5 million doses. Under the vaccination priority plan, the first would be health workers.
But there were others who obviously had the same priority as the medical staff.
“The 50-member parliamentary group of the AKP was vaccinated even before the vulnerable group over the age of 90.”
According to the columnist, in fact, the timing of the first receipt was not accidental. He arrived a few days after the scheduled date and as soon as the Turkish Parliament passed a law for the deportation of Uighurs living in Turkey. The picture is similar with the second tradition, which took place after the arrests of Uighurs in Constantinople.
According to Bulent Mumay, the situation in Turkey is generally tragic. Poverty is on the rise, unemployment is rising at a record pace, and despite Erdogan's assurances to the contrary, the number of bankruptcies is skyrocketing.
As for the year of reforms announced by Erdogan for 2021, this is so far limited to the prosecution of even more who dare to put up with the regime, such as perhaps the best-known Turkish commentator Yilmaz Ozdil, who is called to account for writing letters the initials of the Turkish parliament.
All this at a time when Erdogan's paramilitaries are publicly attacking critics of the government and the Gray Wolves are taking charge of maintaining order and justice.
“We are used to things in Turkey not moving as they should. However, we did not expect that while waiting for the reforms we would see a return to the Middle Ages “.
